wrote in message
...
On Mar 30, 8:37 am, "Nunya Bidnits" wrote:

Here's something to try in your recipe: Smoked (Spanish) Paprika. I have
seen smoked Paprika sold both with and without the "Spanish"
designation. It
adds a dimension of smoke flavor to rubs and sauces, and in my opinion,
where a recipe calls for "liquid smoke", tastes much better and more
natural.

I was visiting in Houston about a month ago, and went to Penzeys's
where they have the sample spices in large jars for you to take a
whiff. The smoke Spanish and Hungarian paprikas they had there were
beyond description they smelled so good. Nothing like the stuff in
the bottles I had that made me not like smoked paprika.

Marty, here's something to try. Next time you put a butt on, get a
couple of handfuls of jalapenos, core them, remove the ribs and the
seeds if you don't want too much heat. Smoke them with your butt
until they are almost crispy. Give them a good grind, and put that in
a shaker.

It is good for everything from baked potatoes, popcorn to soup. The
japs really take the smoke well.

You're making chipotle! Are you using red ripened japs? That's the only way
I've done it. Flavor would be different using unripened japs. When my garden
gets going I let the jalapenos ripen because they taste better and I smoke
'em. Most people are familiar with chipotle only the way its usually sold in
stores, in a can, packed in adobo sauce. Those are tasty, and nicely hot,
but not the same as straight chipotle, obviously.

For sauces etc. where I need a larger amount I can get chipotle powder and
sometimes whole chipotle from Planters Seed Co.
http://plantersseed.com/

MartyB in KC

On Mar 30, 3:15 pm, "Dave Bugg" wrote:
Walt Fles wrote:
It was 6 pounds, and the brine added some nice moisture and actually
the brown sugar and molasses penetrated it and left a dark ring in the
middle of it. overall it turned out quite well.

A butt has a lot of moisture which is increased with the cooking as the
collagen breaks down. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing you. I was
just trying to figure out if you knew that brining a shoulder or butt for
bbq just isn't necessary.

--
Davewww.davebbq.com

OK thanks for your input. One thing though I did notice was that my
old thermometer for some reason
(maybe since it should not be immersed one of my unknowing children
washed it in the sink) was not
working, and when I went to the store to get some other food to have
with dinner I picked up another
grill/oven safe meat thermometer. The shoulder was done much sooner
than I expected, so therefore I
think it cooked a bit quicker than I thought it would. The bone
pulled out fairly easily but the meat did not
shred (pulled) as I hoped it would have. I'm just learning how to
regulate the heat on this grill/smoker but
I'm certain the next times will be much closer to perfection.

On Mar 31, 9:02 am, "Nunya Bidnits" wrote:


You're making chipotle! Are you using red ripened japs? That's the only way
I've done it.

Sadly, the red ripened ones have another home. I eat them with
sandwiches, or save the big ones and grill them in halves after
stuffing with cream cheese seafood dip. The red ones are a little
sweeter and seem to have a more gentle heat to them. So some of them
go into salsas for color as well as tasted.

Flavor would be different using unripened japs.

Oh, yeah. The green peppers have a much sharper flavor, no sweetness.

Take a handful of the peppers while dark green and just starting to
turn and smoke them to almost dry. I make mine the way one of our
local pepper purveyors does, and he brands his "Texas Gunpowder". I
wash the peppers, cut the stem end off to allow the moisture to escape
and dry and grind the whole peppers seeds and all.

When you smoke them green, they have a really different taste, and it
is much more pungent. I like to smoke mine over local oak wood with a
piece or two of mesquite thrown in. They will be VERY pungent and
smoky. For a change, I just cut them into slices and put them on a
non stick surface and let the little wheels smoke. These are really
great in bowl of Texas red.


When my garden
gets going I let the jalapenos ripen because they taste better and I smoke
'em. Most people are familiar with chipotle only the way its usually sold in
stores, in a can, packed in adobo sauce. Those are tasty, and nicely hot,
but not the same as straight chipotle, obviously.

