Chile de Arbol

logchief

logchief

I have a nice little Arbol, actually doing the best of all I've got. One pod is starting to turn ripe red. When is the best time to harvest these, let them go red and dry or green. They're cheap to buy in the store. Here's a couple of pics

fm12mb.jpg


2mpimmt.jpg


a4vpt2.jpg
 
Some folks let them turn red before picking, I haven;t seen any green ones in quite awhile. Try both, then decide on flavor and heat level. It's all good my friend.
 
let them turn red, go ahead and pick a green one, write down how it tastes and all the flavours that churn in your mouth, then eat a red one and mark the differences, then you will know which flavour you prefer and why.
 
siling_labuyo said:
is chile de arbol the pepper used in making dried chili flakes?
Click to expand...

Some say it is, but I've also read that generally it's mostly some mixture of poblano/ancho, cayenne, and bell. Different brands probably use different chiles/mixtures though. Personally I think it's usually mostly cayenne, because it usually smells and tastes almost exactly like dried cayenne, at least to me. Dried chile de arbol has a very nutty/smokey flavor that I don't usually detect in crushed red pepper.
 
What does chile de arbol taste like fresh? I'm probably going to grow them next year, but if they aren't good fresh there really isn't much point because they're so cheap and readily available dry. Then again maybe I'll grow a plant or two just for fun, I saved probably 50 seeds from a bag of the dried ones, and they germinated pretty well- I experimented with a few already.

One more thing regarding whether or not arbols are in crushed red pepper- from my experiance dried arbols burn EXTREMELY easily in a skillet, yet crushed reb pepper doesn't...so I don't know.
 
question: are the dried chili flakes available commercially, sun-dried or oven dried? i've been trying to germinate seeds from those chili flakes but non germinated...
 
It usually depends with the maker of the flakes. I think our local commercial dried peppers are mostly oven dried. It's faster to do so you get to move more product.
 
siling_labuyo said:
question: are the dried chili flakes available commercially, sun-dried or oven dried? i've been trying to germinate seeds from those chili flakes but non germinated...
Click to expand...

It probably depends on the maker like Franz said. With dried whole chiles, I've tried germinating seeds from 5 or 6 varieties. 3 of the varieties germinated extremely well, the rest didn't germinate at all. I was just screwing around though, I just put some seeds in potting mix, put them outside, and kept them moist whenever I remembered.
 
thanks guys. got some chili flakes here and some whole dried de arbol and some dried anaheim. will try to germinate seeds from these peppers.
 
I'm not sure exactly which varieties germinated since I didn't label anything (dumb, I know), except that I know the anchos (dried poblanos) did germinate extremely well and I kept a couple that are growing very well now. I believe the guajillo and either the morita (dried jalapeño) or arbol germinated as well, but I can't be sure. The pequins did not germinate. Pequins supposedly take a long time to germinate from what I've read (up to a month) and are pretty hard to germinate, I went out of town after about 2 weeks and the pots got dried out, so that may be why. The anchos are Don Enrique brand and all the rest are Mi Costeñita.

I'm going to try to germinate some more pequins and try to do it right this time and see if I get anything. I wouldn't mind having a little pequin plant in my house over the winter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top