Last Updated on June 11, 2022
Ground Jalapeno Spice
Early this summer we used a small corner in our backyard to plant a few veggies such as tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, lettuce, parsley, green peppers, and jalapeno peppers. As the sun and rain ate away through the Northeast summer, our plants ripened and turned in some flavorful organic produce. The Jalapeno plant was quite generous and left us with peppers that are ready to burn someone. But what to do with a bunch of Jalapenos? Simple, we have to turn them into Ground Jalapeno Spice.
What to do with the Jalapenos
We called headquarters (mom) since she deals with hot peppers in her own backyard, and her advice was to either pickle them or to make them into ground spice. The latter sounded more appealing and adventurous as it was a novelty to us.
The following is the easy and simple process we used to make the ground Jalapeno spice. Note that in our case, we decided to keep the seeds since they are quite spicy whereas typically seeds may be discarded from the ground pepper making process. A similar method is used in Lebanese “Mouneh” (traditional food preservation) in order to prepare other types of ground spices including ground cayenne and chilli.
Recipe: How to Make Jalapeno Spice
Summary: This is an easy process to produce fresh home-made Jalapeno Pepper spice.
Ground Jalapeno Spice Ingredients
- One dozen of fresh green Jalapeno peppers (or your choice of spicy hot peppers)
- This will make you about 1 heaping teaspoon of dried ground spice
Jalapeno Spice Preparation Method
- Rinse peppers well with cold water and remove stems
- Slice peppers into small rounds
- Place on tray and let dry in sun for 5-7 days with preferably 4-5 hours of direct sunlight per day. Bring indoors at night to avoid moisture.
- When dried, grind in food processor (watch out for spice dust getting in your eyes/nostrils or you’ll end up sneezing for a while).
- Optional: Sift them through a filter or mesh to get a uniform texture.
- Place in airtight container and store in a cool place.
- In case direct sunlight isn’t plenty or if there is rain, keep the peppers indoors on a tray by a window at room temperature for a few days but try to get them a few hours of direct sun light throughout the process at the least. At the end if they’re still moist, place them on an aluminum foil and bake them gently in the oven at 250 F for 5-10 minutes or until dry before you grind them. Don’t overheat them.
Preparation time: 30 minute(s)
Diet type: Vegetarian
Diet tags: Low calorie
Number of servings (yield): 12
Culinary tradition: Middle Eastern
Copyright © Mama’s Lebanese Kitchen.
hi mama
i have just made a batch of toum, and added jalapenos to it, it is delicious, but, i have no idea what jalapeno or chilli is in lebanese, please could you help me out.
many thanks
lexa
Hi Lexa – I’m glad you liked the Toum and congratulations on making it successfully. Chili can be referred to as “Harr” or “Flayfleh Harra” in Lebanese/slang.
Dear Mama, we use the similar way to make red ground jalapeno spice, but at the end we add a little olive oil to keep them shiny and more tasty.
Health to your hand.
Hi Sare, thank you for your comment. You’re right about dripping some olive oil over peppers this is how it’s normally done.