Those little cans aren't very popular around here. Most, but not all
of the folks that are serious about traditional cooking smoke their
own and do not want all the sauce with its tomato, vinegar and spices
in it along with the chilies.

Interesting to me and a few of my amigos that prefer the traditional
ways is the fact that when you search for recipes to make your own
chipotles, the almost always include the adobo sauce. They also tell
you to use dried peppers to smoke! Wrong - not if you want a
traditional chipotle.

It's raining here so no work for me, so a little more info with your
coffee.

Chipotles were originally dried and smoked for preservation purposes.
In many places in Mexico it is still the same, with fresh japs put in
the smoker and dried much like jerky with the same aim in mind. Our
fair city is full of latinos (69% !) and has been a gateway from
Mexico for many decades. It was only natural that the traditional
methods of the homeland came over there with the immigrants, and
traditionally smoked chipotles were part of those methods.

So around here, only recently were the smoked peppers in adobo called
"chipotles". They were called "smoked peppers in adobo" until all
those cooking shows found a couple of brands with "chipotle" on their
cans. I have even found recipes on the net for making homemade
chipotles using the pickled japs (escabeche style) as the peppers!
Why would you smoke a pickled pepper?

Folks around here go for the heat and not for the other flavors. For
example; say you made a pot of beans, and want that smoky pepper spice
in it. You don't get a can of peppers in adobo, you go to the
cabinet and get your bottle of lightly ground smoked japs and use it.
No vinegar, tomato or anything else is added to the beans. Just a
little heat and smoke.

For sauces etc. where I need a larger amount I can get chipotle powder and
sometimes whole chipotle from Planters Seed Co.http://plantersseed.com/

I haven't seen them before. How is their ground chipotle? Smoky?
Smoky enough that you don't lose the punch in a recipe?

The prices don't look bad if they are a good product.

Thanks for the link!

Robert

On 31-Mar-2008, "
wrote:

On Mar 31, 9:02 am, "Nunya Bidnits"
wrote:


You're making chipotle! Are you using red ripened japs?
That's the only way
I've done it.

serious snipping here


For sauces etc. where I need a larger amount I can get
chipotle powder and
sometimes whole chipotle from Planters Seed
Co.http://plantersseed.com/

I haven't seen them before. How is their ground chipotle?
Smoky?
Smoky enough that you don't lose the punch in a recipe?

The prices don't look bad if they are a good product.

Thanks for the link!

Robert

Plantersseed is a new one for me too Robert. I get my pepper
products from sweetfreedomfarm.com. I use a lot of their
Ancho
and New Mexican Red. I do have serrano and chipotle as well.
The prices are so reasonable, there's no reason to NOT have
a variety on hand.

Brick(Just treading water here)

" wrote in news:c9956f70-
:

Why would you smoke a pickled pepper?


Don't know? but i once picked a peck of pickeled peppers.

How long does it take to smoke the peppers roughly?

All this talk of smoked ground peppers has me wanting to try.


--
Tommy Lee

On Mar 31, 7:26 pm, wrote:

Plantersseed is a new one for me too Robert. I get my pepper
products from sweetfreedomfarm.com. I use a lot of their
Ancho
and New Mexican Red.

Wow. Another great link for the hot stuff. I am wondering though,
they are so inexpensive, are those website prices still valid? They
almost seem cheap when looking at their prices.

And of course, the bigger question, how fresh are their peppers? All
of your dried peppers will have a certain pungency to them, some more
than others. When you take a careful whiff, you should be overwhelmed
with that pungent smell. Now add some smoke....

Speaking of smoke, their ground chipotle looks really cheap. Soo.....
is it really pungent and smoky?

Thanks for the link - there is no such thing as too many chili pepper
sources! I use a lot of ground chilies, and for a lot of different
recipes. I use dried ancho and cayenne in homemade ranch style
beans. I use chipotle on anything I can get away with, including
deviled eggs So I am always looking for new flavors.

Robert

On Mar 31, 7:32 pm, motley me wrote:

How long does it take to smoke the peppers roughly?

