Bird Seed Garden: Sunflower, Echinacea and Hot Peppers!Bird Seed Garden: Sunflowers attract Goldfinches! Grow your own Bird Seed Garden to produce organic bird seed with sunflowers or Echinacea flowers – plus you can grow some super hot peppers to help keep the squirrels and rodents away from your seed mix! What kind of seeds are in bird seed? There are a lot of different kinds of seeds marketed as bird seed from the stores, many include seeds for millet, safflower, and cracked corn – and of course sunflower seeds. We've found that most bir...
Gardener Gifts - Top 5 Gift IdeasIf you have a gardener in your life, they will always appreciate new seeds to grow! Seeds make the best gardener gifts and they can be grown, shared, and saved for years to use in the garden. And there are so many different kinds of seeds you can give! Seeds offer a wide range of varieties including:Peppers from around the world- experience the huge range of flavor and heatClassic heirloom tomatoes - that have been grown by generationsHerbs - everyone loves having fresh herbs for the kitchen!...
Hottest Pepper in the World in 2023Oct 2023 Update:Pepper X just won the Guinness crown in late 2023.Read about this NEW Hottest Pepper in the World in 2023 » The Hottest Pepper in the World in before October 2023 was the Carolina Reaper* This world-record-holding popular super hot pepper is the star of many hot sauces and salsas as it adds intense heat and flavor and makes your taste buds sing (or scream, depending on how much you consume!) Carolina Reaper PepperScoville Heat Units:1,500,000 - 2,000,000The hottest pepper...
Homemade Chili Powder RecipeHomemade Chili Powder Recipe: ½ C Cumin ½ C Clove ½ C Cayenne 1½ C Paprika 1½ C Dried Pasilla 1½ C Dark Chile Powder 1½ C Light Chile Powder ¼ C Oregano ¼ C Garlic Powder 1 Handful Dried Chile de Arbol 1 Handful Dried Guajillo DIRECTIONS: Bring a medium sauce pan up to heat and quick roast your non-powder chiles until fragrant, this brings out the flavors and will enhance the flavor of your Chile powder. Remove from pan and let cool. Once cool, grind Chiles in blender and transfer to a...
Spinach SeedsWinter Gardening: Did you know? While you may be starting your pepper seeds indoors in the winter months, did you know that you can also garden outside even in cold winter climates? Spinach is an excellent choice for winter and early spring sowing as it is extremely cold hardy. As the temperature decreases the plant increases the sugar content in its vasculature. This essentially acts as an “anti-freeze” to protect the plant. Growth is greatly slowed by temperature and lack of sunlight durin...
Jalapeno Mac and Cheese RecipeMake this deliciously spicy Mac and Cheese recipe to please any spice-lover. While regular mac and cheese could always use a little spicing up, so this is a great recipe to make it mouth-watering good. Spice up your life with this spicy jalapeno mac and cheese! Nothing is better for the winter season than a warm mac and cheese dish with a kick! Ingredients: 3 C elbow noodles ¼ C butter (or olive oil) 3 medium jalapenos (fine dice) 2 cloves garlic ¼ C all-purpose flour 2 C heavy cream (or use...
Hot Honey RecipeRed Chile Infused Honey Recipe This Hot Honey Recipe is great for spicing up your biscuits! Ingredients: 5 dried Chile de Arbol 2 dried Chipotle peppers (smoke-dried Jalapenos) 2 dried Guajillo 2 c Wildflower honey or honey of your choice ¼ tsp salt Directions: Rough chop all your chiles to mor heat and flavor. In medium saucepan bring honey, chile, and salt up to 180 degrees. Let cook at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, make sure the heat is not to high or else your honey will boil over and ...
How to grow Tomatillos from SeedHow to grow Tomatillos from Seed Tomatillo seeds are surprisingly easy to start from seed! We simply sow the seeds directly into the ground or in large pots and keep them watered and moist until they sprout. They take off quite quickly, and it's good to thin out the extra seedlings. You can start them indoors, but starting them outdoors can be very successful, too, and requires no transplanting. The seedlings do seem to have some cold-hardiness when very young if started outdoors, but if...
Jalapeno - Black Seeds?Recent Customer Question: Can you eat a jalapeno that has black seeds? Answer: Yes, as long as you don't see any mold! If peppers have black seeds inside, there are a few reasons this could happen: 1. Immature Seeds If peppers don't fully mature, sometimes you'll see brown or black seeds inside when cut open - or they may look shriveled. These are seeds that simply didn't fully develop.This doesn't mean they are bad, we usually remove and compost the black shriveled seed...
