Do you know what a "Chipotle" is?
It is nothing more than a SMOKED JALAPENO PEPPER (okay, Lots of smoked jalapeno peppers).
Have a smoker? A 12 pack of beer? Let's make some!
Go to your favorite Mexican grocer (Mercado), or wherever you can aquire good quality FRESH jalapeno pepers. (Super Walmart?)
HINT: RED (or at least partialy red) jalapenos make the best chipotle! But GREEN jalapeno peppers work good too.
ANOTHER HINT: Jalapeno peppers are really NOT especially HOT compared to many other peppers. But SOME ARE!
HERE IS HOW to determine a jalapeno's HEAT Level:
-- wood grain. Examine the peppers. The ones with a wood-grain in them are going to be hotter than those that are simply plain shiny-green.
LAST HINT: If you are lucky enough to find a bunch of RED jalapenos, use Hickory wood instead of mesquite.
For the rest of us:
Take about 5 LBS Jalapeno peppers and split them using a sharp knife from the (non-stemmed) tip about halfway up. Leave the stem on- it makes a good handle later. Not splitting them makes it take WAY longer!
Smoke-cook them for @ 12-14 hours at 140 AMERICAN degrees (F) using mesquite or hickory wood.
By now, they should be quite 'limp' and have turned a dark color (colour for those so inclined/challenged).
If you have a dehydrator, put them in at @ 145 for about 4 hours, or until 'Dry'. Otherwise, use your oven or smoker (no more smoke) to dry them out.
Chopped they're great in chile, powdered (coffee grinder) they go great in all sorts of food (pizza, jerky, enchilada's, scrambled eggs... etc)
Enjoy!
** Is a second-hand smoker dangerous?
Best know not for soup, but rather smoked meats...
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by SoupNazi</i>
<br />
Do you know what a "Chipotle" is?
It is nothing more than a SMOKED JALAPENO PEPPER (okay, Lots of smoked jalapeno peppers).
Have a smoker? A 12 pack of beer? Let's make some!
Go to your favorite Mexican grocer (Mercado), or wherever you can aquire good quality FRESH jalapeno pepers. (Super Walmart?)
HINT: RED (or at least partialy red) jalapenos make the best chipotle! But GREEN jalapeno peppers work good too.
ANOTHER HINT: Jalapeno peppers are really NOT especially HOT compared to many other peppers. But SOME ARE!
HERE IS HOW to determine a jalapeno's HEAT Level:
-- wood grain. Examine the peppers. The ones with a wood-grain in them are going to be hotter than those that are simply plain shiny-green.
LAST HINT: If you are lucky enough to find a bunch of RED jalapenos, use Hickory wood instead of mesquite.
For the rest of us:
Take about 5 LBS Jalapeno peppers and split them using a sharp knife from the (non-stemmed) tip about halfway up. Leave the stem on- it makes a good handle later. Not splitting them makes it take WAY longer!
Smoke-cook them for @ 12-14 hours at 140 AMERICAN degrees (F) using mesquite or hickory wood.
By now, they should be quite 'limp' and have turned a dark color (colour for those so inclined/challenged).
If you have a dehydrator, put them in at @ 145 for about 4 hours, or until 'Dry'. Otherwise, use your oven or smoker (no more smoke) to dry them out.
Chopped they're great in chile, powdered (coffee grinder) they go great in all sorts of food (pizza, jerky, enchilada's, scrambled eggs... etc)
Enjoy!
** Is a second-hand smoker dangerous?
Best know not for soup, but rather smoked meats...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Again, thanks for the recipe, SN. Please add it to the Recipe section of the FAQ Forum as suggested by Oldman in his recent topic in the Original Bradley Smoker Forum.
BTW, when I make ABTs, I really love to use jalapenos because after they smoke for a few hours they have that great chipotle taste [:p]
John
Newton MA
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">HERE IS HOW to determine a jalapeno's HEAT Level:
-- wood grain. Examine the peppers. The ones with a wood-grain in them are going to be hotter than those that are simply plain shiny-green.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Thanks for the hint.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Jalapeno peppers are really NOT especially HOT compared to many other peppers. But SOME ARE!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Now thats a understatement.
Just my observations here and I have nothing to back this up with. I ussually buy my peppers at Sams, 2lbs at a time. I have noticed that when the are FAT and STUBBY they seem to be much milder, but when they LONGER and SKINNIER they can be quite HOT. This is not a hard an fast rule but it seems a good direction anyway.