A peck of them?

All this talk of smoked ground peppers has me wanting to try.

Seriously, it is easy to do.

Method #1:

Cut the peppers up into little wheels and put them on a cheap non
stick backing sheet (hello, Big Lots) and put them on one layer deep.
A little overlap is OK. Depending on how thick you cut your little
wheels and how hot your fire is, you can plan anywhere from 3-4 hours
to get them just below crispy. They will turn all kind of nice
colors, but will wind up about the color of dark chocolate.

Take them of the fire, let them sit inside for an hour to cool, then
grind or store as desired.

Method #2:

Perfect when making butts or brisket. Take whole peppers and slice
them lengthwise, but not all the way through. You are cutting a long
slit the length of the pepper in order to allow the moisture out and
to speed cooking as well as allowing better penetration of the smoke.
Scatter these over your baking sheet, and smoke. Whole peppers like
this take about 6, but maybe as many as 8 to get where they need to
be.

Take them off the fire to cool, and for some reason, the whole peppers
need to sit a while longer than the sliced to get to the point where
they will grind properly. About an hour and a half to two will do it.

You can grind these, but I leave them whole as they seem to retain
their flavor longer. When I am ready to use them I grind them in an
old whirly coffee maker or rough chop with a big knife.

******

For both of these methods, the end result is about the same. The
reward? Wow. Home smoked over oak/mesquite or your favorite wood
combo will give you an incredible flavor.

A couple of notes:

- Don't bother doing this over charcoal. Not enough smoke to
penetrate the wet skin well

- Don't dry on a regular pan as the peppers will stick like glue if
there isn't non stick coating

- Don't spray or oil the surface, as it will introduce oil to your
dried bits of heaven. Make sure the contact surface is very clean

- Store them in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed bottle or jar.
They seem to last forever with little care

- Almost without fail, any pepper is 10% meat to 10% water. So
roughly figure what your yield will be on 90% reduction of mass

- Using that same formula as above, compute how much hotter the end
product will be than the raw, green, hydrated stuff. Be careful when
starting out

I assure you it is well worth the effort, and for me, when I got my
WSM several months ago, I don't even wait for a brisket or butt. The
WSM is so stingy on fuel that it takes nothing for a 6 - 8 hour wood
smoke. Whenever the pepper crops come in and they are 2 - 3 lbs (or
more!) for a dollar, I crank up and get smokin'.

Robert

wrote


%
Why would you smoke a pickled pepper?

Damn if I know, I sure can't keep 'em lit. Too wet and it tears the papers.

But would you pickle a smoked pepper? :-)


Folks around here go for the heat and not for the other flavors. For
example; say you made a pot of beans, and want that smoky pepper spice
in it. You don't get a can of peppers in adobo, you go to the
cabinet and get your bottle of lightly ground smoked japs and use it.
No vinegar, tomato or anything else is added to the beans. Just a
little heat and smoke.

For sauces etc. where I need a larger amount I can get chipotle powder
and
sometimes whole chipotle from Planters Seed Co.http://plantersseed.com/

I haven't seen them before. How is their ground chipotle? Smoky?
Smoky enough that you don't lose the punch in a recipe?

The prices don't look bad if they are a good product.

Yeah, its good stuff. I use it in barbecue sauce, red chile sauce, chili,
Cajun dishes, and just about anything else where I can get away with some
smoky heat.If you call Planters, sometimes they have whole chipotles too. If
you have a sales tax number, or tell them you belong to a barbecue team and
buy in lb. quantities, you can get deep discounts off the prices posted.
However it sounds like your local sources are going to be hard to beat for
freshness.

Planter's is a venerable institution around here, with every kind of seed
for vegetable, lawn, garden, and bird you can imagine, bulk or consumer
packs, plus more kinds of growing medium and planting trays and pots than I
have ever seen in any one other place. And the smell of the spices when you
walk in their makes you just want to pull up a chair and hang out for the
day.

