My unexpected 2012 Bird/Tepin/Chiltepine mini project

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Beautiful! Nice to see all the variation in 'bird types' you recieved.

Time to fire up the dehydrator and spice grinder to see how they taste!

[Texas Blues]

Very nice chiles! Pequins and chiletepins are my favorites. Those look pretty dang good though I am surprised as they are in such small containers. I haven't grown any chiles or anything else for almost 3 years but my gal and I recently got into a new house not too long ago. I'm soon to start work on some raised beds for tomato's and a few other veggies but I also plan on several pequin plants. I also have some wild tepin seeds I'd like to get going as well as trinidad scorpion.

What was the source of your seed stock for your chiles? In the last set of pics the first listed as chiltepin is actually another pequin variety. Chiltepin/tepin will all be round as are the other chiltepin's you show, whereas the pequin's are the oval to elongated fruit.

I'd love to see more pics posted of your current progress.

Salute'!

[nctomatoman]

So here is another update - ripe fruit on most of the plants, and a few surprises.

Pequin Chiapas 481 souce Mark T WI 2012 Pequin Chiapas Sept 24 2012.jpg Peq Chap Sep 24 2012.jpg

Capsicum Chacoense 479 souce Mark T WI 2012 Cap Chac Sep 24 2012.jpg Cap Chacoense Sep 24 2012.jpg

Chiltepin 496 source austinhannasmom 2012 Chiltepin 496 Sep 24 2012.jpg Chilte 496 Sep 24 2012.jpg

Pequin 477 source Joe L NY 2012 Peq 477 1 Sep 24 2012.jpg Pequin 477_1 Sep 24 2012.jpg

Pequin, type 2 477 source Joe L NY 2012 Peq 477 2 Sep 24 2012.jpg Pequin 477_2 Sep 24 2012.jpg

Bird 504 source Chili Pepper Inst via MDVPC 2012 Bird 504 Sep 24 2012.jpg

PI260478 380 souce Mark T WI 2012 PI260 Sep 24 2012.jpg PI260478 Sep 24 2012.jpg

Chiltepin 502 source Totally Tomatoes via Lurley 2012 Chiltepin 502 Sep 24 2012.jpg Chilt 502 Sep 24 2012.jpg

PI441654 478 souce Mark T WI 2012 PI441 1 Sep 24 2012.jpg PI441654_1 Sep 24 2012.jpg

PI441654 type 2 478 souce Mark T WI 2012 PI441 2 Sep 24 2012.jpg PI441654_2 Sep 24 2012.jpg

Black Birds Eye 495 source austinhannasmom 2012 BBE Sep 24 2012.jpg Black Birds Eye Sep 24 2012.jpg

Long Bird 476 source Joe L NY 2012 Long B Sep 24 2012.jpg Long Bird Sep 24 2012.jpg

Bird 501 source Scheeper via Lurley 2012 Bird 501 Sep 24 2012.jpg B 501 Sep 24 2012.jpg

Birds Eye 503 source Pine Tree via Lurley 2012 Birdseye Sep 24 2012.jpg Beye Sep 24 2012.jpg

I've not really dared taste any yet, but they sure smell hot! Those that seem to fit the description of the classic Bird pepper - tiny, pea sized, green with varying degrees of purple in the sun, ripening to red, are Bird 501, Bird 504, and Chiltepin 502 - and nearly the same, just slightly more oval in shape are Capsicum Chacoense and one of the PI441654 plants.

Two of the varieties gave me different plants - PI441654 - one of the plants has small, round to oval fruit - green with a purple blush to red - the other has more bullet shaped fruit to a point, lighter green - I assume will ripen red. And Pequin 477 has drastically different fruit on the two plants - the first has slender, upward fruit going green to purple to red on a very tall plant, the other is slender, bright lavender to cream to yellow to orange to red, on a shorter plant. The two Chiltepins, 502 (small, round, Bird like) and 496 (fuzzy stems, oval/bullet shape, larger, green to purple to red) are very different. PI260478 are very tiny, slender, mouse turd shape, green to red. And Long Bird and Birds Eye are longer, to 2 inches, slender chile types - Pequin Chiapas is a longer, fatter pepper.

so, there you have it!

[riceke]

Wow...nice documentation Craig...I've always was curious as how these different varieties of "Bird Peppers" under various names would look like. Now we know. Thanks for your effort.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Wish I was closer, I'd volunteer to give you a taste test report. Well done!

Did any of them turn out to be about what your customer was looking for?

[nctomatoman]

I suspect he was looking for the small round one....he's not been able to come over and sample!

[Texas Blues]

Beautiful looking chiles! Thats some great hot sauce fixin's right there!

[nctomatoman]

OK Mark - you should now be in possession of samples of each. Mark has agreed to be a taste/heat tester/evaluator. Looking forward to what you share, unless the peppers ended up doing serious harm to your palate!

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Going in the order of the bags I'll work thought them a few at a time, but right now I've been informed we need more pumpkins to carve so I've got to be quick and run out for two more;

#1 Pequin Chiapas - Nice pepper flavor, fairly thin flesh, heat level just about a 1, less than my jalapeno's this year. They're not terribly seedy, I'd think these would be good for general use diced peppers for my omelets.

#2 Cap Chacoense - Not much flavor, slightly metallic taste. Heat level a 3 or about a serrano level to me, and it hits quick which might be masking any other flavors. These were just little seed monsters, extremely thin flesh. I'd probably throw these in stir fry or a rice dish to add some pep.