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SmokeOn,
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mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie
If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by SoupNazi</i>
<br />
Smoke-cook them for @ 12-14 hours at 140 <font color="red">AMERICAN</font id="red"> degrees (F) using mesquite or hickory wood...
By now, they should be quite 'limp' and have turned a dark color (<font color="red">colour</font id="red"> for those so inclined/<font color="red">challenged</font id="red">).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Hmmm...I thought fahrenheit was fahrenheit everywhere.
I'm trying real hard to see the usefullness of your adjectives and comments, but I'm failing miserably. Maybe I'm just having a bad day?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v433/whitetailfan/wtbuck.bmp)
<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB
It sruck me the wrong way to WTF[V]
<b><font face="Comic Sans MS">KEEP ON SMOKIN</font id="Comic Sans MS"></b>
<b><font face="Comic Sans MS">Mike</font id="Comic Sans MS"></b>
maybe just another Canuck having a bad day[;)]
Catch it,Kill it,Smoke it
I think you use CANADIAN degrees Fahrenheit when you are smoking back bacon [;)][:(!]
Just a little new member humour (or humor for those inclined [:0]).[:D] I'm desperately trying to get to Junior status [^]
MWS - Mike
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by mws</i>
<br />I think you use CANADIAN degrees Fahrenheit when you are smoking back bacon [;)][:(!]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
[:D][:D][:D] Good one Mike[;)]
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<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by SoupNazi</i>
<br />
LAST HINT: If you are lucky enough to find a bunch of RED jalapenos, use Hickory wood instead of mesquite.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
To make a real traditional chipotle as made for centuries going back to Aztec times, the pepper MUST be completely red. The flavor is radically different than with green peppers. But, as you say, not many people are lucky enough to be able to get red ones, so that is a corner that some folks must cut.
But the choice of wood is one place where you don't need to stray from the traditional recipe. Until very very recently, chipotles were smoked with pecan wood and only pecan wood. Now some people are branching out to different woods such as mesquite or hickory, which is fine, but it won't yield the same chipotle that you buy already smoked in a Mexican grocery.
I'm not trying to discourage the use of other woods. I'm just saying that a North Carolina smoked pork butt, for example, is smoked using hickory, and if you chose to smoke it using alder wood or oak then what you'd get may be great, but it isn't the real McCoy.
As for the question of heat, you are very correct that the heat of jalapenos varies, more so in my experience than any other pepper. If I remember correctly that is determined by 3 major factors, in decreasing order of importance: the "blood line" of the plant (were its ancestors hot?), the acidity of the soil (more acid equals hotter peppers; some folks mulch with pine needles to kick up the acidity of the soil), and the amount of dry heat while the plant was growing (a hotter climate produces a hotter pepper). I don't know of any physical tell-tale that would indicate the heat (but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist). The best way I know of is to ask the grocer if you can test one, then slice it open and taste the white membrane as close to the stem end of the pepper as possible. That is going to be both the hottest part of the pepper, and the most consistent indicator.
Me, I don't care; I love habaneros. I eat what seems like gallons of chipotle puree, but if you want to do something *wonderful* to a pot or bowl of chile, smoke some habaneros (best wood is probably something sweet like apple or cherry) exactly like your method for smoking jalapenos, dry them, and powder them. Use *very* sparingly. WARNING! If you do this, *always* wear gloves when dealing with the habs, *always* dehydrate them outside (or your whole family will be choking and crying), and *always* wear a cheap wood-worker's mouth-and-nose mask and some kind of glasses when you are powdering the result in the coffee grinder. I have separately made each of the 3 mistakes above (not heeding those pieces of advice), and regretted it immensely. I will never forget the time I was powdering dried habs and accidentally coughed and blew powder up into my eyes. If you've seen the eye-popping scene in the movie "Total Recall", you've got some idea of what it was like. ;-)
Curtis Jackson
[email protected]
Welcome back Curtis. I haven't seen you post in a while. You are right about the soil and climate conditions, this will also create a difference in "heat" within the same varieties. I thought that the "wood grain" on a pepper was caused by too much direct sunlight to the plant (not enough leaves on the plant to protect the pepper), but it could also be a way to tell which peppers are hotter.