Growing peppers in ContainersGrowing peppers in Containers - Top 10 Tips: 1. Grow peppers that do well in containers and pots!This is one of the most important tips, as some peppers do much better in pots than others. Here are the best peppers to grow in containers » 2. Use large pots, 5 gallons or more is ideal. Larger pots don't dry out as fast, and allow for deep roots. They also don't tend to get top heavy, so they won't blow over in high winds. You can also plant more than one pepper plant in large pots...
Win Free Seeds with a Seed Review!THANK YOU FOR YOUR SEED REVIEWS! Congratulations to Lauren, Greta, and Dan, our three winners of $25 ! This contest is now over... stay tuned for coming contests! We’d still love if you Reviewed our Seeds What did well for you this year? What were your favorites? Details of Contest (now past): REVIEW OUR SEEDS $25 GIFT CARD CONTEST We picked 3 Lucky Gift Card winners on Nov. 22, 2022 Step 1:Review our Seeds » Just click on any seed variety, and on the right-hand side, under the se...
Hot Sauce RecipesHere are some of our favorite hot sauce recipes to make with your abundant hot pepper harvests! Hot sauce is a great way to preserve your peppers and their spiciness for year-round use, and long after the snow starts flying! Nothing beats homegrown, homemade hot sauce. Favorite Hot Sauce Recipes: Easy Hot Sauce »Fermentation Crock Hot Sauce Recipe »Louisiana Hot Sauce Recipe »Roasted Jalapeno Hot Sauce Recipe »Easy Fermented Hot Sauce Recipes »Chocolate, White, Yellow & Red Hot Sa...
Homegrown Chile Relleno RecipeIf you grow our Hatch Chile, Poblano, or Anaheim Chile varieties, one of the best ways to enjoy them is in the form of a chile relleno! A delicious serving suggestion is to plate your rellenos and then drizzle warm Ranchero Salsa over the top of them (see the recipe below). Rellenos are usually topped with red or green chile sauce, other additions include guacamole, sour cream, or salsa. There's no wrong way to enjoy them! Here's an authentic recipe to make your own Chile Rellenos f...
Carolina Reaper Seeds are Back in Stock!Our Carolina Reaper Seeds are back in stock at Sandia Seed! Get them while they last... these are one of our best selling seeds – as they grow the hottest peppers in the world! Carolina Reapers are still the hottest pepper in the world in 2022 and going into 2023. Time will tell if another stable strain can be put to the test to beat out the Reaper, but for now she is queen of the hot peppers!We also have a lot of other super hot pepper seeds back in stock for some of your favorite hot pepper...
Homegrown Sriracha Sauce RecipeHomegrown Sriracha Sauce 1.5 pounds Sriracha Peppers, or other red hot peppers such as cayenne, goat horn, fresno, bishop crown, thai hot, or jalapeno peppers ⅓ cup water 6 cloves garlic, peeled 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon kosher salt ½ cup white vinegar Cut off stems of peppers, add to a food processor or blender and add water, garlic, brown sugar, and salt.Pulse, then blend until smooth. Add puree into a large glass jar or pitcher, and keep covered in a cool dark location for 3 ...
Red Chile Powder RecipeRed Chile Powder - Homemade This red chile powder recipe is quick and easy to make from scratch. It has an incredibly robust and vibrant flavor when compared to store bought powders. INGREDIENTS 4-6 cups Dried Red Chile peppers or 4-6 ounces (We recommend a combination of hatch red chiles, ancho, guajillo and any other variety you like, and if you want heat add some arbol or cayenne.) 2 tablespoons Garlic Powder or freshly dehydrated garlic 2 tablespoons Onion Powder or freshly dehydrate...
What to do with Hatch Chile after RoastingRecent seed customer question: I am asking for suggestions for what to do with my hatch chilies after I roast them? Well, the possibilities are endless! Roasted Hatch chile can be added to all sorts of recipes. Here are some of our top suggestions on what to do with roasted hatch chile: After roasting, steam them and then deseed and peel the skin off the roasted chile. We like to steam them in a pyrex glass dish with a glass lid to cut down on plastic use. Dice the chile and put them in a ...
How to Grow Peppers from SeedHow to Grow Peppers from Seed: Growing peppers from seed is one of the best ways to grow a wide variety of peppers from super spicy to sweet! One of the best reasons to grow peppers from seed is that you can pick the best peppers for your garden and taste. For example, if you live in a short season climate, you can grow the Fastest Growing Peppers for a more successful harvest. Or, if you love super hot peppers, you can grow a wide variety of hot peppers like Habaneros or the famous hottest p...
Bird Seed Garden: Sunflower, Echinacea and Hot Peppers!
