If you like it “hot” – I’ve got a great homemade cayenne pepper recipe below.
Here’s what you get when you buy it at the store. Cayenne pepper is the powder form of red chili peppers. Crushed red pepper flakes are the dried, crushed seeds of the chili pepper.
Cayenne Pepper Recipe
First of all, you’ll want to put on some rubber gloves before handling the peppers. This is because the capsaicin in the peppers can really irritate your skin, even if the peppers are dry.
Cut the stems off of the cayenne peppers. At this point, you have a decision to make. You can either remove the seeds, which will make the end product milder, or you can leave them in, and have a hotter powder. Dry the peppers completely on a cookie sheet.
After the stems have been removed, (and the seeds if desired) put the dried peppers into a coffee grinder and grind them until they become a powder (you may have to do several batches depending on the size of the coffee grinder).
Once the peppers have been ground to a powder, transfer the powder to a spice jar.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CRUSHED RED PEPPER FLAKES
Use a food processor or blender to crush red peppers. If you don’t want it too hot just mix hot peppers with some mild peppers and process until it’s at the heat level you want.
Add salt to taste and pure olive oil to preserve it and gives it a rich taste…..place in jars…..done.