I'm going to have to try the smoked habaneros. How much smoke do you apply. I always wanted to make my own Jerk powder, and using smoked habaneros (or scotch bonnets) would give it a unique taste.
Thanks to all! Lots of good information. Here we are radically changing the the quality of what we smoke, and forgetting the basics...the spice...Making your own.
Bill
<i>There is room on earth for all God's creatures....on my plate next to the mashed potatoes.</i>
Dry lines are not a blemish. They are signs of a mature pepper and indicate hotness.
Green jalapenos are best in the late summer, while red jalapenos appear in the fall.
<b>Substitutes are the following:</b> cuaresmeno (very similar) OR Fresno chile OR guero chile OR malagueta (hotter) OR serrano pepper OR yellow wax chile pepper OR fresh cayenne pepper.
The one that looks like a jalapeno is the Fresno pepper. It is green in the summer and red in the fall. However, the walls are a little thinner.
(http://www.dow-mgc.org/Rayeimages/bradley/fresno.png)
Growing jalapeno peppers is really easy. Over in Tampa there is a house next to the water where it never freezes and they have a hedge of jalapeno plants. Not to mention they have a lot of peppers!
Just for your information here is a <b>Scoville Chile Heat Chart</b>
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/scoville.png)
*EDIT ON 06.11.05 to reflect new address for image.*
Olds
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http://rminor.com
Olds,
That might explain what I saw In Sams this weekend. They had a box of 3 colored chile's . Red , yellow and green. All looked like Jalepenos. The only thing the label said was that they were "colored" chili's.
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SmokeOn,
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mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie
If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...
Just a foot note. There are hybrid Jalepenos that on the Scoville Chile Heat Chart would fall into the Zero heat level. Just like a green sweet bell pepper. I grew some one year and they had a taste that was sorta like Jalepenos, but no heat at all!
One year I got a couple of really funky looking peppers. [:0] What had happened was I had two types of peppers too close together. Generally I only grow open pollinating and not hybrids. Thus cross-pollination is very possible.
I grow each year a tomato that came to this country with my Grandfather from Polish in the early 1900s! I keep it far away from any other tomato plants--like in the front yard. It's not the best tomato I've grown, but what a keep-sake.[^]
My daughter could not grow a plastic plant. So I'm hopeing for a grand child that will inherent my blackened knees [:)]
Olds
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http://rminor.com
Hi Olds,
Can you post the Scoville chart in the FAQ Forum--it's a really useful reference.
John
Newton MA
Sure.... tomarrow too tired now. Just spent 3 hours on Paul Woods (manxman)project and still got a bunch more to do with it before nsxbill can edit it.
Olds
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http://rminor.com
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Habanero Smoker</i>
<br />I'm going to have to try the smoked habaneros. How much smoke do you apply. I always wanted to make my own Jerk powder, and using smoked habaneros (or scotch bonnets) would give it a unique taste.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Howdy again. Well, first a CORRECTION. I was in the local plant nursery this afternoon, early jalapeno seeds in hand, and I asked about the acid soil affecting the heat of peppers as I had noted here, since I was considering getting a fertilizer for acid-loving plants. They asked their horticulturalist with all the degrees to her name, and she immediately replied that the bit about acid soil and pine needles in the mulch is a myth, and that the thing that makes peppers from a particular plant hotter than others of the same breed is greater exposure to hot sun. Period. So I have to retract that part about the acid soil.
As for the habs, the ones I smoked I did in a water smoker before I got my Bradley, and I smoked them to death (and yet they were still good in stews and chilis). My guess would be that the instructions for doing chipotles would work just as well for habaneros, except you'd want to check them and probably take them out sooner due to their very thin skins. When I did mine, I just let them cool, put them in a plastic ziplock bag with a couple of paper towels in case there was any residual moisture, and whenever I needed one I'd take it out and crumble/shred it up. But you could powder them, of course.
Frankly, something more everyday useful than smoked habs is just dehydrated and powdered ones, not smoked at all. It only takes about 24 hours in a food dehydrator if you cut them in half.
While we're on the subject of habs, here's a tried-and-true recipe the wife and I eat when we diet, but the next time we make this I'm going to smoke-cook instead of grilling:
http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/poultry/chicken/double-mustard1.html
(I only use 1 teaspoon of tarragon). Here is the Home Style Inner Beauty Sauce recipe mentioned:
http://myweb.cableone.net/howle/page/ibhotsau.htm
(I generally use 1 HUGE mango and about 15 habs, and use seeds, placenta and everything except the stems)
Enjoy!
