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Chipotle
peppers are the name for fully ripe red jalapeno peppers that have been smoked. Most of
the natural heat of the jalapeno is retained in the process.
On the heat scale of all the chili peppers, this
is usually considered a medium heat. Chipotles are available dried whole, powdered,
pickled, and canned in Adobo sauce. The chipotle powder isn’t easy to find, so if you
see some, give it a try. The smoke flavour and the jalapeno flavour really add a lot to
soups, stews, chili, and sausage. Just use
the powder it as you would any other chili powder. We loved it so much the first time we
tried it, and with the difficulty of finding it, we decided to make it ourselves.
It’s a long process. First we cut all of the jalapenos lengthwise so we can open them
up, but not cut right through. We like the heat so we leave the seeds in. We fire up the
water
smoker and let them absorb lots of that smoke flavour. Then we de-hydrate
them. The next step is the worst; grinding the smoked peppers into powder. If you are
considering making your own, I highly recommend grinding them outside with a mask on. The
powder is deadly to the nose and eyes. We make enough for ourselves in one batch to last
the entire year.
As we previously said, when we first tried it, we fell in love.
This isn’t a paid endorsement from
Chef
Paul Prudhomme; it’s just the place where we first bought it. With shipping and
handling, and because of the Canadian currency, this did turn out to be quite expensive.
That was another reason we tried making our own. Wherever you get it from, I’m sure
you’ll love it…………. Lesley
If you like chipotles, the following recipes all
contain it in some form:
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