On Mon, 02 Aug 2004 03:26:00 -0000, Dog3 <dognospam@adjfkdla;not>
wrote:

>Michael Odom > got ****ed off and typed
:
>
>>
>> http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/portugal.asp
>>
>> These guys don't look long, gnarley and green, though. Your
>> description puts me in mind of unripe Carolina cayenne chiles.
>
>The green chile in the middle of the page is what was at the reunion. The
>page says they are not Piri Piri. I'll read further, maybe they will
>identify the green pepper. I'm not sure what the thing is.
>
I noticed the similarity, too. We might need a field trip to
Portugal. My daughter was there last Spring and reported that it was
wonderful. Affordable, too.
>>
>> Ever have a pequin chile?
>
>No I have not. What is it like?
>
They grow wild along the Texas-Mexico border. They're something of an
ur-chile, I suppose. Tiny, bullet shaped, variable heat, but often
incredibly hot. Some people call them bird chiles because birds love
them and spread their seeds. A friend of mine who used to work in the
oil patch told me that he and the roughnecks who work on the rigs
would buy a case of beer after work and pull up a pequin chile plant
on the way back to their rooms. Pop a beer. Pick a pepper. Snack on
it. Guzzle beer. Sometimes the pepper gave out a tingle. Sometimes
it burned a bit. Sometimes it was so hot they ran out of beer. All
from the same plant.

There was a motel in Houston up to a few years ago that I really liked
staying at. Old, funky, cool. When the Rolling Stones played
Houston, their roadies stayed at this place. I stayed there when I
was in town for art business or just tourism. They had wild pequin
chiles growing in their azalea shrubs. The Houston winters are
usually mild enough that some of the plants were several years old
when I was last there. The plants were really quite decorative, and I
did pick a few chiles for eating from time to time. A big, bad flood
ruined the motel in the late 90s. When it came time to rebuild, it
turned out that the land was worth much more than any motel could
justify. So it is no more.

Sorry to hijack your Portuguese chile post like this, but I love those
little chiles. I have a jar of pickled pequins in the fridge and put
them on grilled cheese sandwiches with some frequency.

modom

"Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes."
-- Jimmie Dale Gilmore