I´m seeing a lot of hate for Bells, which is puzzling. I mean, i don´t really want to grow them, b/c i find them boring and i can buy them dirt-cheap, year-round, from ANYwhere that produce is sold. So, why waste time/space on them? (Confession: sometimes i´ll see a cool looking ¨designer¨ Bell pepper, and feel a little bit tempted.... but i don´t see it happening any time soon.) But, i think if we´re being honest, we gotta admit that Bells make great ¨supporting cast members¨ in a good many dishes. They´re just not ever going to steal the show....Â
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As long as I´m making confessions, I have to say that i really don´t dig on chocolate/brown varieties. Especially the hotter ones. I really want to enjoy them, and i think they tend to look awesome and every piece of my body, aside from my taste buds, wants to enjoy eating those things. I even like the smell of the brown pods, generally. And, as a Ween fan, I feel obligated to give the Brown stuff extra attention....
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But, like others who dislike the choco chiles, i find the taste to be acrid and somewhat offensive. Chocolate superhots are a bad experience for me. I like to sample red/yellow/peach superhots b/c i tend to really enjoy the flavor burst i experience before the pain sets in. And, i can still hold onto that flavor while i suffer through it. And, if i´m really lucky, I´ll get to belch hours afterwards and have the flavor repeat on me. Eating a choco super hot is pretty much exactly like that, except that i hate the flavor bursts. Chocolate pods at the Hab SHU level are much more tolerable, in terms of heat, of course, but also in terms to the taste. But, every single time i used them in a dish or just ate ones for S&G, i would basically have 2 thoughts in rapid succession: ¨That wasn´t all that bad actually....¨ followed by ¨but i would´ve REALLY preferred something Yella or Red or whatever....¨ Once we get down to mild brown pods, like Aji Panca, the brown-ness isn´t really a factor. But, again, i usually figure that i´d rather ave picked something red, orange, or yellow...
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So, despite all of that, i´m going to grow brown chiles again this year. I have a plan (which probably won´t work) and some ardent wishes (which may come true some day, but probably not in 2018.) The plan is to let the pods sit on the plant until they are very ripe. I was trying this with my JHCs last season, and it seemed to help----a very little bit. Might´ve been the placebo effect. I´m hoping that my tastes will change in time; i know that ppl who love the brown pods don´t experience them the same way that i do and, as a child, i hated cilantro, mushrooms, and hot peppers. Now, i love all three of those things. Maybe, one day, i´ll eat a chocolate pod and really enjoy it...
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Sorry to have written so much on this. I guess that most folks weighing in on this one just kinda dislike a few varieties, and that´s something that can be stated succinctly and without reservation. My situation with chocolate chiles is different, b/c i am inexplicably conflicted about it emotionally and i am intellectually drawn to the challenge of reversing my own opinion on them.