#3 Chiltepin 496 - These had more pepper flavor with just a little sweetness before the heat creeps up on you. These were a little hotter still, about a 3.5. A little more flesh to seed ratio than #2, but not much. These I'd think would be great dried for a little more heat than your standard pepper flakes.

More to come later, after the jack-o-lanterns are done!

[nctomatoman]

Great, Mark! Looking forward to the next chapters! Did they arrive in good shape?

[Boutique Tomatoes]

#4 Pequin 477 - this one actually has some berry taste to it, thin fleshed and moderately seedy for one of these types. About a 2 on the heat level. The taste made me think it would be nice pickled in a white wine vinegar and then you could also use that for making a spicy vinagrette.

#4a Pequin 477 type 2 - flavor and characteristics pretty much identical to the first. Might have had a bit thicker flesh.

#5 Bird 504 - strongly unpleasant metallic flavor, little balls of seed with practically no flesh, just skin over seeds. Surprisingly hot for these types, this one was somewhere between a 4 and a 5 in how it hit. Burn is strongly on the tongue, a little on the lips and it hangs with you for a while. I think I'd leave this one for the birds because of the flavor, but it is a pretty one, such perfect little balls.

#6 PI 260 - this tiny little one hardly has any flesh to it, but at about 1/10 of an inch wide by 1/2 inch long there isn't much to them anyway. The bitterness from the seeds really comes though in these because of the ratio of seeds to flesh. Heat level is about a 3-3.5. These are another decorative/ornamental one for me.

[nctomatoman]

continues to be fascinating, Mark - hope it isn't doing any permanent damage!

I guess Bird is well-named - suitable for birds only?

Keep the reports coming! The most substantial looking of those to taste are Long Bird and Birds Eye....rest continue in the tiny but potentially deadly mode.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Not likely to hurt me at this heat level. The supers I can't really taste by biting them any more but I use hot sauce like some folks use catsup and mustard so these milder ones aren't a threat at all. And different folks have different tolerances... do take note of that if you use my heat levels as a gauge!

#7 PI 441654 - not much heat in this one, and thicker flesh than most of these types. Almost a minty characteristic to the flavor with some sweetness as well. Strangely enough I thought of a mojito to chase them down after trying them.

#7A PI 441654 type 2 - a little more heat than the other one, flesh not as juicy. Still only about a 1 on the heat level, sweet peppery flavor but none of the mint notes.

These are both kind of small and seedy to dice up in anything, and not really not enough to use to spice up dishes or flavor vinegar or oil. They might be nice pickled as a drink garnish though.

#8 Chiltepin - another of the little tiny balls of seeds, I'll be honest I grimaced as I tried this one as the flavor of #5 was still fresh in my mind. Nice peppery flavor in this one, only about a 1 on the heat level. These I could see marinated in oil for some mild pepper oil for cooking with.

#9 Black Birds Eye - this was another of the tiny round jobs, but it had thicker flesh than the othes. Still only somewhat hot, about a 1.5. The tip of my tongue tingles and a bit on the lips, but not much else. Not much to the flavor though.

I'll try to write up the last 4 tonight.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Originally Posted by marktutt

Not likely to hurt me at this heat level. The supers I can't really taste by biting them any more but I use hot sauce like some folks use catsup and mustard so these milder ones aren't a threat at all. And different folks have different tolerances... do take note of that if you use my heat levels as a gauge!

#7 PI 441654 - not much heat in this one, and thicker flesh than most of these types. Almost a minty characteristic to the flavor with some sweetness as well. Strangely enough I thought of a mojito to chase them down after trying them.

#7A PI 441654 type 2 - a little more heat than the other one, flesh not as juicy. Still only about a 1 on the heat level, sweet peppery flavor but none of the mint notes.

The two PI 441654 variants are both kind of small and seedy to dice up in anything, and not really hot enough to use to spice up dishes or flavor vinegar or oil. They might be nice pickled as a drink garnish though.

#8 Chiltepin - another of the little tiny balls of seeds, I'll be honest I grimaced as I tried this one as the flavor of #5 was still fresh in my mind. Nice peppery flavor in this one, only about a 1 on the heat level. These I could see marinated in oil for some mild pepper oil for cooking with.

#9 Black Birds Eye - this was another of the tiny round jobs, but it had thicker flesh than the othes. Still only somewhat hot, about a 1.5. The tip of my tongue tingles and a bit on the lips, but not much else. Not much to the flavor though.

I'll try to write up the last 4 tonight.

Oops, hit the wrong button. Just wanted to clarify that the PI 441654 were the ones I thought would be good for pickling.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

#10 Long Bird - Thin fleshed with a 2 for a heat level they would be great dried for soups or stir fry dishes. They'd probably be nice turned into flakes for pizza. Not a lot of depth of flavor for powder though. Heat hit me mostly in the throat which was odd.

#11 Bird - another one of the little round types. All skin and seeds. These didn't have a lot of flavor at all and not much heat either. Mostly on the lips from biting it and trying to come away with just some flesh so I wasn't tasting seeds.

#12 Birdseye look a lot like many of the common asian peppers used in soups and stir fries. Thin fleshed, these were already starting to dry and were leathery. A slighly smoky taste at first, giving way to a slightly acidic flavor. Heat is about a 1.5, average for these types.

#13 Chris Dukes Hot - these had a little flesh to them, more than just skin at least. Nice pepper character up front, but no real sweetness to them. Heat is between a 2 or 3. I could see pickling these or trying them dried as a powder. They're small though so you'd have a job seeding them if you wanted to use them for powder.

#5 and #6 were the only ones I couldn't see myself finding a use for. It was fun sitting down and trying them all trying to pick the different characteristics of each one out.

Thanks for letting me give them a try Craig!