hot peppers/chiles loosing heat

[RU shooter]

A co worker of mine gave me a sealed jar of ground and dried ghost peppers a few months ago and it was very potent then, We put them in a shaker with a open top and used some last evening and it didnt seem near as spicy .Do peppers/chiles loose their heat when left out and exposed to air? I have to also say while they are very warm they do offer alot of flavor to your dishes. I picked out a few seeds and will have to see if they will sprout this spring.
anyone know a reliable place to get hot and uncommon hot peppers/chiles to grow?

[bowfin]

It is best to keep the ground peppers in an airtight container and preferably not exposed to heat, although refigeration isn't needed.

I usually can a year's supply of peppers (serranos, chilis, tabascos, cayennes, habeneros, and jalepenos), and I also grind some up for red pepper flakes. One can take the red pepper flakes, mix them with some vegetable oil and salt to make a relish not unlike that found in Chinese restaurants.

I usually buy my peppers started as plants. I like the smaller chili peppers and serranos for canning, as they fill up the space in the jars better than jalepenos. Cayennes are brittle and odd shaped, and it is easy trying to pack them into the jars.

[bowfin]

By the way, grinding hot peppers in a food processor should be considered in the same league as handling a hazardous chemical. Seriously, if you get some of the dust in your eyes, you will not be able to open them, and the same dust inhaled is very unpleasant. Think high potency pepper spay...

...and double it.

[firefly1957]

I will add to what Bowfin said do not use a dehydrator on HOT peppers it will basically release pepper spray into the area. I did this with a few Jalapenos in the house not to bad the next year I dried Tabascos in the work shop That sting was in the air for some time! Two years later I did some more Tabasco and Jalapeno peppers I moved the drier to the uninhabited farm house it does keep the pest out better than anything else.

Ghost Peppers are hot I grew some but had a low yield tips plants need 80 degrees to produce fruit and more than your growing season is long in time I had my plants inside for two years. They are big plants also mine got 7 feet high and ten feet across. Despite what some say about self pollinating you may have to use a Q tip from flower to flower to get fruit. I have heard a couple people claim that freezing them will reduce capsasin but do not know if that is true I have a dozen frozen now but do not want to take a bite out of one to find out.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Yes, the loose heat if stored unsealed. Smae with hot sauces like Tabasco etc, if left open they go wimpy, even horseradish looses its bang over time, but it doesn't usually last long enough around here to happen :)
When I smoke hot peppers intending to make powder, I grind them in a dedicated cheapo coffee grinder. OUTSIDE!

[RU shooter]

Thanks all , Yes I found out the very fine dust seems like it gets everywhere very easily and seems twice as hot! I got my nose tingling just from transfering it into another container and latex gloves are a must also with Ghost peppers . The peppers I grew last year I strung and dried them by hanging them in between the storm door and the main door in the sun they dried very quickly there, I chopped them in one of those slapper chopper things and made a good size for flakes. And yes I tasted the paste my friend made up buy mashing and cooking them in olive oil, he used 8 different types of hot peppers to make his "Salsa" Very warm but very flavorful at the same time.