cayenne peppers

[WVTomatoMan]

Okay first of all some hot peppers are okay to eat when green. However, in most cases they taste better and have more heat when they are ripe. You can't always be choosy. When you're making salsa and you need hot peppers sometimes you have to make do with what you have even if they're green or not fully ripened. What would really be uncivilized would be to eat Mexican food in the summertime without my delicious salsa.

The way I process my peppers is to dice them and put them in zip lock bags in the freezer. Then whenever I want some I just break off a chunk and cook. I said dice them and I do that with small amounts. For larger amounts, which is usually the case, I use the food processor.

Randy

[organichris]

I like peppers fully ripened, even jalapenos and serranos, but I can eat them green. (And serranos are my favorite pepper, by the way.)

As far as cayennes go, my father-in-law pickles them green, and they're actually not that bad. The texture is good for pickling when green. When they turn red you get that tougher skin which isn't so good for eating unless you're going to pulverize them or you're using them to heat up your pickled okra.

[stormymater]

I am just now getting my first thin red cyaennes - I am watching the long, thick, wrinkled cayennes with great interest - these things are at least 9 inches long & prolific as all get out! The Trinidad perfumes are just turning yellow & the Congo Trinidads as flowering. Bulgarian carrots are still green but heavily covered with serrano-shaped fruit. My lord, the Kung Pao hybrids are 2 1/2 feet of branches absolutley covered with 5 to 6 inch long thin green peppers(these will be my stringers). Fish peppers are striped shades of green - watching them yearning for a big harvest but they seem a bit shy - the variegated plants are so pretty I may have to pot them up in the fall & bring inside. I love hot peach jam, hot pepper jelly & pickled peppers!

[tjg911]

just an update. i picked a few cayennes over the past few weeks but now i am getting many to ripen. the other day i picked 7 peppers. i added some chopped pepper no seeds or pith to a salad and while they had some heat i was surprised that i was able to eat them raw. i think eating them with food lessens the heat, when i ate a tiny piece with nothing else the heat was very high.

tom

[Blueaussi]

Capsaicin is fat soluble, so if you used salad dressing or topped with cheese, it would make you perceive the heat as less.

[tjg911]

yes, i used thousand island dressing and thought that may have cut the heat. even tho i expected it to be pretty hot, so much so that i was afraid i had ruined the salad! it was good, just a bit spicy.

i had pretty good luck with the 1 cayenne plant this year and may try another hot pepper next year. the trouble is the greenhouse carries just cherry peppers which i don't want because i think they are not hot enough, cayenne which i feared might have been too hot but seems ok and haberno and i am NOT messing with those! i raise just about everything from seed but peppers is one of the few i don't and really prefer to buy.

it's fun trying hot peppers, something i never was interested in just a couple of years ago.

tom