Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne is ground dried hot chile, and the heat in it, capsaicin, is stable: a jar fades in color and aroma over a few years but keeps most of its burn, which is why it is the one spice on this site with its own page and a list of jobs beyond the kitchen. Whole dried cayenne pods keep longest; ground keeps 2 to 3 years at full strength and years more at reduced strength.

Whole dried cayenne pods, or ground cayenne in a sealed bag from a bulk supplier, which costs a fraction of the shaker jar. Check the color: bright red is fresh, brown is old. For heat that stays, a bag of whole pods ground as needed in a dedicated coffee grinder. Grow it: a few plants dry a year's supply on a string in a warm room.

Airtight glass, dark, cool, away from the stove. Bulk bags sealed in the dark or the freezer, a small working jar out. Whole pods strung or in a jar in the dark. Moisture is the only thing that ruins it: never shake it over steam, and if it clumps, dry it on a sheet pan in a barely warm oven and break it up.

Color and aroma: bright red with a sharp smell is good; dull brown with a dusty smell is faded. Taste a pinch: if the heat is there, it's still working, and faded cayenne is used at double the amount. Clumping with a musty smell or mold means moisture got in and the jar goes.

A pinch in the beans, the chili, the soup and the eggs is the first job; a cayenne-and-vinegar hot sauce from the pods is the second. The eight jobs listed below are the rest, from a warming salve to a pest spray for the garden. For a hot sauce that keeps: a cup of chopped dried cayenne simmered in a cup and a half of 5 percent vinegar with a teaspoon of salt, blended, bottled, and kept in the fridge.

• Topical pain relief for joints
• Circulation and warming agent
• Anti-inflammatory with food
• Seasoning that preserves
• Pest spray for plants
• Bear, dog, and rodent deterrent
• Sprinkle on a minor cut (traditional; direct pressure does the real work)
• Cold and congestion remedy

If it goes bad Loses heat and color over time. Still safe, just milder.

Shelf-life figures are from the Survival Foods field guide; fridge, freezer and pantry times are from the USDA cold and pantry storage charts. Run the look, smell, taste check before eating anything past its date.