MartyB in KC

On 31-Mar-2008, "
wrote:

On Mar 31, 7:26 pm, wrote:

Plantersseed is a new one for me too Robert. I get my
pepper
products from sweetfreedomfarm.com. I use a lot of their
Ancho
and New Mexican Red.

Wow. Another great link for the hot stuff. I am
wondering though,
they are so inexpensive, are those website prices still
valid? They
almost seem cheap when looking at their prices.

And of course, the bigger question, how fresh are their
peppers? All
of your dried peppers will have a certain pungency to
them, some more
than others. When you take a careful whiff, you should be
overwhelmed
with that pungent smell. Now add some smoke....

Speaking of smoke, their ground chipotle looks really
cheap. Soo.....
is it really pungent and smoky?

Thanks for the link - there is no such thing as too many
chili pepper
sources! I use a lot of ground chilies, and for a lot of
different
recipes. I use dried ancho and cayenne in homemade ranch
style
beans. I use chipotle on anything I can get away with,
including
deviled eggs So I am always looking for new flavors.

Robert

I could pontificate all day about the quality of various
spice
sources, but in this case your best bet is to pick out a few
1/4lb packages and try them out for yourself. You can
believe
those prices. I've been buying from them as well as Penzey's
and Pendery's for several years. I've never had reason to
complain about any of them. At first, I fell into the trap
of buying
1 lb packages of everything, mostly because the prices were
so
good. Believe me, a pound of pepper is a hell of a lot of
pepper.
One tip I can give you is to take advantage of quantity
purchases
for shipping advantage. You can't make out by buying just
one
4 Oz package.

One other thing. Penzey's has a slick catalog and an overall
slicker presence then either Pendery's or Sweetfreedomfarm,
but the others provide equal quality in my opinion and much
better prices. One more link you might use is
"chiliplants.com".
They're a great source for live plants and this is the right
time
of year to be ordering them. (They may spell chile with an
'e'
so watch it.)
--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

On Mar 31, 10:21 pm, "Brick" wrote:

At first, I fell into the trap
of buying
1 lb packages of everything, mostly because the prices were
so
good. Believe me, a pound of pepper is a hell of a lot of
pepper.

A pound is a lot. I use about a pound to a pound and a half of plain
ground red chilies a year for everything I make. But as for the rest
of them, not nearly as much. Of course we also use a lot of fresh
here due to its availability.

And of course our big locally owned chain keeps many of these dried
peppers in the produce isle almost all year round: cascabel, piquins,
ancho, pasillas (mainly for sauces), chili de arbol, New Mexico red
(seasonal), japanese (VERY popular and look like chili de arbol), and
from time to time others that are marked with names that I don't
remember the names of (meaning I don't use them, either).

Due to the proximity to the border, we also get different Mexican
chilies that come our way, but they are more of a treat than a
regularity. We have large Mexican farmer's market that just opened up
I have yet to go to in town, and I'll bet there are more kinds down
there I haven't tried as well.

All of that is a really good thing for me because as you can probably
tell I really like that stuff.

One tip I can give you is to take advantage of quantity
purchases
for shipping advantage. You can't make out by buying just
one
4 Oz package.

I can't imagine buying 4 oz. of ground peppers from a spice store and
stopping there. I'll bet if one looked hard enough you might find it
was a law that you had to have about a pound or so of spices on every
order. ;^)


One other thing. Penzey's has a slick catalog and an overall
slicker presence then either Pendery's or Sweetfreedomfarm,
but the others provide equal quality in my opinion and much
better prices.

Thanks for the heads up. Nothing in the world beats hands no
experience. There was certainly the *wow* factor in Penzey's, and it
is like Marty described when referring to his favorite spice place. I
just wanted to sit down and take it all in.

Folks just don't realize how badly they shortchange themselves when
they buy low quality or old spices from bad sources (like the
supermarket!) that are usually collected from floor sweepings.

Luckily, growing up in San Antonio high quality fresh spices were
always easy to get, even a hundred years ago. This original, one of a
kind plant is 10 minutes from my house:

http://www.fiestaspices.com/?page=index

About three years ago I had my crew out repairing a building NEXT DOOR
to this place when it was grinding day for onions and garlic. My
goodness.... then it was black pepper day... Oh my.... and my mouth
watered all day when were around that place.

