You can buy Chili Powder in the store and it usually has extra salt and sometimes even sugar in it. I suggest you make your own, and you can adjust the kinds of chilies you use to adjust the "heat" of your chili powder. I often make my own ground chili, and keep different kinds in those little old spice jars from McCormick. Buy the dried chilies in bulk is a whole lot cheaper than buying Chili Powder from the store, and you can use the whole dried chilies in so many wonderful dishes. I always remove ALL the seeds.

The great part about doing this is that while it seems a little time consuming, it is a great way to be self-sufficient. You can go-in with some friends and neighbors to buy a large bag of chilies, and have some girlfriends over and make a chili making party of it. That way they also spend very little, helping cover the cost, and yet, you each get wonderful Homemade Chili Powder, and spare dried chilies to take home to cook with later.

Always remember that chilies should be handled carefully: wear rubber gloves and do not rub your eyes or lips.

This batch makes about 1/4-1/3 cup.

Homemade Chili Powder Ingredients:

• 5 whole Ancho chilie pods, stemmed and seeded
• 1 each of Pasilla & Chipotle
• 1 teaspoon of dried leaf oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder *
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (don't miss this one)

Wearing gloves, you can use kitchen shears to cut the crowns and stems of the chilies off, and slice down the side and open up flat. Cut out the seed membranes over the trash, or sink. Toast the chilies in a Comal, or dry cast iron skillet over a medium heat for a few minutes until they become very aromatic, not getting toasted or burnt. Remove from the skillet and let cool.

Cut the chilies into little pieces with the shears and put in your grinder. It could be a brushed clean coffee grinder, or spice grinder, or the grinder/ blender bowel of a brawn hand wand mixer type. Grind away till you only have little flakes. I often will grind each chili type in different batches. That way I have pure ground chili powder to work from.

I use two different little sieve screens, a course and one fine mesh one. Pour the chili grindings into the course sieve and tap over a medium size bowl to let settle. Anything left too big to fall through the course sieve goes back to grind more. Then I further sieve this through the fine mesh and get powder and small flakes. I like cooking chili, stews and soups with these flakes. They go great with marinades and anywhere you want to "see" the chili. The fine ground chili power goes into a different spice jar.

Next mix the correct amounts of fine ground chili power with your dried leaf oregano, garlic powder *, and cumin, and mix again in the grinder for a minute or two and bottle up this as a great Chili Powder spice mix. This makes a great gift to give newly-weds, single friends and students.

The great part about doing this is that while it seems a little time consuming, it is a great way to be self-sufficient. You can go-in with some friends and neighbors to buy a large bag of chilies, and have some girlfriends over and make a chili making party of it. That way they also spend very little, helping cover the cost, and yet, you each get wonderful Homemade Chili Powder, and spare dried chilies to take home to cook with later.

Remember to keep the whole dried chilies in a large zip-lock bag, and I even double bag mine, turned once, so the smell doesn't leach out, and to keep the chilies fresh.

* note: you can make garlic powder from dried garlic nuggets, which you can make from drying fresh peeled & minced garlic on a spare dehydrator tray on top of some wax paper for about 8 hours. When the minced garlic is well dry, let it fully cool, and store in a paper towel, or small napkin inside of a zip lock bag. This can store on a cool shelf for a few months, or a year in the refrigerator.