Bird Seed Garden: Sunflowers attract Goldfinches! Grow your own Bird Seed Garden to produce organic bird seed with sunflowers or Echinacea flowers – plus you can grow some super hot peppers to help keep the squirrels and rodents away from your seed mix! What kind of seeds are in bird seed? There are a lot of different kinds of seeds marketed as bird seed from the stores, many include seeds for millet, safflower, and cracked corn – and of course sunflower seeds. We've found that most bir...
Gardener Gifts - Top 5 Gift Ideas
If you have a gardener in your life, they will always appreciate new seeds to grow! Seeds make the best gardener gifts and they can be grown, shared, and saved for years to use in the garden. And there are so many different kinds of seeds you can give! Seeds offer a wide range of varieties including:Peppers from around the world- experience the huge range of flavor and heatClassic heirloom tomatoes - that have been grown by generationsHerbs - everyone loves having fresh herbs for the kitchen!...
Hottest Pepper in the World in 2023
Oct 2023 Update:Pepper X just won the Guinness crown in late 2023.Read about this NEW Hottest Pepper in the World in 2023 » The Hottest Pepper in the World in before October 2023 was the Carolina Reaper* This world-record-holding popular super hot pepper is the star of many hot sauces and salsas as it adds intense heat and flavor and makes your taste buds sing (or scream, depending on how much you consume!) Carolina Reaper PepperScoville Heat Units:1,500,000 - 2,000,000The hottest pepper...
Homemade Chili Powder Recipe
Homemade Chili Powder Recipe: ½ C Cumin ½ C Clove ½ C Cayenne 1½ C Paprika 1½ C Dried Pasilla 1½ C Dark Chile Powder 1½ C Light Chile Powder ¼ C Oregano ¼ C Garlic Powder 1 Handful Dried Chile de Arbol 1 Handful Dried Guajillo DIRECTIONS: Bring a medium sauce pan up to heat and quick roast your non-powder chiles until fragrant, this brings out the flavors and will enhance the flavor of your Chile powder. Remove from pan and let cool. Once cool, grind Chiles in blender and transfer to a...
Spinach Seeds
Winter Gardening: Did you know? While you may be starting your pepper seeds indoors in the winter months, did you know that you can also garden outside even in cold winter climates? Spinach is an excellent choice for winter and early spring sowing as it is extremely cold hardy. As the temperature decreases the plant increases the sugar content in its vasculature. This essentially acts as an “anti-freeze” to protect the plant. Growth is greatly slowed by temperature and lack of sunlight durin...
Jalapeno Mac and Cheese Recipe
Make this deliciously spicy Mac and Cheese recipe to please any spice-lover. While regular mac and cheese could always use a little spicing up, so this is a great recipe to make it mouth-watering good. Spice up your life with this spicy jalapeno mac and cheese! Nothing is better for the winter season than a warm mac and cheese dish with a kick! Ingredients: 3 C elbow noodles ¼ C butter (or olive oil) 3 medium jalapenos (fine dice) 2 cloves garlic ¼ C all-purpose flour 2 C heavy cream (or use...
Hot Honey Recipe
Red Chile Infused Honey Recipe This Hot Honey Recipe is great for spicing up your biscuits! Ingredients: 5 dried Chile de Arbol 2 dried Chipotle peppers (smoke-dried Jalapenos) 2 dried Guajillo 2 c Wildflower honey or honey of your choice ¼ tsp salt Directions: Rough chop all your chiles to mor heat and flavor. In medium saucepan bring honey, chile, and salt up to 180 degrees. Let cook at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, make sure the heat is not to high or else your honey will boil over and ...
The gardening season officially begins on January 1st, and ends on December 31.
"The gardening season officially begins on January 1st, and ends on December 31." - Marie HustonWe love this quote!! Happy New Year!
How to grow Tomatillos from Seed
How to grow Tomatillos from Seed Tomatillo seeds are surprisingly easy to start from seed! We simply sow the seeds directly into the ground or in large pots and keep them watered and moist until they sprout. They take off quite quickly, and it's good to thin out the extra seedlings. You can start them indoors, but starting them outdoors can be very successful, too, and requires no transplanting. The seedlings do seem to have some cold-hardiness when very young if started outdoors, but if...
Jalapeno - Black Seeds?
Recent Customer Question: Can you eat a jalapeno that has black seeds? Answer: Yes, as long as you don't see any mold! If peppers have black seeds inside, there are a few reasons this could happen: 1. Immature Seeds If peppers don't fully mature, sometimes you'll see brown or black seeds inside when cut open - or they may look shriveled. These are seeds that simply didn't fully develop.This doesn't mean they are bad, we usually remove and compost the black shriveled seed...
