Background - my wife and I compete in Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) chili cook offs, primarily in the mid-Atlantic states. I qualified for the 2014 CASI world chili championship in my first year competing and made it to the quarter-finals round which means I finished in the top 60 in the world. I am the current Pennsylvania State Chili Champion. Both my wife and I have already qualified for the 2015 CASI world chili championship and I have qualified for the 2015 World Food Championship.
The chili we cook is Texas Red. In accordance with CASI rules, we are not allowed to put beans or any other fillers in the chili. Judges consider color, aroma, texture, taste, and afterburn when judging. The texture needs to be velvety, so any kind of chili pulp or seeds are out. As a result, chile peppers are floated in the mixture at certain stages of the cook, and the juices squeezed out at the end of the cook depending on the level of front or back heat desired. There is also a complex mixture of powders added to the cook at different stages - we call these dumps.
The main whole pepper we use is the Serrano. In the northeast it is hard to find quality fresh peppers during the winter. Thus my quest to grow my own peppers.
I will be using a deep water culture (DWC) setup in a 3x3 grow tent with a 400w HID lighting system. I hope this works since it was pointed out that peppers sometimes like a drought cycle to produce good fruit. We shall see.
Besides the Tampiqueno Serrano, I will also try growing Guampinho De Veado, and Mazaroni Rain Forest of Guyana, both from Puckerbutt. I want to try something other than Serranos in future cooks.
I will post picture soon of the setup.
The chili we cook is Texas Red. In accordance with CASI rules, we are not allowed to put beans or any other fillers in the chili. Judges consider color, aroma, texture, taste, and afterburn when judging. The texture needs to be velvety, so any kind of chili pulp or seeds are out. As a result, chile peppers are floated in the mixture at certain stages of the cook, and the juices squeezed out at the end of the cook depending on the level of front or back heat desired. There is also a complex mixture of powders added to the cook at different stages - we call these dumps.
The main whole pepper we use is the Serrano. In the northeast it is hard to find quality fresh peppers during the winter. Thus my quest to grow my own peppers.
I will be using a deep water culture (DWC) setup in a 3x3 grow tent with a 400w HID lighting system. I hope this works since it was pointed out that peppers sometimes like a drought cycle to produce good fruit. We shall see.
Besides the Tampiqueno Serrano, I will also try growing Guampinho De Veado, and Mazaroni Rain Forest of Guyana, both from Puckerbutt. I want to try something other than Serranos in future cooks.
I will post picture soon of the setup.
and good luck!
Good luck with the grow!
