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Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

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Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#301

Post by Tabular-Iceberg »

dheera wrote: post #215
bb88 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oil supposedly also dissolves capsaicin. Maybe put a half a cup to a cup of evoo and warm up the oil, swirling it around next time? Then you can let it cool down and maybe use this to solidify the oil? https://www.amazon.com/FryAway-DF413/dp/B09CRN1MM1 That would also mean you wouldn't need to season your pan again.

Don't season your pan with EVOO, its smoke point is too low. Avocado oil works well for seasoning.

What does smoke point have to do with it?

What you want is a high iodine value. Both avocado and olive oil have low iodine values, and they’re premium oils, so doubly wasteful for cast iron seasoning.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#303

Post by lm28469 »

OJFord wrote: post #298
lm28469 wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no, all year round. A friend of mine even noticed he never liked tomatoes as a kid but now he has no issues since they're literally tasteless, and he comes from Greece so it's not a sun issue

Sounds like location (and with it tomato source/variety) is what's changed, not time (and tomatoes over it). I always regret it if I get them out of season; in season they're still worth paying extra for, cheap bottom of the barrel supermarket tomatoes are just mildly flavoured water capsules. That's in the UK; for some reason even the cheapest in France has always seemed to beat anything we can get here.

> with it tomato source/variety

yes that's the entire point of the discussion, they chose varieties based on quick growth, disease resistance, water needs, ease of transportation &c. taste isn't anywhere close to the top of the list

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#304

Post by kevinmchugh »

dunham wrote: post #168
bb88 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting, I am curious if it's the capsaicin itself you're tasting directly. I know I've had hot sauces that were just heat without any kind of real flavor. It's not that I couldn't taste it. I could, I just didn't want any more of it.

It could be quite possible that for a given pepper, the variables that increase the capsaicin also increase the flavor compounds. It is possible to separate out the flavor, I remember reading about Grant Achatz experimenting with it, but you need a rotary evaporator to pull it off.

Dave Arnold has also done it with a rotovap, specifically with habanero. Because he wanted all the bright flavors of habanero, without the heat.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#305

Post by kevinmchugh »

huytersd wrote: post #198
ortusdux wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the best unique beers I've ever had was a Jalapeno ale. The yeast had metabolized all the capsaicin, so there was zero spice. The Jalapeno flavor was crisp and clean, and you could taste a depth of flavor that was normally overshadowed by the heat. It made me appreciate peppers more now that I knew what to taste for. I've been meaning to try and recreate it and then work my way through various peppers/chilies.

Wait, does yeast break down capsaicin? That doesn’t make sense to me since I make a lot of extremely spicy fermented, hot sauces, and they don’t lose their heat.

I don't buy it either. I've had tons of chile beers and they are typically spicy. I once made a habanero stout and that thing was undrinkably spicy for years.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#306

Post by kevinmchugh »

dekhn wrote: post #161
bb88 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also remove the membrane on the flesh too. Capsaicin dissolves in alcohol, so I tend to wipe everything down with 70% IPA minimum with a paper towel before sending it into the dish washer.

Actual conversation I had last week with my daughter: "Dad, did you cook something spicy in the skillet" (I have a cast iron skillet and normally am the only person who uses it) "Yes, I made a sauce from chilis that was much too spicy, and used the skillet to cook the sauce down". "Well, can you let me know next time, because I just made very spicy bacon!" I normally only wipe down my cast iron skillet rather than cl…

I don't think the surface is porous so much as you didn't clean the pan and left capsaicin behind in it. You could try this with other materials - can you eliminate all the spice from stainless or glass without using soap as a surfactant?

It's fine to wash cast iron with soap, and when you're working with spicy things and others use the pan, you really ought to consider it. Even if you don't usually wash your pan.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#307

Post by kevinmchugh »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #251
vlabakje90 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you started wearing glasses?

yes; does that make a difference?

Less of the lachrymator gets in your eyes if there's glasses in the way. A sharp knife also produces less lachrymator. If you keep your knives sharpener than your parents did, that'll do it

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#308

Post by red-iron-pine »

ortusdux wrote: post #127
jseliger wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Less spicy is actually good. I prefer more flavorful chiles, with less spice. Mark Miller's conversation with Tyler Cowen is good on this subject: https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/mark-miller/ . Chiles are actually fruits and, combined judiciously, create a lot of complex flavors. Excess spiciness overwhelms the flavor. And people who want absurdly spicy peppers, can get them: ghost chiles, carolina reaper…

One of the best unique beers I've ever had was a Jalapeno ale. The yeast had metabolized all the capsaicin, so there was zero spice. The Jalapeno flavor was crisp and clean, and you could taste a depth of flavor that was normally overshadowed by the heat. It made me appreciate peppers more now that I knew what to taste for. I've been meaning to try and recreate it and then work my way through various peppers/chilies.

There was a habanero watermelon beer out of NZ that was pretty good. Real crisp, cool, watermelon flavor up front, pretty fruity in the middle... then the heat hits. You want to cool it down then you take another sip and it repeats.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#309

Post by err4nt »

Anecdote: Jalapenos really bother me, but I love them. I don't know what it is about them, but they give me days of problems when I eat more than a couple bites.

I can eat much spicier capsicum peppers than Jalapenos, and fresno peppers seem to give me no problems at all (which are the nearest cousin I've found to Jalapenos).

Does anyone know what I can do? Does my body's reaction to Jalapenos have to do with how ripe they are (green vs. red?), or is there any other reason or explanation by Jalapenos bother me but other peppers dont?

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#310

Post by ethbr1 »

bobthepanda wrote: post #147
ethbr1 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just a little bit older than the US bacon craze, which was born out of unsold pork bellies, themselves a consequence of the late 1980s "Pork: the other white meat" campaign (itself a response to healthier, leaner chicken's rise). There's no way to produce a loin without a belly, etc. So ironically, the US turned to more UK-like pork cuts in the 1980s, and then advertising turned it back to full-fat pork belly bac…

i kind of wish i had experienced grocery shopping back when all the weird cuts were cheap. these days, if anything what I would've considered off cuts growing up (wings, oxtail) are now more expensive than other parts in my area. I saw oxtails for $20 a pound the other day.

The other way of looking at that is that cheap weird cut meat prices were a consequence of inefficient meat allocation (supply of those ending up at retail grocery where there wasn't demand).

So, ignoring the behind the scene details and holding cattle price constant, cheap weird cuts made well-known cuts more expensive (all cuts having to sum to price of cow).

I believe the behind the scenes logistics system has gotten better at sending different parts of the cow to different places (e.g. restaurant, commercial packaged, etc) where there is demand.

Case in point: most retail grocery doesn't do full butchering anymore, as it's been centralized upstream.

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