Earlier this year, in response to a post I had written about my intention to make Paprika powder from home-grown peppers and chillis, a gardening friend sent me a couple of dried "Garnet" Sweet Peppers, one of which had been smoked. I duly pulverised these in our spice-grinder to make a small quantity of delicious paprika. I was so impressed that I subsequently bought some seeds and grew some "Garnets" for myself.
I grew the peppers just like I grow chillis, although I did plant them in my big new raised bed rather than in pots like the chillis. I found that they took a very long time to grow and ripen, such that in the end I resorted to ripening some of them indoors. Most of my crop was given to my daughter Emma, for using green in stir-fries and such-like, but I kept the six best specimens for a repeat of the smoked paprika experiment.
Afterwards I dried the peppers initially in the oven with the heat turned down very low, and then when the oven was needed for cooking I transferred them to the airing cupboard. They are not 100% dry yet, but when they are I will remove their seeds and then grind them up to a fine powder. Goulash, here we come!
What a great idea. I love your stovetop smoker. No doubt the paprika will be delicious. And how satisfying to have grown it yourself.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Can't wait to see the final powder and of course the goulash!!
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome idea. So the green was when there were still growing, do they turn red and you pull them or did the red happen after you picked them somehow?
ReplyDeleteA couple of them went red before I picked them, but mostly they were a sort of muddy green when I brought them in. The ripening process happened a lot quicker indoors - about a week to go fully red.
DeleteFascinating something I didn't know you could do.
ReplyDeleteYou sweet peppers like as local chilli pepper in Indonesia 'lombok Jawa'. Maybe lombok jawa is hotter and more tasty.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant idea to make them last, looking forward to seeing the colour of the powder.
ReplyDeleteI was proud, given our climate, to have got one chilli to ripen on the vine, but this is a gargantuan challenge you set yourself. Those look like six beauties. What wood do you use for smoking them?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the next episode.
Wow! Nice recipe and thumbs up for self-grown chillies.
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