On Mar 25, 10:02 am, "Nunya Bidnits" wrote:
Sounds like Pico again. But don't the chunks of tomato and onion get a
little mealy when you thaw them out?
Surprisingly, not too much. Just soft. It isn't perfect, but a damn
site better than store bought. Even though it was made here in San
Antonio by its founders, no one I know eats Pace Picante sauce. I
understand that there are some new flavors out that are pretty good,
but I haven't had any desire to try them.
But as for the homemade cooked ranchero sauce, you would never know if
it was the original batch off the stove or frozen.
Around here with average frost date in mid April, planting anything like
that is hopeless. With a much shorter growing season some of the peppers you
can grow won't even mature. For example starting a habanero from seed will
get you a little scrawny plant with a few smalling unripened peppers by
fall,
Well, no habaneros for me. I can buy ONE and that will do for
seasoning. Years of abusing the hot stuff has made a mess of my
innards, and I can eat some pretty hot stuff with no ill effects. But
not too much. I am in deep trouble if I do.
There is a Thai place by the house where the old ladies that run it
(Thai of course) actually grow their own Thai basil and Thai peppers.
They make all kinds of great sauces and dishes with them. But what
gets me in trouble is this: they take the Thai peppers and dry them
hard. Then in a black, cast iron skillet they almost char them,
getting them the color of dark chocolate. Then they take them over to
a commercial blender and grind them to powder and put a tiny spoon in
a little tiny bowl for you to add to your entree.
The flavor is amazing. The smoky flavor, the slow heat,
and the intensity of it all is too much to resist. I almost always
overdo that stuff. My tongue will go numb, then my throat, then the
whole inside of my mouth. I lose all sense of taste and I can feel my
lips tingle like they do at the dentist's office after Novocain.. But
stupid me, I press on.
After leaving the restaurant, the inside of my mouth is numb for about
30 minutes or so. Then about two hours later I start getting a hot,
boiling sensation in the pit of my stomach... you get the picture
after that.
I have burned myself alive so many times I almost (almost) don't enjoy
going there. I still go, though and promise myself every trip that
this one will be different.
because like tomatos, they need a certain ground temperature before
they will grow. Otherwise they just sit and often get root rot before the
ground warms up.
If things work well, we can get two growing seasons here for tomatoes,
and a good one for peppers, etc. It is our winter veggies that suck.
Some years we don't have winter, so I don't plant anything after
fall. I usually get in about mid February with everything, replant
tomatoes first/mid June, then we have the last of the fall tomatoes
around October. I might even squeeze one or two out in November.
To hedge my bets, I plant in tree containers. They are large and
black, so they warm nicely in the sun and the roots stay nice and warm
on our chilly nights.
As for peppers, as a suggestion, you might want to change the type you
plant, depending of course on your personal taste. I like the
distinctive taste of the jalapeņo,
but prefer the heat of the serrano for the most part. I have also
planted cayenne, and a vine ripened fire engine red cayenne pepper
excellent in sauces.
I don't know how it would work there, but here we get japs, serranos,
etc., on the plants in as little as 45 days. We have full sized
peppers soon after. I am not familiar with the habanero's growing
needs, so I don't know how that would stack up in your planting
schedule.
A couple of years ago we had a ton of rain around the middle of the
growing season of peppers. I mean many inches. As a result, the
local markets had more japs than they could deal with and we had japs
3 - 4 pounds for a buck. I bought about 10 pounds, and took them
home. I cut the stems off and a generous piece of the core.
I put them on my old barrel smoker and dried them out of a cool fire
of red oak. I actually took a couple of days of smoking to get them
hard and crunchy! Ground them up, put them in a shaker, and it was
heaven. Instant wood smoke and heat on anything. Sauces, dips,
mashed potatoes, soups, beans, popcorn, you name it, it got
sprinkled.
Prilosec (omeprazole) works for me g. The doc prescribes it as a generic
for acid reflux and I get 90 days worth for about what 14 pills cost over
the counter. Between the hot peppers, Mexican food, and the barbecue I'd be
in trouble without it!
I am trying to get a hold of my heat addiction so I don't have to do
the little purple pill. Right now I can control it with the Pepto,
but not always real well. But the older I get, the tougher that is.
Hey, didja ever make chile chocolate chip cookies?
Nope. But I have tasted them, and they are great. We are getting
geared up for Fiesta
http://www.fiesta-sa.org/about.aspx
and there is always all manner of stuff like that there. There is
jalapeno beer (more lime flavor than jap), jalapeno peanut brittle
(EXCELLENT), jalapeno candy pops with baby scorpions in them (don't
ask me, I think it is like the worm in agave tequila), and all manner
of other hotter than hell foods. Steamed oysters with freshly made
pico de gallo topping them is a real crowd pleaser, as well as "nachos
sopremos" served with chili and lime beer or a jalapeno margarita.
Another favorite is grilled corn in the husk, served with... you got
it, ground chilies and butter. (You butter first so you can get the
ground peppers to stick and really screw up your stomach).
Also served is pineapple and mango have been partially dried, then
rolled in a mixture of powdered hot peppers and salt, then served as
snacks. Peanuts rolled in a mixture of different coarse ground hot
peppers and some kind of sweetener is a given.
It is a common complaint from many tourists that visit Fiesta to
wonder why everything has to be so damn hot.
(We think it is "gringo style" but hey, if you aren't used to the
heat, you just aren't used to it.)
Hell everyone knows that. It gives us a reason to drink regular
frozen margaritas!
Robert