sautesmom,

Heck yeah! Sounds like a good plan. Really no need to take seeds out unless you are going for great color. (which I often do) If do remove seeds, be sure and try to leave the placenta intact as much as possible. This is where the major capsaicin heat is and a lot of flavor.

As to dehydrating... if dry enough to powder and small flake then you have dried enough to be well preserved in an air tight container and will last years. If you end up with large flakes or chunks then I would put back in dehydrator.

JohnT

I usually pick all the rest of my peppers, remove the seeds, then cut them in pieces, and dehydrate. I use a coffee grinder (blender type) to chew them up when they have dried. It gives me small flakes and powdered peppers. The pieces are no bigger than about an inch, and no smaller than a half inch. They do shrink a LOT, so stay on the larger side, as they can fall through the grids of a dehydrator. A dehydrator is necessary, because if they are just air dried, they can spoil before they are completey dried. I had some leftover from two years ago, and use then as is, in some italian pepper and onion sausages.

Here in the Central Valley I have peppers dry in days just sitting on the counter before I can use them. I save them up and when there are enough I put all -- hot, med., and mild -- in the blender, whirrrr, and store in a jar called "HEAT".

I think your idea of making flakes would work fine.

Here in humid Kentucky it depends much on the variety. Thin walled chilis, like Sinahuisa and Yellow Squash, will air dry just sitting around. But thick walled types, like Jals, much go in the dehydrator.

Because I'm running the dehydrator anyway, I generally put all my chilis in it. But I keep them segregated, then mix and match later on.

Just sent my pepper seed order off in the mail.

This coming summer have decided to try the different "heat" types - growing and making into powders. Will keep these posts in my "saves" to refer to next summer.

So far - have ordered Ancho poblano, jalapeno, tabasco, cayenne, habanero, pimento and paprika.

This summer I made some fabulous enchilada sauce (thanks to this forum - again), and canned it. Really simplifies the chili making and hot sauce for enchiladas. It contained the anchos that I grew this summer, along with a spicy bit of thais that I grew last year - for some added heat.

Looking forward, especially to doing paprikas and canning pimento types as well.

Hopefully by harvest time, I will have found a more efficient drying technique - solar preferably.

Nice to have these helpful hints to work with. I hadn't thought about leaving the seeds in when making powders - are they ground up along with the rest of the pepper?

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

> Nice to have these helpful hints to work with. I hadn't thought about leaving the seeds in when making powders - are they ground up along with the rest of the pepper?

Bejay,

Yes. Nothing wrong with the practice at all. Saves a lot of time and because leaving them in leaves the flavorful placenta undisturbed. Most everyone I know leaves the seeds in. I just like the better color (reds, oranges, browns etc) you can get by removing seeds and low temperature dehydrating. Just a visual thing. Green pods, most yellow pods, I leave the seeds in.

What, no baccatums??? One of the very best species IMO.

Happy growing,
JohnT

The hots do get a lot of heat from the seeds, so you must decied if your wanting that part or not. Most pepper seeds are hard to pulverize in a dried state and your wanting small flakes. I will grind the flakes, and run thrm through a small hold colander to get out the smallest pieces, anthing left, gets another hit in the coffee grinder, until it all goes through the colander holes. When I dried all my sweet peppers, I did cut them open and removed all the seeds. The same holds true for tomato seeds, as I have run them through a blender and also a Vita MIx and neither has mash up the seeds. A couple of places that have good pepper choices is the Tomato Growers, Totally Tomatoes, and a third company that's based in New Jersey who have a couple of hundred pepper types.

I second the baccatums motion. Great chilis, every one.

> I second the baccatums motion. Great chilis, every one.

gardenlad,

I agree. Never yet had a dud. Medium thick flesh, modest to good heat and very good flavor every time. Production on 2nd year plants and most 1st year plants if you are a zone 6 or above or early start a zone 5 and below can be astounding. (total pod weight)

The seeds themselves contain no capsaicin and the only heat gained is from the placenta residue on surface.

jt

John, we are never going to get that message home. People insist on believing that the heat is in the seeds; even professional chefs, who should know better, report it that way.

I've all but given up trying to education people on this issue; as the Bard never said, there's no sense beating a dead capsicum.

So jt - where did you get the baccatum seeds for your tabasco?

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Bejay,

I get all my baccatums from the aji queen herself. She loves them and grows them for personal use. Because she is a good personal friend is not why I put up her link. Feel free to compare prices elsewhere.

JohnT

Here is a link that might be useful: Peppermania

Bejay, be careful how you use those terms, because they have precise meanings.

