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Post by horsea on Aug 1, 2013 14:11:52 GMT -5
Do hot peppers, even the relatively mild ones, have a flavour over and above mere hotness? That is, could I blindfold you, serve you 10 different hot peppers of the same level of heat, and you would be able to identify at least some of them? Thank you!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2013 15:30:55 GMT -5
I'm no expert; I could count the hot pepper varieties I've grown without running out of fingers and toes. Even so, the answer is definitely YES, at least for some of them. It's flavor in addition to heat that makes me want to keep growing them. Two examples from my garden: Mariachi F1 has a sweet fruity flavor in addition to the heat, and Mariachi salsa has sort of a mango flavor to it. The u Šara I grew this year had a dark, smoky flavor, kinda like grilled fruit. Both of these will be regulars for me.
MB
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 1, 2013 20:07:26 GMT -5
Hot peppers have many different flavors. I have had many through the years that were hot, with little flavor, even the basic pepper flavor. But I just grow those once, and look for better ones.
Jalapeños have a very unique flavor, which is why they are so popular. Habaneros - or chinense peppers - have an almost floral scent and flavor, unlike other species. Tabascos, and other peppers of the frutescens species, also have a unique flavor. And two of my favorites - Bulgarian Carrot and Hanoi Market - are two orange peppers that have a delicious and unique flavor (once they are ripe), which I have been unable to find in any other variety, including many other orange varieties I have tried.
There are also coutless flavors in dried peppers out there. And even peppers that look alike, as many small 2"x1/4" do, taste different. Some are just hot, but others have much more flavor. And when some are cooked in oil, there is little but heat, while some caramelize better, and give a wonderful flavor. I tried many peppers sided by side to find my favorite for making nam prik pao, and finally found a really great pepper - Super Thai. Every year I try others, but so far, none are as good.
Another thing about peppers is that some aren't that good green, but really good ripe, and a couple I have had were not really good until dried (rooster's spur was a bitter pepper like that). The best peppers are the ones that are good green, ripe, and dried, though a few, like those orange ones I mentioned, are best fresh and ripe.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2013 21:31:56 GMT -5
My u Šara are like that. Zero heat and very forgettable flavor when green, but hot/smoky/fruity/sweet and SO worth the wait when ripe. Bulgarian Carrot and Hanoi Market - are two orange peppers that have a delicious and unique flavor (once they are ripe), which I have been unable to find in any other variety, including many other orange varieties I have tried. Always looking for great flavor, but I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to capsaicin. Serranos are about the limit of what I can eat fresh (although that seems to be changing as I age, as jalapeños were the limit ten years ago). Where do these fall on the heat scale? MB
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Post by horsea on Aug 1, 2013 23:48:06 GMT -5
"The best peppers are the ones that are good green, ripe, and dried, though a few, like those orange ones I mentioned, are best fresh and ripe."
Could you give me an example of such a pepper? I guess you are talking about hot peppers, right? Not sweet ones. I know nothing about peppers at all (am trying to learn) but I did grow mini bells from seed last year - orange - red - yellow) and they were good tasting at all stages.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 2, 2013 0:04:32 GMT -5
My u Šara are like that. Zero heat and very forgettable flavor when green, but hot/smoky/fruity/sweet and SO worth the wait when ripe. Bulgarian Carrot and Hanoi Market - are two orange peppers that have a delicious and unique flavor (once they are ripe), which I have been unable to find in any other variety, including many other orange varieties I have tried. Always looking for great flavor, but I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to capsaicin. Serranos are about the limit of what I can eat fresh (although that seems to be changing as I age, as jalapeños were the limit ten years ago). Where do these fall on the heat scale? MB Just guessing, but Bulgarian carrots are around 50k and Hanoi Market a little cooler, around 40k - definitely hotter than the 20k or so of serranos. However, the veins can be removed carefully and you can remove a lot of the heat. These peppers are great in guacamole (I have some friends who always ask me "do you have those good peppers in this?" And they are my favorites in nuoc cham, and other SE Asian table sauces. Here are some photos showing what the Hanoi Markets look like:
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materman
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Post by materman on Aug 2, 2013 7:03:02 GMT -5