But you know, they don't have all the spices. And they have shifted
their business model to make more mixed seasonings and rubs so single
spices aren't a major portion of their product line anymore. Check it
out:

http://www.fiestaspices.com/?page=product_index

Their online prices don't look that good, but on a local level they
package their products to be competitive and they do a good job with
it.

While you are there, if you are interested there are some good South
Texas Style recipes on the left in their recipe section.

One more link you might use is
"chiliplants.com".
They're a great source for live plants and this is the right
time
of year to be ordering them. (They may spell chile with an
'e'
so watch it.)

Got it! I am off to see "chiliplants" after I send this. Once again,
thanks for yet another link.

Robert

wrote

%

Folks just don't realize how badly they shortchange themselves when
they buy low quality or old spices from bad sources (like the
supermarket!) that are usually collected from floor sweepings.

Yes, and even the best ground spices aren't as flavorful as grinding whole
spices when you need them. Unless the spice store grinds the spices
themselves (and often they don't because that makes them a food processor
and subject to many additional regulations) even the ground spices at a good
spice store won't be as flavorful as the same spice bought at the same
store, whole, and then ground on demand. I read an article somewhere about
exactly why that is, having to do with oxidation is about all I recall, but
maybe someone else can shed more light on it.

You mention using a lot of chile ancho. I buy whole anchos and reconstitute
them into a thick liquid that serves as a flavor base for a lot of meals I
like to make. Its a base for red chile sauce, chile con carne, and even for
my tex/mex version of red beans and rice, with a brown roux added. The
result is sort of like liquid chile powder. Quantities can vary to taste,
but this is it basically:

Chile Ancho Paste
Enough dried anchos to nearly fill a blender
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp ground comino
1 tbsp oregano, pref mexican
4 cloves of fresh garlic

Toast the anchos in a hot dry skillet, turning often, until softened and
fragrant, but do not burn.
Put anchos and the rest of the ingredients in a blender with enough very hot
water to cover and let stand 30-60 minutes.
Blend until it forms a smooth thick liquid.

I find this mixture stores in the fridge very well, up to a couple of weeks,
sometimes longer. I have never tried freezing it. The non-chile ingredients
may be varied according to taste and purpose. You can make the paste with
the anchos only, and substitute it for ancho powder in recipes. It will have
better flavor than the powder.

While you are there, if you are interested there are some good South
Texas Style recipes on the left in their recipe section.

One more link you might use is
"chiliplants.com".
They're a great source for live plants and this is the right
time
of year to be ordering them. (They may spell chile with an
'e'
so watch it.)

Got it! I am off to see "chiliplants" after I send this. Once again,
thanks for yet another link.

Same here, gonna check it out. The greenhouse suppliers of bedding plants
around here get worse every year about mislabeling chile plants. The last
time around I found at least 25 % of the bedding plants were incorrectly
labeled. A few major greenhouses supply most of the lawn and gardens around
here, so its hard to get away from the stupidity.

MartyB in KC

"Brick" wrote

%

One more link you might use is
"chiliplants.com".
They're a great source for live plants and this is the right
time
of year to be ordering them. (They may spell chile with an
'e'
so watch it.)


Here's an exotic source for heirloom and rare seeds, including a really wild
range of chile seeds that are truly rare, with background information. Their
print catalog is extremely informative and I have several of the booklets
they sell on line, which have excellent detailed information about chiles
and other heirloom vegetables that is hard to find. Check out their own
hotness scale, different from Scoville, in which the Tepin is pronounced
hottest. Very interesting site and a great source for exotic seeds.

MartyB in KC

On Apr 1, 9:05 am, "Nunya Bidnits" wrote:

Chile Ancho Paste
Enough dried anchos to nearly fill a blender
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp ground comino
1 tbsp oregano, pref mexican
4 cloves of fresh garlic

Toast the anchos in a hot dry skillet, turning often, until softened and
fragrant, but do not burn.
Put anchos and the rest of the ingredients in a blender with enough very hot
water to cover and let stand 30-60 minutes.
Blend until it forms a smooth thick liquid.

