I came across this recipe somewhere (the list maybe?) and it worked very well the one time I used it. My only alteration was that i pureed a few dozen fresh pequins in the water, rather than adding powder at the end. My question is if it would be possible to just raise this recipe to hard crack stage for hard candy? I took it a bit past hard ball the last time, and got what was pretty much hard candy, but turned into a tooth-pulling taffy like stuff in the mouth. Excellent flavor though.

In 2 qt saucepan, add sugar, corn syrup, water, cornstarch, butter and salt. Over medium heat, stirring constantly till hard ball stage.(256F). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pepper.

When cool enough to handle, butter hands and pull until satiny and stiff. Pull into long strips, cut into 1" pieces, and wrap with wax paper. (I don't know what the buttered pan is for.)

From:Jesse Tigges. Via: Chile Head Mailing List
Posted By: Jesse Tigges
Post Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997