Can't wait to plant those early jalapenos; I should be smoking chipotles by about the end of July with those buggers.
Curtis Jackson
[email protected]
Curtis Jackson,
I'm not a horticulturalist; however, in the gardening world of the net my knowledge is often sought. Until recently I was the moderator and guru of a couple Organic posting boards. I had to make a decison either to continue with the Recipe project here and give of the gardening stuff or to stop here. I decided it would not be fair to the members here for me to stop now that growing season is here.
To some degree I agree with this horticulturalist however there is much more to it than what is stated. If you want the hotest, best, greatest, tasting jalapeno then grow them organically in an <font color="red">Earthbox Type Of Container.</font id="red"> (http://www.earthbox.com/) Either purchase one or make your own.
This is my time tested base soiless mixture and base fertilizer.
<font color="blue">My base soilless mixture:</font id="blue">
3 parts Ground pine bark (I run it through a chipper)
2 parts sphagnum moss
1 part Perlite /Vermiculite
1/2 part builders sand.
1 pint dolomite lime per bushel of soil mix
I do not use any wetting agents. This means you will have to really work at getting this mixture wet. Once it is wet don't let it dry out. Next I add, a good inch of mature compost to the top of my filled containers.
<font color="blue">My base Fertilizer:</font id="blue">
2 parts blood meal
1 part fish meal
2 parts bonemeal
4 parts rock phosphate
6 parts greensand.
1/2 part kelp meal
Now how much of this base fertilizer you are going to use is based on the size of your container. I mix in a lot. For example in a container that is 42" X 30" X 22" I add 6 quarts. I mix this fertilizer though out the whole container. Top to bottom--side to side. Remember unlike synthetic fertilizers most organic fertilizers are nonburning. This mixture will not burn your plants. One time I turn around wrong (LOL) and added a second 6 quarts. The plants did just fine in that double mixture.
In the water reservoir of the Earthbox/ Growth container always add one ounce of Fish and Seaweed extract per gallon of water during the fruiting. Before fruiting time add two ounce of each per week with one ounce of unsulphured Molasses to the water reservoir. When the plants are 1/2 grown side dress your plant with the above fertilizer mixture. Lightly water it into the top of the soil. If you can find any Earthworms (not red fishing worms) add them to the soil. If you add worms make sure to add a good cup of builder sand to the soil. They have to have it in order to digest food. Feed them some corn meal that is been soak in a mixture of Molasses, water and a packet of dry yeast for three days.
When your plants flowers then spray them with one ounce of seaweed and fish extract per gallon weekly for a month. Then cut back to once per month. Cover both sides of all leaves. I purchase if I have not had time to make my own Maxicrop for the fish and seaweed extracts. They are made from the highest quality and not trash fish or warm water seaweed.
The fish and seaweed mixture will address the needs of not just the the 3 macro nutrients--NPK--that most people only feed a plant, but all of the other macro nutrients:
<b>The Other Micro-nutrients people never seem to address are the following:</b>
Boron B
Manganese Mn
Copper Cu
Zinc Zn
Iron Fe
Molybdenum Mo
Chlorine Cl
Plus this mixture address the 50 plus trace elements needed to grow a very succesfull plant.
Final note: Peppers are part of the night shade family. Do not grow tomatos in the same mixture where you have grown peppers in for a good three years. If you smoke and roll your own then do not smoke around your pepper or tomato plants. If you smoke and roll your own wash your hand in a mixture of 12 3/4 ounces of common bleach mix with one gallon of water. Allow the bleach water to stay on your hands a good 3 minutes.
Good Luck!
<font size="4"><font color="red"><b>Have you Voted? If Not Click HERE!</b></font id="red"></font id="size4"> (http://bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1549&whichpage=1)
Olds
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http://rminor.com
Curtis,
I have a food dehydrator, so I will only use the BS to apply smoke. I just picked up a pound of habs the other day and will be putting them in the smoker either today or tomorrow. I wanted to do more, but the store did not have that many peppers. Out of that pound I'm hoping to get 4 - 6 ounces of powder.
If I can locate some plum tomatoes, I'm going to throw those in the BS also.