I like the recipe. It is similar to a lot of bases for different
dishes I am familiar with, not the least being "puerco rojo", or "red
pork". Your base is a perfect sauce for that, as it is written.
Probably a little salt and pepper, and that's done.

With the peppers toasted properly, and a tablespoon of creamy peanut
butter added, you have a damn fine version of a mole sauces, too.
Stew or bake a chicken, then ladle this stuff on top as a finishing
sauce. Oh, man!

I like the touch of toasting the anchos in a hot dry skillet. And of
course, when you are finishes with the peppers and take them out,
toast whole cumin seed next, about 25% more than you would use pre-
ground. Grind the seeds in an old coffee mill. Fresh toasted cumin
is another excellent addition to any dish that has plain ground cumin
it. It is night and day different to even the freshly ground whole
seeds.

Same here, gonna check it out. The greenhouse suppliers of bedding plants
around here get worse every year about mislabeling chile plants. The last
time around I found at least 25 % of the bedding plants were incorrectly
labeled. A few major greenhouses supply most of the lawn and gardens around
here, so its hard to get away from the stupidity.

Even in this chili laden area, it happens all the time, and for
exactly the same reason. We have 3 or four nurseries that supply
everyone from the big box home improvement stores on down. Our local
nurseries outlets are supplied by them as well.

I have planted my peppers expecting cayenne only to get bannana.
Worse, we have 3 different speeds of jalapeno here, and I like the mid
heat as a side with my barbecue and sandwiches, and the "hot" for my
sauces and cooking. So when the kids at Lowes or HD are sweeping up
at night and the mix up the little plastic tabs, you never know which
ones you get. As far as the mild japs go, they are pretty pointless
to me, so if I get a 6 pack of those it really ****es me off.

But they do the same with tomatoes as well. I have about 18 plants in
this year, and like always you don't really know what you have until
they start producing. I am hoping I got what I wanted, but who
knows. I am careful to try to get to the store early and select from
the middle of the flats to get plants that haven't been mixed up.

They are right more than they are wrong, which is all that keeps me
from planting from seed.

This has turned into an interesting thread.

Robert

wrote in message
...
On Apr 1, 9:05 am, "Nunya Bidnits" wrote:

Chile Ancho Paste
Enough dried anchos to nearly fill a blender
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp ground comino
1 tbsp oregano, pref mexican
4 cloves of fresh garlic

Toast the anchos in a hot dry skillet, turning often, until softened and
fragrant, but do not burn.
Put anchos and the rest of the ingredients in a blender with enough very
hot
water to cover and let stand 30-60 minutes.
Blend until it forms a smooth thick liquid.

I like the recipe. It is similar to a lot of bases for different
dishes I am familiar with, not the least being "puerco rojo", or "red
pork". Your base is a perfect sauce for that, as it is written.
Probably a little salt and pepper, and that's done.

Well you hit that pretty much dead on. I make "pork steaks in red chile
sauce", and that's the base, but it gets some tomatoes, garlic, ground
comino, chipotle powder, onions browned when I brown the pork steaks, and
some chicken broth, and some roasted green chiles at the end if I feel
fancy. Simmer the browned steaks and onions for a couple hours until falling
apart. I have the meat dept at the grocer cut them for me 1 1/4 thick.


With the peppers toasted properly, and a tablespoon of creamy peanut
butter added, you have a damn fine version of a mole sauces, too.

Hmm, never thought of the peanut butter! I use that mexican peanut stuff to
make mole, forget the bname right this second, and sometimes sweeten it or
use a bit of cinnamon. Anyway its gonna happen soon..... g

Stew or bake a chicken, then ladle this stuff on top as a finishing
sauce. Oh, man!