Growing peppers in Containers
Growing peppers in Containers - Top 10 Tips: 1. Grow peppers that do well in containers and pots!This is one of the most important tips, as some peppers do much better in pots than others. Here are the best peppers to grow in containers » 2. Use large pots, 5 gallons or more is ideal. Larger pots don't dry out as fast, and allow for deep roots. They also don't tend to get top heavy, so they won't blow over in high winds. You can also plant more than one pepper plant in large pots...
Win Free Seeds with a Seed Review!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SEED REVIEWS! Congratulations to Lauren, Greta, and Dan, our three winners of $25 ! This contest is now over... stay tuned for coming contests! We’d still love if you Reviewed our Seeds What did well for you this year? What were your favorites? Details of Contest (now past): REVIEW OUR SEEDS $25 GIFT CARD CONTEST We picked 3 Lucky Gift Card winners on Nov. 22, 2022 Step 1:Review our Seeds » Just click on any seed variety, and on the right-hand side, under the se...
Hot Sauce Recipes
Here are some of our favorite hot sauce recipes to make with your abundant hot pepper harvests! Hot sauce is a great way to preserve your peppers and their spiciness for year-round use, and long after the snow starts flying! Nothing beats homegrown, homemade hot sauce. Favorite Hot Sauce Recipes: Easy Hot Sauce »Fermentation Crock Hot Sauce Recipe »Louisiana Hot Sauce Recipe »Roasted Jalapeno Hot Sauce Recipe »Easy Fermented Hot Sauce Recipes »Chocolate, White, Yellow & Red Hot Sa...
Homegrown Chile Relleno Recipe
If you grow our Hatch Chile, Poblano, or Anaheim Chile varieties, one of the best ways to enjoy them is in the form of a chile relleno! A delicious serving suggestion is to plate your rellenos and then drizzle warm Ranchero Salsa over the top of them (see the recipe below). Rellenos are usually topped with red or green chile sauce, other additions include guacamole, sour cream, or salsa. There's no wrong way to enjoy them! Here's an authentic recipe to make your own Chile Rellenos f...
Carolina Reaper Seeds are Back in Stock!
Our Carolina Reaper Seeds are back in stock at Sandia Seed! Get them while they last... these are one of our best selling seeds – as they grow the hottest peppers in the world! Carolina Reapers are still the hottest pepper in the world in 2022 and going into 2023. Time will tell if another stable strain can be put to the test to beat out the Reaper, but for now she is queen of the hot peppers!We also have a lot of other super hot pepper seeds back in stock for some of your favorite hot pepper...
Homegrown Sriracha Sauce Recipe
Homegrown Sriracha Sauce 1.5 pounds Sriracha Peppers, or other red hot peppers such as cayenne, goat horn, fresno, bishop crown, thai hot, or jalapeno peppers ⅓ cup water 6 cloves garlic, peeled 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon kosher salt ½ cup white vinegar Cut off stems of peppers, add to a food processor or blender and add water, garlic, brown sugar, and salt.Pulse, then blend until smooth. Add puree into a large glass jar or pitcher, and keep covered in a cool dark location for 3 ...
Red Chile Powder Recipe
Red Chile Powder - Homemade This red chile powder recipe is quick and easy to make from scratch. It has an incredibly robust and vibrant flavor when compared to store bought powders. INGREDIENTS 4-6 cups Dried Red Chile peppers or 4-6 ounces (We recommend a combination of hatch red chiles, ancho, guajillo and any other variety you like, and if you want heat add some arbol or cayenne.) 2 tablespoons Garlic Powder or freshly dehydrated garlic 2 tablespoons Onion Powder or freshly dehydrate...
What to do with Hatch Chile after Roasting
Recent seed customer question: I am asking for suggestions for what to do with my hatch chilies after I roast them? Well, the possibilities are endless! Roasted Hatch chile can be added to all sorts of recipes. Here are some of our top suggestions on what to do with roasted hatch chile: After roasting, steam them and then deseed and peel the skin off the roasted chile. We like to steam them in a pyrex glass dish with a glass lid to cut down on plastic use. Dice the chile and put them in a ...
How to Grow Peppers from Seed
How to Grow Peppers from Seed: Growing peppers from seed is one of the best ways to grow a wide variety of peppers from super spicy to sweet! One of the best reasons to grow peppers from seed is that you can pick the best peppers for your garden and taste. For example, if you live in a short season climate, you can grow the Fastest Growing Peppers for a more successful harvest. Or, if you love super hot peppers, you can grow a wide variety of hot peppers like Habaneros or the famous hottest p...