Tabasco is a C. frutescens, the only one commonly grown in the U.S. It is the variety that was grown on Avery Island, and made into Tabasco sauce. They remain the basic ingredient in almost all Louisian hot sauce recipes; but most of the mash (the sauce is made from ground, fermented pods) is now produced in Mexico.

Seed is readily available, not only from the pepper specialists, but from mainstream seed houses as well.

The whole history of tabasco, as both a named pepper and sauce, is dramatic as all get out, and includes a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

C. baccatum are a different species, one of five species of domesticated peppers. Their hallmark is their citrusy flavor. Heat levels range from 0 (technically 1) SHUs for the Aji Flor (the so-called orchid pepper), to as much as 150,000 SHUs for some of the hotter ones like Puca-Uchu. Usually, any variety name preceeded by Aji is a baccatum.

Seed is not as readily available as it is for Tabasco. But all the specialty seed houses offer several baccatums.

I wasn't intending of saying all the heat is in the seeds, but they do get unappetizing if they are chewed and your not wanting them in the recipe. Some heat is in the pith too.

If baccatum is all you say, especially if citrus scented (which I like), then I may give them a try.

However, my interest is about the Supreme Court story - I presume someone felt THEIR tabasco was being infringed upon, but do tell us more (you just knew I was going to ask didn't you?).

Bejay

Bejay it's a very long story, many more pages than I'd want to type.

I'm sure though if you do a search (try tabasco, tabasco peppers, tabasco sauce for starters. If not, try McIlhenny and Avery Island) you'll find numerous references.

Jean Andrews, in her seminal "Peppers The Domesticated Capsicums" has a very good summary up of the pepper's origins and the trademark infringement battle waged (and won) by the McIlhenny family. Anyone interested in chilis should read that book, anyway. So it would be worthwhile hunting down a copy.

As to trying the baccatums, were it me I would start with Aji flor and, perhaps, Aji Colorado. The Aji Flor both because it's stone cold gorgeous (the pod resembles an orchid flower, thus it's common name, orchid pepper), and because it's lack of heat lets you taste the underlying flavor typical of baccatums. Aji Colorado (which is available in both red and yellow versions) is a moderately hot chili, that provides a sample of the pungency/flavor combo.

Bejay,

Aji Colorado, Lemon Drop and Brazilian Starfish will give you a great baccatum experience. Go here for some pictures of mine: Blossom & Pods sm 2003 Good examples here too of what gardenlad pointed out about usually, but not always does Aji mean it is a baccatum.

Aji Colorado is a workhorse and will give you lots and lots of pods. Lemon Drop and BS are no slouches either. Lemon Drop powder has gotten the best reviews than any of my numerous powders. Aji Limon (C. chinense) is to me rather similar in taste, but nowhere near the production. Brazilian Starfish has no heat, but a really nice flavor.

Given proper care, the baccatums can grow very large. The plants I am facing in this photo are container baccatums:

Don't let him kid you, Bejay. The truth is, John is only 19 inches tall, so those plants just look huge. :>)

Kidding aside, I have to concur with John about Lemon Drop. If I had to be confined to growing just one chili (perish the thought) that would certainly be on the short list.

In my mouth, Aji Limon is a bit hotter, and has that smoky nuance typical of the chinense.

My pepper seeds arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, I saw your posts about the baccatums a bit too late to consider them when I ordered.

While I'm not a great lover of the "hot" in peppers, the subtle flavors are more to my liking. I think I would like to try the Aji Limon and probably seek out the orchid type Ajo Flor, that you mentioned - just to satisfy my curiosity.

All I need to do now is to find enough room for the plants from the 7 packets of seed that I just got from Scheepers. My order, incidentally, went very smoothly - and this always keeps my usually sweet disposition in its proper place.

A bit OT, but I ordered gift cards for the holiday "on-line" - they arrived almost 2 weeks late! Granted the holidays, but that was a little bit too long, I thought. Maybe I'll just go back to writing checks and send my order in the mail, it seems to work faster - fewer hang-ups.

Sorry - venting again!

Bejay

Bejay, send me your snail mail addy offline (KentuckySeeds@hotmail.com) and I'll send you seed for the Aji Flor.

Make sure you tell me in the email what it's for, because that's the AHSC (Appalachian Heirloom Seed Conservancy) addy, and you'll wind up with a membership brochure instead of the seed.

Mighty nice of you to make the offer GL. I sent off the information.

Hope I can do justice to raising them.

Haven't started the other pepper seeds as yet - waiting for the weather to warm up.

As a previous post mentioned, they are a bit tempermental to "get going" but once established, can sometimes be perennial in this part of the country.

There are still about 5 growing out there - trying to "ignore" our cold night temps (in the 30's), but being very brave about it. Some have small peppers hanging on.

Will keep you posted on my trial of Aji Flor.

Thank you again.

Bejay