I like the touch of toasting the anchos in a hot dry skillet. And of
course, when you are finishes with the peppers and take them out,
toast whole cumin seed next, about 25% more than you would use pre-
ground. Grind the seeds in an old coffee mill. Fresh toasted cumin
is another excellent addition to any dish that has plain ground cumin
it. It is night and day different to even the freshly ground whole
seeds.

Yeah, I toast cumin seeds too, guess I left that out. Toasting it gives a
whole new dimension to a great flavor.

Same here, gonna check it out. The greenhouse suppliers of bedding
plants
around here get worse every year about mislabeling chile plants. The
last
time around I found at least 25 % of the bedding plants were incorrectly
labeled. A few major greenhouses supply most of the lawn and gardens
around
here, so its hard to get away from the stupidity.

Even in this chili laden area, it happens all the time, and for
exactly the same reason. We have 3 or four nurseries that supply
everyone from the big box home improvement stores on down. Our local
nurseries outlets are supplied by them as well.

I have planted my peppers expecting cayenne only to get bannana.
Worse, we have 3 different speeds of jalapeno here, and I like the mid
heat as a side with my barbecue and sandwiches, and the "hot" for my
sauces and cooking. So when the kids at Lowes or HD are sweeping up
at night and the mix up the little plastic tabs, you never know which
ones you get. As far as the mild japs go, they are pretty pointless
to me, so if I get a 6 pack of those it really ****es me off.

But they do the same with tomatoes as well. I have about 18 plants in
this year, and like always you don't really know what you have until
they start producing. I am hoping I got what I wanted, but who
knows. I am careful to try to get to the store early and select from
the middle of the flats to get plants that haven't been mixed up.

I wouldn't think they could get away with that in your neck of the woods and
its surprising that there are so few growers of bedding plants in an area
where peppers grow so well. On the other hand, in your climate you can get
away with just throwing the seed right into the ground and thinning as it
comes up. I used to start from seed around here, usually with seeds from
Redwood, but to get the bedders in the ground in time you have to start
early with grow lights that can be adjusted for height, repot them at least
once indoors if you want big healthy plants by late april, and a big old
indoor mess that I finally abandoned. I did win a bunch of ribbons with the
peppers I grew from Redwood and you just can't get the interesting stuff
from the nurseries around here, but any more all I want is good stuff to
cook with.


They are right more than they are wrong, which is all that keeps me
from planting from seed.

This has turned into an interesting thread.

Yeah, us pepper freaks are at it again!

The Redwood City Seed Co has instructions on germinating some of the hard to
start seeds. The seeds commonly called bird peppers require that they pass
through the intestinal system of birds before they will germinate, as this
weakens the outer seed shell enough for germination. They give instructions
which involve soaking the seeds in a solution of salt peter before
germinating in a particularly warm spot in the dark.

MartyB in KC

motley me wrote:
" wrote in news:c9956f70-
:


Why would you smoke a pickled pepper?



Don't know? but i once picked a peck of pickeled peppers.

How long does it take to smoke the peppers roughly?

All this talk of smoked ground peppers has me wanting to try.




I don't smoke pickled peppers. I do smoke Jalapeno's, Serrano's and
Habanero's.

Cut the tops off. Cut the Jalapeno's in half length wise. Clean out the
Jalapeno's. Don't worry about getting perfect. Just scrape out the
loosest stuff. Since the Serrano's and Habs are already so small, I
don't bother with cutting in half. Just cut top off.

Lay peppers on grate so they are not on top of each other. Smoke dry
them over lump and your favorite wood for 8 - 12 hours. I use hickory.
I try to keep the grate temp at 180 - 200°. Due to the shorter days, if
I am doing this in December, I will smoke them closer to 8 hours and
finish on a dehydrator, if needed. Summer months, if I start early
enough in the AM, I will go towards the 12 hours.

Let cool a bit and grind up. I bought a very small food processor for
this task. Grind up till pulverised. The Habs may turn to a powder
because of their thin skin. If your going to combine them all for a
blend, make sure you mix well to get the Habs distributed evenly.

It's very easy, but does take all day. Enjoy.

BBQ