Instructions

1. Pick out the jalapeno pepper of your preference from the store or your garden. Usually, green jalapenos are younger and tend to carry a bit more spice than more mature, ripened red ones. Choose which variety you would like based on your taste and spice preference.

2. Cut the ends of the jalapeno pepper off and proceed to split the pepper in half in a way that allows the seeds to be exposed. Once you split the pepper in half, you can remove the seeds. If you cut the jalapeno pepper perpendicular to the line in the middle of the pepper, it makes it a little easier to remove the seeds.

3. Make sure you halve the jalapeno pepper and remove the seeds inside. Proceed to place the halved jalapeno peppers into a dehydrator and let them sit inside and dehydrate for about a day. To change the flavoring of the powder you are making, you can adjust the temperature level in which you are dehydrating the pepper. With a higher temperature setting on the dehydrator, the peppers will lose some of their spiciness. Dehydrating them at a lower temperature setting will allow them to retain more of their heat and spice.

4. Pull the jalapeno peppers out of the dehydrator and place them into either a blender or a spice grinder. Turn on the blender or grind the pepper in the spice grinder until it creates a fine-grained powder. Be sure to let the powder settle before taking it out of the grinder or blender so that the dust is not lost, as it maintains the flavor. Once the powder is settled, you can pour it into a spice jar or any airtight container of your choice to store for up to one year. The powder will gradually lose flavoring the longer it sits.