Crops & Varieties: Peppers (Hot)
Always be very careful with handling and cutting hot peppers! Gloves are a good idea, and it’s really important to not rub your eyes after handling cut hot peppers. The capsaicin responsible for the heat in the pepper is oil soluble, so water won't fix it, but soap might.
|Anaheim||Anaheim peppers are a delicious, not-particularly-spicy chile great for a wide range of uses. Since they're not too hot, use them like sweet peppers with a bit of a bite.|
|Cheyenne||These are a hybrid cayenne pepper that grows long, curly, and wrinkly. And did we mention....hot!|
|Habanero||Extremely spicy, but also extremely fruity and delicious. We use them in our salsa to provide both heat and sweetness.|
|Jalapeno||Ubiquitous throughout many styles of cuisine, these peppers vary widely in spiciness -- check for cracks along the shoulders to see how hot it will be! You'll see these in green and, when fully ripe, red.|
|Poblano||Again, these peppers can range from sweet and light to very hot... and taste amazing as chili powder. They're easily mistaken for a green bell pepper, but are a deeper green and not as blocky in shape.|
|Serrano||These small, fleshy peppers look like small jalapenos, but they're a good bit spicier. Very tasty raw.|
The most intense heat in a hot pepper is found in the seed and membranes. One easy way to judge the heat of the pepper is to taste a small bite from the tip (since there are no seeds or membranes there, you get an indication of the spice level and flavor, but be careful!). It's also generally true that smaller and thinner means hotter (as long as you're comparing the same variety of pepper with another of the same kind).
Make a quick hot chili paste by removing the tops of the peppers and placing about 4 peppers with a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a food processor. Remove seeds and white membrane to reduce the spiciness, as this paste can be extremely hot if you don’t.
Like sweet peppers, don’t store peppers in plastic bags - paper or produce bags are best.
Though it’s okay to store them in a paper bag in the fridge, it’s best to keep them at a cooler room temperature covered with a towel. They tend to lose flavor more quickly in the refrigerator, but it’s a good backup plan if, for example, you don’t have air conditioning.
Hot peppers are also great for dehydrating - see the link below. It’s easier than you think!
Food.com: Spicy salsa
|Grilling:||10-20 mins (less if strips)|
|Roasting:||10-20 mins at 350-400 °|
|Stir Frying:||3-4 mins|