I grind mine(usually cayennes)a little at a time, because it's just me using them. I keep leftover peppers in a sealed container in the cupboard, some keep them in the freezer between grindings. I put the powder in a small recycled spice jar with a shaker top for daily use. I use my coffee grinder for peppers, spices and coffee. After grinding peppers or strong flavored spices, I run a small amount of rice in it and repeat a couple of times, until there's no trace of pepper/spice. Then, I wipe out the grinder with a moist paper towel. There may be a slight scent left, but I've never had my coffee taste like peppers or anything else. I haven't ground any super hot peppers, so maybe that's why I don't have a problem, but some people keep a designated grinder for peppers if they are working with large amounts or very hot or strongly flavored pods. I've never used a magic bullet and don't know how you typically clean it, but I doubt cayennes would ruin it for anything else.

noinwi,

Thanks for the tip about the rice!

I was wondering the same thing about grinding peppers in my coffee grinder. I've used it for spices --- cumin, coriander, cardamom --- and for black pepper, and been able to wash it out fine with a damp cloth and a hint of dish soap. But I have hesitated to use it for hot peppers.

Mind you, if the flavour does linger, I can get coffee grinder pretty cheaply here as there's a Proctor Silex factory outlet in town. But it seems a shame to buy a separate machine to grind a few hot peppers every two years or so....

Z
P.S. ymn, I'd leave the seeds in. They have some flavour and probably are coated in some of the oil from the membrane, which is where the hottest heat is.

Coffee grinders can be had for cheap, so I keep one for coffee and one for spices.

The spice one gets used a lot because I use it for flax seed. You get more nutrition out of flax seed if it is bruised.

I have three coffee grinders. One I use for grains one for spices and one for coffee. When I bought the second one it was because I had ground hot peppers in it and the coffee had a rather spicy flavor, although not totally unpleasant, I decided I could afford the $7 to keep the two flavors separate. When I started using flax, I bought another for grains.

Yet another use for rice grains is as an anti-clumping agent in the shakers. The grains are too large to fit through the sifter holes, they absorb moisture and just a few shakes of the of the container breaks up any pepper powder clumps. I find the rice a whole lot more appealing than adding some silica product to the powders as an anti-clumping agent.