Hot Pepper Seed Cleaning
Pepper Seed Cleaning.
NEVER EVER DRY your peppers pods before you removing the seeds, if you want to
have the best quality seeds for planting. The moisture that is inside the pepper
pod, especially the thicker podded varieties like Guajillo, Ancho, etc. as the
pod dries, can damage the seed quality.
USE FRESH-RIPE FRUIT FOR SEED, and take the seeds out of the fully-ripe fresh
pods. Dry the seeds in the sun for a few days, taking them indoors at night. Or
dry the seeds near a heater on a paper plate. If you have several varieties,
write the names of each pepper on the paper plates.
If you are working with hot pepper, always wear rubber gloves! If you are
working with only a few peppers, just take a sharp knife and cut them in half,
and scrape out the seeds. I usually take a wide-mesh screen to remove any flesh
that may still be attached to the seeds (about 1/4") and push the seeds through
the screen, usually leaving any of the pepper flesh behind.
If you are working with a lot of peppers, use a blender. The rule-of-thumb is
that it takes 50-200 pounds of fresh peppers to make one pound of cleaned seeds.
Cut off the stems (calyx) and cut the peppers in half. Add peppers to fill the
blender about 1/3 full, and then add water until the blender is 3/4 full. Blend
just a few seconds to break up the pods. When you stop the blender, the pepper
pulp will float along with the immature seeds, and the viable seeds for future
planting will sink.
Drain off the floating pulp and use it for salsa, freeze it, etc. Add more water
to make any remaining pulp float, and skim that off, than then pour the seeds
into a strainer, and then dump onto a paper plate for drying. Make the layer of
seeds on the plate only 1-2 seeds deep, and put out in the sun to dry, and stir
every hour.
If you are cutting or blending a lot of hot peppers, buy a 3M 8210 N95
respirator at the hardware store, because it will save your lungs for your old
age. Don't rely on one of those woosie paint masks. For peppers you need the
NIOSH approved one with the sponge rubber around the nose.
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