I finally got something to grow and produce fruit. I kept expecting my jalapeños to get longer so I left them on the plant, but instead of getting longer they just turned red. Are they edible? Are they going to be extremely hot? What should I do with my handful of jalapeños? Should I slice and pickle them so they last longer?
IIRC they will be less hot and more sweet now.
How the heck did this get in the pit? I could have sworn I was in GQ. Then again maybe it should be in CS?
As a general rule, the redder a sweet pepper the sweeter. The redder the hot pepper, the hotter. Your jalapenos will be hotter the redder they are.
Also, the smaller the hotter.
You are so lucky.
Moron! Look where you’re going next time. God gave you eyes for reason and it wasn’t only to look at porn. It was also so you didn’t post in the wrong thread on message boards!
Thanks, I was afraid I’d miss out on some pit abuse if the mods moved my thread too quickly. I realize that no one else has ever posted in the wrong forum before so I do deserve some harsh words.
Biggirl, thanks for the answer.
In before the move: Asshole!
To produce chiles chipotle, jalapeños are left to ripen on the vine. They are then dried and smoked.
As far as what to do with them you can use them pretty much like green jalapeños. Or you might dry them.
That’s what SHE said!
Wat a bunch of ignit Dorks.
Actually you really never know what you are going to get in terms of heat with jalepenos. I let half of mine turn red then smoke them. Thats what chipotles are.
Moved to GQ.
You’re all fuckwads.
…oh wait…
Absolutely. All green peppers eventually turn red/orange (or yellow), so far as I know. As they turn from green, they tend to develop sweeter and fruitier characteristics. Think of the difference in flavor between a red bell pepper and a green bell pepper. This is pretty much the difference between a red jalapeno and green jalapeno. The greens have a “crisper”, more grassy and slightly bitter taste, while the reds are a bit sweeter and more fruity. I don’t notice any difference in heat between a red and green jalapeno. The heat levels are all over the map.
This applies to different types of peppers pretty well, but as far as individual peppers from the same plant… not so much. The heat level, even from the same plant all picked at the same time is kind of random and hard to predict in my experience, and size/color is not much help.
pulykamell summed it up pretty well as far as the flavor goes. Red ones taste much better IMO and it’s really worth waiting for them to turn all the way (even if it does give you less over time).
As far as preserving them, I don’t really like picked jalapeños nearly as well as fresh. I usually just chuck mine in a bag and stick them in the freezer (take the seeds out first if you’re going to save them for next year) - they will last quite some time that way. If you’re going to use them in the next week or so you can probably just toss them in the fridge.
If you plan on using them in something like soup or chili you can also dry them either using a dehydrator, or the oven. I’ve heard you can also dry them by just running a string through them with a needle and just hanging them up but I’ve never tried it (always afraid they would get moldy or something).
I’ve been known to successfully dry peppers by picking them, setting them down on the countertop “just for a moment” while I put the rest of my garden supplies away, and then forgetting about them for a month. If they didn’t rot or mold from that, then stringing them up and hanging them should be just fine.
I’ve done the string peppers and it works fine. My father has a pretty nifty method involving a crock pot. IIRC, he set the peppers in the crock pot on low, uncovered, gives them a stir from time to time, and out come dried peppers after half a day or a day or so. I’ve only seen him do it with smaller peppers like Thai chiles and habaneros, so I don’t know whether it works as well for something as big as a jalapeno.
Interesting. My objection to jalapenos has always been not the heat, but the taste. In fact, the spice always tasted really, really sour to me–like it was the sourness that was making it hot.
I may have to try a red jalapeno some time.
My mandatory jalapeno recipe.