Usually, the best place to purchase jalapeno peppers are Mexican Mercado's (market). And you should find them very inexpesive too.
Truely, the best are the red japs, if you can find them. Sorting through the supply in the cooler, look for peppers with ANY red on them. These will turn completely red over time if you are patient enough... 10 -14 days. Green peppers mixed in with the red ones will NEVER turn red... sorry.
Another thing you might want to try is talking with the owner. Ask if they can get you some red japs next time they go to their supplier. You might be surprised! We have a local Mercado that will do this for us and usually results in 5 to 10 LBS red peppers @ .89 LB. Price is no object at this point!
Wood has been mentioned here... I use Mesquite on (grainy) green japs and a mix of Mesquite and Hickory on the reds when I can get them. Mesquite adds a "woody/smokey" flavor while hickory is more "sweet/fragrant". Never tried pecan as until now, I've never smoked with anything I didn't cut and season myself...
BTW- Chipotles dried and ground to a powder (coffee grinder) is absolutely FABULOUS on beef jerky!!! Good and Zippy, but not so hot to turn people off.
I have a nephew who works in a produce department (Price Chopper - a local department chain). He alerted me that they received red jalapenos, so I went up to get some. They were too small to make ABTs, so I decided to make Chipotles. I picked up 3 pounds and told my nephew what I was going to do with them. He reminded me that vegetables such as peppers are coated with wax, and suggested that I wash the peppers in a vegetable wash - this would remove the wax and possible improve the smoke flavor. Vegetable wash is fairly expensive, but I thought I would give it a try.
Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not removing the wax would make a difference when you want to apply smoke, using a temperature of 135-150 degrees F.?
John (JJC); I was in Hannafords and they have red jalapenos for $2.99/lb.; but they are only 2-3 inches long.
How long do you smoke them for? 12 hrs. seams mighty long.
Mickey
LABS RULE!!!
God bless our wildlife!
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mickey</i>
<br />How long do you smoke them for? 12 hrs. seams mighty long.
Mickey
LABS RULE!!!
God bless our wildlife!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
In using the BS, I only apply 2 hours of smoke. When I smoke the Habs. I used pecan. When I smoked the jalapenos, I used half hickory and half apple. I haven't had a chance to try any, I'm still dehydrating them. I'm using the BS as the dehydrator, keeping the temperature between 140-150 F., using the Raptor/Guru to regulate the temperature. I was rotating the racks (top to bottom and front to back) every two hours at the earlier stages. As they got a little dryer, I increased the rate of rotation to every hour. Now I am rotating every 30 minutes and removing those peppers that are dry. I should be finished in a couple of hours.
I logged in here intending to e-mail Habanero-Smoker directly but found this lost thread of mine- so I'll comment/ask here instead.
I've grown HAB peppers for several years now. Never did I have the bumper-plus crop I got this year! I've picked four or five times already, always taking only the fully orange peppers. Some of them I've smoked, most I simply dehydrate. Always, I use my old coffee gringer (gloves and face-mask HIGHLY recommended) to grind them down to a powder and store in reused glass bottles.
I just picked another 4 LBS. of HABS. My hands right now are tingling and never felt better! Did you know that capcium is a good arthritis pain reliever? It really is!
... starting to forget what I was going to e-mail/ask Habanero-smoker about....
Most hot peppers are difficult to grow from seed- they take a very long time to germinate (some over 12 weeks!) and trying to use seeds from inside the peppers you bought will be less successful than buying seeds from a distributor. I have had more failures raising peppers from my own seeds than those purchased over the internet. Just MY experience. There is a great site on the internet that sells pepper seeds and provides a lot of good information about how to germinate, grow and process/use them. I'll POST the site when I can find it again....
After re-reading through all the posts on this subject, I have to say that a couple of things rreally stick out:
1. Growing your own peppers: FULL SUN makes a huge difference! I believe my way better than average crop this year is due to the location I planted the peppers. They get great amounts of full sun all day long.
2. Soil conditions. I don't know if I agree with the acidic-soil comments I've read. My beds were made one year ago using very rich black pasture soil. What I did for the peppers was to bury a book of matches under each plant. The internet site I mentioned said that hot peppers like sulpher. I tried this and it seems to work! I also gave the plants plenty of 10-10-10 fertilizer though the growing season.
