September = pepper season!
September = pepper season!
This is the month where peppers truly begin to color up in the field. We are so excited to introduce some of the peppers you’ll be seeing at our stand. We were able to bring several types of sweet colorful peppers to the market last week and expect more weeks. And the hot peppers won’t be far behind!
Carmen
Carmen is a sweet red Italian pepper. It tastes a lot like a red bell but I think it’s sweeter than what you can find at the grocery store. I like to use this pepper for raw eating atop salads or with a dip like hummus. It is an Italian Corno di Toro style frying pepper though, and is excellent sauteed, roasted, or grillled for fajitas, stir-fries, etc.!
Escamillo
Escamillo is like Carmen’s yellow-orange cousin. These peppers are absolutely gorgeous together and will make some of the brightest, most colorful plates of the summer!
Banana
Banana peppers are a mild but tangy yellow pepper. Some folks know them as yellow wax peppers. Like the Carmen and Escamillo, these peppers are not spicy at all. When I pickle them for future salads and sandwiches, I like to add a few jalapeno slices to the jar to spice them up a little. You can also find our banana peppers right now featured in dishes at La Rana Bistro and Blazing Star!
Shishito
We’ve mentioned Shishitos in our newsletter before but they are just so good, they’re getting a double feature. Shishitos are Japanese heirloom peppers that are best prepared by blistering in a hot pan with a bit of neutral oil, fry until just tender and lightly charred in a few spots. No need to core or remove stems and seeds. Sprinkle some salt and boom! Done. Grab one by the stem and enjoy while they’re warm.
They say that 1 in 10 is a little hot, but we have found that this tends to vary quite a bit. I ate a bunch today and most of the batch was quite mild. Occasionally a hot one may sneak up on you, but I would say the heat is less intense than a jalapeno.
Fish
The Fish pepper is the first of the hot pepper’s we’ll talk about in this email. The Fish pepper is an African American heirloom and both the leaves and the fruits of the plant are a beutiful variegated green and white striped. The peppers eventually lose their stripes and ripen completely to a solid red chili. This pepper is named for its historical use in fish-based dishes. The pale-colored peppers were used to spice up white cream sauces so as not to change the color of the sauce.
We have tossed a few in a pan along with our Shishitos to kick things up a notch and we quite enjoyed them this way! Otherwise, you can use the fish pepper as you would any other chili, to heat up a sauce, add some kick to salsa, etc.
Jalapeno
The classic! We love jalapenos for their lovely flavor and balanced, tolerable level of spice. We find that some jalapenos are spicier than others. If you’re concerned about over-spicing your salsas or other dishes, we recommend removing the seeds and the ribs (the ribs are the starchy white parts along the sides of the pepper that hold the seeds and this is actually where capacisin, the chemical that makes peppers spicy, comes from). If you want to stock up and make pickled jalapenos or cowboy candy, feel free to email us about ordering bulk quantities.
Joe’s Long Cayenne and Habanero
Our cayennes and habaneros haven’t made their first appearances at market just yet, but it shouldn’t be long, now! This year, we are growing Joe’s Long Cayenne, a spicy red pepper that can grow up to a foot long! Habaneros are much smaller and a beautiful peachy-orange color. Excellent for making hot sauce, the Habanero is for the true hot pepper lover!
