Espelette pepper

[lurley]

I had a few ripe Espelette peppers today so I brought them in and washed them off and took a big bite... holy sh#@! I was immediately coughing and burning. I thought these were only supposed to be a 4 like a medium jalepeno... these were a bit more I think. I only go big bites of raw with anything less than a hot serrano, anything hotter than that has to be chopped small, pickled, or dried and ground so I can use small amounts in cooking. Maybe because it has been really hot and dry lately and they are in a raised bed that drains quickly? If I water will the heat in future harvests be a little more tolerable to eating fresh? (for me)

[matereater]

I'm no expert, but I've heard the hotter the weather, the hotter the pepper.

[lurley]

I do hope you are right, they have a lot of flavor and will be great dried and ground for kitchen seasoning, but I was hoping they would be a tad less hot for fresh use. They are not anything terrible hot like my habanero or lemon, pequin or bird, but I was looking for something with a little kick that wouldn't make me cough and choke.

[fortyonenorth]

Lurley,

Pure Espelette's are only mildly hot - not nearly as hot as your typical jalapeno. I think they have a wonderful taste and, for me at least (and I'm a wimp), the perfect amount of heat for fresh eating or on salad, etc. I enjoyed several today on my grilled cheese sandwich. Heat is dominant in peppers, so your pepper might have been crossed with a much hotter variety.

I wonder why they are not more popular in the states. Before I tried them, I figured they were shy seed producers, but that certainly isn't the case. Of course, they have AOC protection and, strictly speaking, if they are grown in Indiana or Ohio, we can't call them Espelette's at all. I've seen many sources of Espelette powder, but very few sources for seed. I wonder if the French control export of the seed. I bought mine from an Indiana company as "Espelette-type Basque pepper" or something to that effect.

[lurley]

Forty,
Do you have any pictures of yours for comparison to what I have? I bought commercial seed that was supposed to be the real deal, now I'm not so sure.

[fortyonenorth]

Here you go, Lurley. Of course, I can't guarantee mine are correct - I've developed a healthy distrust of all pepper seeds - but they seem to match the type insofar as appearance, taste, and heat. There's a guy who posts at iDig from the UK who apparently got some espelettes from France - they even came with a certificate (haughty French ) and his description matches up to what I'm getting.

[neoguy]

Originally Posted by fortyonenorth

Lurley,

Pure Espelette's are only mildly hot - not nearly as hot as your typical jalapeno. I think they have a wonderful taste and, for me at least (and I'm a wimp), the perfect amount of heat for fresh eating or on salad, etc. I enjoyed several today on my grilled cheese sandwich.

I question the source of the heat level you are referring to as being only mildly, hot. And, how does mildly, hot compute into Scoville units? I'm not here to argue. Everything I've read, which is very limited to the information available on the web, equates the heat levels to a Jalapeno. A Wiki search, which we all know doesn't mean the end all to the truth, indicates the Scoville of the Espelettle's to be between 3,500 and 8,500.

3,500–8,000 Espelette pepper, Jalapeño pepper, Guajillo pepper, New Mexican varieties of Anaheim pepper,[15] Hungarian wax pepper, Tabasco sauce


I've grown this pepper for 3 years now. Each and every year they have grown true in each aspect as to the previous year, shape, size, heat and plant form.

My original seed source was a a kind T'ville trader by the name of Alex, perhaps he'll see this and chime in.

People mention a sweet Espelette. Can't be sweet and hot and the same time. Can't be the same pepper, can it? I understand the Espelette's are AOC protected, which means the name Espelette can't be used with any seed saved and traded.

Any French folks to tells us exactly what this pepper is to taste like?

[fortyonenorth]

I sure don's know, but it's really piqued my interest now that we're talking about it.

I looked back at the iDig thread and Blane said his were way hotter than Beaver Dam. What I have growing this year isn't as hot as Beaver Dam. I couldn't eat a fresh Beaver Dam seeds and all without significant pain.

In another thread, I asked "What Makes a Jalapeno a Jalapeno?" (http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=17143). I suppose the question could be asked, what makes an Espelette an Espelette? Setting aside the geographical constraints of the AOC, is "Espelette" akin to "Sudduth's Brandywine" - meaning a very specific selection with near-identical DNA - or is it more akin to "big pink beefsteak."

In terms of heat, the Wikipedia entry for Espelette says "This pepper attains only a grade of 4,000 on the Scoville scale and therefore can be considered not hot." Whatever that means.

Lurley, in terms of shape, if you do a Google image search, *most* of the hits are similar to our peppers, though there are a few that look more like Cayennes. This French site dedicated to the Espelette - looks like ours as well. http://www.pimentdespelette.com/wp-c...t-bilingue.pdf

[lurley]

I can send you seeds of mine too for a heat comparison when grown side by side in same conditions

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