3. Jalapenos. I don't like peppers that are TOO Hot. I like the flavor and the "kick". JAPS are one of the best peppers for those like me who love the pepper taste but Not a painfull burn.
Somebody mentioned that "short-stubby" jalapeno peppers were not as hot as the long thinner ones. I agree completely. I make a lot of "poppers" using JAPS and Cream-Cheese. The "shorties" are favored by those less brave (I'm in this camp). The "veins" or "wood grain" that appears on some JAPS are a reliable indication of high heat! Trust me on this one!
Fully red JAPS are a prize and hard to obtain- even grow yourself. If you can find them, GRAB 'EM and RUN! In my garden, I do get some red ones. Mostly though, they get end-rot before I can pick and use them. Maybe some day I'll learn how do produce them myself....
Sorry- I did not intend to write a novel here....
Smoke thick-wall peppers (Jalapeno, Serrano, Ancho) 12 to 16 hours. Thin skinned ones like Habanero and Tabasco about 4 hours. Then dehydrate the smoked peppers in a suitable dehydrator (Excalibur!) until thoroughly dried and then grind down to a powder (coffee grinder works great). Split thick peppers at least halfway for better (quicker) smoking and dehydrating.
HABANERO-SMOKER::: When I remember what I wanted to ask you, I'll write back! [^]
Best know not for soup, but rather smoked meats...
Here is the link to the supplier of good pepper seeds and advice... I saw this guy on a TV food show and there is no doubt he knows what he is talking about....
http://www.pepperjoe.com/
From him, I grew the following with great success:
Habanero peppers (using sulphur)
Tabasco peppers (really great!)
Jalapeno peppers (better than Jungs seeds)
And with crappy results:
"Peter" Peppers.
They are supposed to look like your schwantz... you know; "Ernie". They sort-of do... but so what. They're overly mild and very much lacking in flavor. Pass these novelty peppers by...
Best know not for soup, but rather smoked meats...
SN;
Thanks for the information. I have been looking for a source for seeds, because I have not had any luck with purchasing hot pepper seedlings. Here in the Northeast, you have to start the seed indoors approximately 12 weeks prior to planting the seedlings in the garden.
At my age, I just might buy those Peter Peppers; it couldn't hurt[:D]
Hab,
If you grow organic the first year you will need to use fish and seaweed Extracts for the main fertilizers as it takes time for organic fertilizers to break down.. I suggest Maxicrop brand. The quality is excellent. Cost about 20.00 per gal. Mix one ounce of each together in one gallon of water. You will also foliger feed the plant with this mixture once per month.
Next take plain ole yellow corn meal (small bag) and add a 1 1/2 - 2 gallons of warm water to it in a bucket of water. Add 6 ounces of <b>unsulphured</b> molasses and one packet of dry yeast. Mix well. In about 4-5 days it will stop working off. Save the liquid and mix that into your fish and seaweed fertilizer. Add the corn meal to the base of the pepper plants. Work slightly into the soil. Do this one time per growing season in the beginning.
If you use an earthbox you can get 3 pepper plants in that box. Those 3 plants in an earthbox if fed correctly will give you a ton of peppers.
Here is a picture of a homemade "growth container" with 4 peppers that another gardener made. If you want I can post up the plans on how to make it. Cost is under $20.00 and about 1- 1&1/2 hours.
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/growth-pepper.jpg)
Also peppers are part of the nightshade family--Potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, tamarios, tobacco are just a few common plants of this family. So if you chew tobacco or roll your own smokes make sure to never touch your plant without first washing your hands in 100 part per million of household bleach (12.75 ounces of bleach to one gallon of water.) Needless to say never smoke around them.
While you might get away with growing them in the same place two seasons in a row (in-ground-growing) the percentage of having a problem will increase greatly with the passing of each year. Once rotated out do not replant there for 3 years.
Olds
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/gif/Launch47.gif)
<b>Quote SoupNazi:</b> <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><font size="2">I don't know if I agree with the acidic-soil comments I've read</font id="size2"><hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><font size="2">In my garden, I do get some red ones. Mostly though, they get end-rot before I can pick and use them.</font id="size2"><hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
"End-rot" is called Blossom-end rot. Blossom-end rot is caused by a physiologic disorder associated with a low concentration of calcium in the fruit. This can show up in young fruit as well as when fruit rippens.
