I'm not in over my head, I promise. [View all]

It was my day off today (I work Saturday this week), and I had nothing else to preserve. I bought a lot of dried chilis a while ago and decided this was as good a time as any to get them processed and canned.

The largest amount I've done to date was around 9 ounces. As a convenience ingredient, I like being able to make Mexican sauces and recipes whenever I want, without having to do this particular pain-in-the-ass step first. However, today I have 33 ounces and change to deal with. (Ancho, guajillo and pasilla.)

I thought I'd have them in jars by tonight. About an hour ago, I finally got the paste made. (Toast the chilis, tear them up, eliminating the stems, seeds and veins, soak them, put them through the food mill and have them ready for canning.) it took me half the afternoon and all of the evening. I put it in the fridge.

I'll have to can them tomorrow. It looks like I'll have at least 18 half pints. I have 20 half pint jars. Since they're low-acid and dense, I pressure-can them at 10# for 80 minutes for half pints. I usually figure each jar is as close to 6 chilis as makes no difference. This is a pretty standard amount for a lot of recipes.

My fingers are on fire. (I should use latex gloves and I have them, but don't like them.) These fingers are probably able to be registered as non-lethal weapons - if attacked, I would only need to touch eyes to disable someone for at least half an hour. Of course, this means I desperately need to touch my face and eyes. I've resisted, so far. I only burned myself once, not too badly. The kitchen took a lot of cleanup, and I just hand-washed what wouldn't fit in the dishwasher.

At least that's done