How to get rid of chili-peppers on fingertips

I thought I hated chili growing up because my mother made it with straight kidney beans. I was pleasantly surprised to marry into a family where the family chili recipe uses chili beans - kidney beans in a spicy sauce. This family chili recipe has won an office chili cook-off, and I think it is in large part due to the can of chili beans. I know it's a classic, but I think it would work well with your chili.

I'd also suggest cumin and a generous amount of chili powder. Your chili will be even better if the chili powder is homemade.

From experience I'd say those 6 months don't stack. You could have 6 months in the jar, or 6 months in the freezer - very soon after defrosting the flavour would die out. If you have to freeze I would recommend using it straight from the freezer, if you can avoid it clumping.

The overall potency is degrading from the moment it's picked! But realistically from the moment of grinding, as the oils in the ingredient are slowly seeping and evaporating out of the grain.

Why not make smaller batches more regularly? That's what I do for garam masala, mixing a new batch every 3 months or so.

I would always recommend oven drying spices / peppers very low for a long time - say 2 - 3 hours at 100C (212F). Wet ingredients could be dried in the same way, else added at the time you are going to cook with them.