Causes:
1. Non-balance of watering. Avoid drought stress and wide fluctuations in soil moisture by using mulches and/or irrigation.
2. Us of ammoniacal nitrogen may increase blossom-end rot because ammonium ions can reduce calcium uptake. Do NOT over-fertilize as side dressings (early fruiting.) If you are going to use chemical feritlizers then use nitrate based nitrogen as the nitrogen source.
3. Maintain the soil pH (peppers) around 6.5-- no exceptions.
4. Rapid growth of the first fruits to set. This is why you need to make sure you don't overly push the plants with chemical fertilizers.
Blossom-end rot can effect just about every type of vegtable. A few are:
Watermellons:
(http://www.hort.purdue.edu/rhodcv/hort410/8016.jpg)
Tomatos:
(http://www.growitgold.com/images/tomato-blossom-end-rot.jpg)
Peppers:
(http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Images/Impt_Diseases/81_Pep_Bloss.jpg)
So if you want a chance at your peppers turning red without rot then sour your soil. Take several sample of it down to your county extendion office and have them test it. Cost about $6- $10. Tell them what you wish to grow. It is well worth knowing what your growing medium is made of and what it lacks or needs to be successful.
Olds
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/gif/Launch47.gif)
<b>Edit:</b>I strongly suggest not using matches for sulfur. They contain other products. For example: Antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, starch, and sesquisulfide of phophorous and other items. Instead use a tablespoon of Epsom salts. It is hydrated magnesium sulfate--about 10 percent magnesium and 13 percent sulfur. Now you talk about kicking up the root system~~~!
Olds;
I read and copied an early post of your that was about growing peppers. Thanks for the additional information and instructions. I was going to try raised beds, but after reading your post; it would be better for me to plant in containers.
Hab,
Please read the edit above. Also do you want me to post the plans on how to make your own growth container? The production difference between a regular container and a growth container is greater than compairing the differece between a bomb shell smoker to that of the bradley. If set up correctly you just will not believe just how many peppers you are going to get.
Olds
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/gif/Launch47.gif)
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Oldman</i>
<br />Hab,
Please read the edit above. Also do you want me to post the plans on how to make your own growth container? The production difference between a regular container and a growth container is greater than compairing the differece between a bomb shell smoker to that of the bradley. If set up correctly you just will not believe just how many peppers you are going to get.
Olds
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/gif/Launch47.gif)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
That would be great if you could post the plans.
Thanks.
Oh - heart be still[:X][:X]
Not only is this the best smoking forum - but horticulture too???! After reading this, I am anxiously awaiting spring (what 8 months?) to take another stab at my pepper patch which is sadly neglected[V]
] Thanks for the tips[:)][:)][:)]
By the way, how do you download pictures?
Thanks for all the time given to this site; it is truely appreciated!
Sue<i></i>
Sue
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">That would be great if you could post the plans.
Thanks<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">I'm going to post them on the off topic board. <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">By the way, how do you download pictures?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">If you mean you wish to copy them to your hard drive then just right click on the image and then left click on "Save As" or some wording close to that.
Olds
(http://www.susanminor.org/Rayeimages/gif/Launch47.gif)
EDIT: Plans Posted <b>HERE</b> (http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2408)
If anyone would like some (free) powdered Chipotle and/or Habanero, I will gladly send you some. All I ask is that you send me a SASE.
E-mail me directly at
[email protected] if you think you can put it to good use. I really have far too much to make use of this (and next) year. If I don't give it away, the wife says I can't have any more garden space for peppers next year. (NOT going to happen! So please! take me up!)
The Chipotle are hickory smoked home-grown jalapeno peppers- dried and ground down to a powder. Since I mixed reds with greens, grainy and shiny, I will rate the heat level at MED-HOT. Great in Chili or on Jerky.
The HABS are VERY VERY (VERY) HOT!. Again, I smoked them with hickory wood (a lot less than the JAPS), dehydrated and ground down to a powder. I have a few macho (always MEN) customers who brag about their tolerance/desire for heat. This stuff shut them right up!
Believe it or not, powdered HABANERO is excellent on ice-cream with peaches and cream! (just a pinch). It is also very tasty on homemade fried corn chips (corn tortilla fried in oil) if used with sugar and moderation.
If you make beef jerky, I highly recommend you try adding powdered Chipotle (HAB if you really like it HOT) to any recipe you use.