My uncle always said if you peel a hot pepper, it takes a lot of the heat out of it. He would even take a real sharp knife and peel Habanero's so that he could get a seance of the true flavor of the fruit. I personally have not tried it but take his word on it
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Post by horsea on Aug 2, 2013 23:09:14 GMT -5
Tks for interesting info. I was wondering if I could somehow magically develop a taste for hot peppers.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 2, 2013 23:45:26 GMT -5
"The best peppers are the ones that are good green, ripe, and dried, though a few, like those orange ones I mentioned, are best fresh and ripe."Could you give me an example of such a pepper? I guess you are talking about hot peppers, right? Not sweet ones. I know nothing about peppers at all (am trying to learn) but I did grow mini bells from seed last year - orange - red - yellow) and they were good tasting at all stages. Thai dragons, Thai Nippon Taka, and Red Demon Thai are three of my favorites Thai peppers for using green, red or dried, and superchilis are an all time favorite. Lombak is an Indonesian pepper, only around 15-20K, that is good green, but best ripe either fresh or dried, and produce so much that I dry most of it. Cayenne peppers, while used in in all stages, really don't have the flavor many others have, and dried cayenne is a good example - all heat, and little flavor. My uncle always said if you peel a hot pepper, it takes a lot of the heat out of it. He would even take a real sharp knife and peel Habanero's so that he could get a seance of the true flavor of the fruit. I personally have not tried it but take his word on it Don't believe it! Back in the 70's, before all the peppers we have today were known in this country, some of the hottest peppers you could get were some canned Jalapeños by Ortega (hard to believe the brand is still here!), and they were fire-roasted, with little black bits of skin stuck to the flesh. They were packed in oil, and were hotter than another pepper still out there now, and listed back then as the hottest pepper in the world - Tabascos. There was something about the heat in those jalapeños that just would not leave your mouth! Tks for interesting info. I was wondering if I could somehow magically develop a taste for hot peppers. It can happen - a friend of mine, the step-son of a guy I worked with, who used to come over for many years and help me in my garden, packed up his things and went out to CA to live with his older brother when he was 18. For many years he and his mother hated hot food so much that we had to cook half of some hot dishes with no peppers for them, before making the good stuff (even his younger sister loved the hot foods, but she has her father's taste buds!). He came back here about 2 years later, and came into my kitchen, said "watch this", and popped one of the Thai peppers I had on my counter! As he put it, there was no way he could live out there, and not eat Mexican food, and he got to liking it so much that he learned to cook all the hot stuff I make, and learned to grow the peppers as well.
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Post by horsea on Aug 3, 2013 17:25:40 GMT -5
Then there's hope for me! Thank you for the testimonial!
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swamper
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Post by swamper on Aug 5, 2013 18:56:52 GMT -5
I agree with Drahkk that Mariachi has outstanding flavor, and it's been one of my best producers. I planted f2 seed this year and the yield/fruitset doesn't seem to be as good as the f1, but it might be the weird weather. cool wet then HOT, then cool wet. I'm partial to peppers that start yellow. They seem to develop more flavor when grilled. Arledge from Lousiana is another that has a great flavor and ripens red early. Alma paprika is doing well this year, another with a very rich sweet flavor. Cherry peppers can develop a great sweet/hot flavor when ripe, but also taste good green. I don't really understand why people get so obsessed with growing the hottest pepper, though I do like the flavor of chinense peppers in a sauce.
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swamper
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Post by swamper on Aug 14, 2013 20:10:57 GMT -5
For what it's worth, the f2 mariachis aren't making as much fruit as I have seen on the f1s in a normal year. I think it's been a poor year for both tomato and pepper fruitset overall. oddly some of the sweet peppers have better production than the hots,
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2013 20:55:14 GMT -5
I think the weather has had a lot to do with it this year. For me, the F2s were a little bit hotter than the F1s, but pretty much equivalent in production. This year's F3 generation has been less productive though, much like your F2s. They tasted right, though, and I saved F4 seed for next year. We'll see how they do.
MB
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