anybody use chili pequin (sp?) peppers?

TheSeedObsesser

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Sorry, this far-fetched yankee can't help you on this one! :D

I have seen them on the Native Seed/SEARCH website though. I'd imagine they could be used were ever you would regularly use the usual hot peppers. Perhaps throw some into your next bowl of chili?

Hopefully another southwesterner/southerner will come to reply.
 

digitS'

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Okay BJ, I'm gonna start grinding some salt - today!

No, I don't grow Pequin peppers - do the plants grow very tall there in Texas? No, I've got 2 hot peppers every year that a lot of people just grow as ornamentals - well, 1 of them anyway.

The Thai Hots are kind of dense with foliage and look like little trees. Upright fruit, however, and tiny like Piquin.

The Super Chilies are probably used as ornamentals by many gardeners. They are only a little taller than the Thai Hots. Nice and sturdy and very productive! Very HOT, too! And, they aren't just for lookin' at . . .

Last winter I said that I would make a "shakeable" pepper mix. I set out to find something called "popcorn salt." It is a special salt that is more powder than granules and sticks to things better. I'd finally open that food dehydrator box that I got DW as a present about 5 years ago now :rolleyes:. Set that up with some, I don't know, sweet onion ~ garlic ~ lemon grass ~ parsley . . . And, make some seasoning salt!!!

Well, I'm reluctant to open DW's present and after going to 2 or 3 soopermarkets and looking for it -- gave up trying to find that "popcorn salt!" I'll try to make salt powder and just use some of these dried peppers! I get a lot of them ~ well, have gotten a lot of them. Usually, however, the fresh peppers are what are put in the mortar & pestle and that goes in a little tupperware container and into the freezer. Whenever I want some of that, I can scrape a little of the paste out with a spoon.

Why don't you join me in some of this activity this year? :) We can compare results :).

Steve
 

digitS'

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Okay, I went to work, BJ :p!

Even tho' the Super Chilies have been off the plants a long while, they were not at all crisp. So, they filled the air in the kitchen with a very pleasant fragrance as they did a little more drying on very low heat.

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Then, the air changed!!!

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Actually, I'm just showing you the mortar and pestle. But, after I'd ground some salt - that seemed to work fairly well - the few Super Chilies from the pot went in there. I finally set the mortar on the floor so that I could get as far away from it as possible!! After the kitchen window had been open for about 30 minutes, the room was safe to re-enter! I got the ground pepper in with the ground salt in this Giant Container!

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You know, it wasn't all that cold outdoors yesterday and this should have been an outdoor job. I'm thinking, I kind of like that frozen paste from the fresh ripe peppers and messing even with this small amount of those tiny sticks of dynamite is just too, tooo much!

Steve
koff! koff!
 

bj taylor

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I've been gone a long time. I come back and steve is engaged in dangerous kitchen experiments! I like it though. I love the idea of a shakeable form. I could use it all the time that way. i'm buried to my neck in holiday stuff right now & the chili pequins aren't ready yet anyway. sounds like a great plan, BUT, I think I will do my work OUTSIDE
 

digitS'

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BJ, I used the mix in my pot of soldier beans. It provided the salt for those beans.

Even tho' we could taste & feel the heat of those peppers, DW said that the beans needed a little more salt. She is a low-salt person. I ignored her . . .

How much salt did I have in with the peppers? By volume, it must have been 50:50! It might help to make them a little more easy to handle, at least, that was what I was thinking. Have to admit, some of the salt was garlic salt. By weight, it would have been really weird but I only had about 2 tablespoons of powdered Super Chilies when I finished with them in that mortar. I decided that there should be 2 tablespoons of salt to mix with them.

It was not as dramatic as years ago when I first began using my own dry peppers in cooking. For some reason, I thought I should crumble them into a pan with oil before I put any other food to cook in there. The vapors rose up and engulfed me! Thankfully, there was snow on the ground outside of my cabin. I just opened the door, stepped out and fell face first into that cold, wet snow!

Steve :p
 

NwMtGardener

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I am thinking of trying to grow some hot peppers this year, but not so sure now. :th

You should grow some GWR, just don't process them in your house - by hand or with a food processor :p

If you do attempt some in our BRRR climate, think about doing everything possible to keep them warm and give them a really long growing season. Start early, grow in pots in your warmest location. Good luck!
 

Gardening with Rabbits

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You should grow some GWR, just don't process them in your house - by hand or with a food processor :p

If you do attempt some in our BRRR climate, think about doing everything possible to keep them warm and give them a really long growing season. Start early, grow in pots in your warmest location. Good luck!

LOL. I don't want to run out and jump in the snow face first! I will look for some seeds when I go to town. Thank you!
 

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