Just ask- I'll send some to you so long as it doesn't cost me anything!
Best known not for soup, but rather smoked meats... and stuff
Did you know that Vidalia onions and Texas 10-14's are SWEET onions rather than hot because they are grown in LOW Sulpher soils?
Thought we were talking about peppers did you... :)
I grew 18 Habanero pepper plants this past year. 14 plants came from the seeds I bought over the internet and geminated myself (not easy) and the others were purchased as young plants from a roadside stand.
The wife ended up planting them all, but under my instructions to bury matches under SOME of them(pepperjoe.com advice). I wish I could say which plants got the matches and which did not, but since I did not supervise I couldn't say.
She said she put matches under half the plants, but (of course) doesnt remember which ones specifically.
RESULTS:
Two plants were 'runts' and late-bloomers. They did provide fruit, but for some reason later and smaller than the rest.
Near these two runts, half a dozen others thrived and grew taller and bushier. They produced a lot of healthy well-formed peppers.
The rest (opposite side of the garden- east) did well also. ALL were in FULL SUN and in a relatively high Ph soil. All recieved the same fertilization (10-10-10 chemical) and watering.
I can't say that the peppers grown over matches were hotter than the others simply sown into the soil... I don't know which were which and frankly I am not a fan of torch-mouth peppers anyway. I CAN say that 6 plants are still alive and have harvestable fruit on them while the others succumbed to the frost and wilted/dead and flat on the ground. I will be processing them this week.
A smoked Habanero, dehydrated, is a beautiful thing to see. I only wish they were not so NASTY FLAMING HOT.
I will try OLDS idea of using epsom salts next season. Not too thrilled with the ingredients of matches he posted here...
** Once last sage of advice-
Get yourself some premium vanilla ice cream (Ben & Jerry's/Hagen Daz/Breyers etc)... let it get soft and partially melted. Mix in a very small amount of Habanero (a tiny pinch) and cover with canned peaches with a little juice and some cream (1/2 & 1/2 or 'heavy/whipping'). Serve with wafer cookies and maybe a shot of HOT-DAMN (cinnamon), Creme de Menth (mint), Chambord Liqueur (raspberry), Grand Mariner (orange) or even Romana Samvca (liquorice/italian)... The heat of the pepper is greatly trempered by the sweetness of the creams for wimps like me, but most especially, the FLAVOR of the pepper really comes out and makes this a treat your guests will rant over!
Also, try substituting Manderine Oranges for the peaches and definately use Grand Mariner over the top. Apricots work well too.
Who knew a Habanero could be so tasty?!!!
[:p]
I serve the above after a meal of smoked pork tenderloin (backstaps) and it just compliments the meal in a great way!
Tried this twice using my BS and now it's a frig. staple.
Home-Smoked Chipotle Chiles
· chunks or logs of fragrant hardwood, preferably a combination of oak and mesquite
· 1 1/4 pounds red ripe jalapeno chiles, with stems
· 1/2 cup dried red New Mexico chile puree or commercial chile paste, such as Santa Cruz
· 1/3 cup water
· 2 tablespoons tomato paste
· 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
· 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
· 1 clove fresh garlic, peeled and crushed
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
Prepare a smoker according to the manufacturer's directions, using the wood chunks and achieving a steady temperature of 275 to 300°. Place the chiles directly on the smoker rack (or use a shallow disposable foil pan) at the cooler end of the smoking chamber or on the upper rack if your smoker has one. Lower the cover and smoke the chiles for 2 1/2 hours, or until they are soft, brown, and slightly shriveled.
Remove the chipotles from the smoker. In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine them with the chile puree, water, tomato paste, vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, and salt. Set over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring once or twice, until the sauce is very thick, about 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
Transfer the chipotles to a covered storage container and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using. They can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen for up to 2 months.
Dried Chipotle Peppers: After removing the chiles from the smoker, place them on a rack and leave them, loosely covered, at room temperature, until crisp, light, and dry, 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the humidity. Store airtight at room temperature.
NOTES : Green jalapenos can be used, but red ones are more beautiful and have a deeper, sweeter flavor. Grow your own, or select chiles that are beginning to turn red; they will eventually ripen. (Those picked without any red at all in their peels will always remain green.)
Makes about 3 cups.
Recipe from "Burning Desires" - W. Park Kerr