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Chile piquin...chiltepin
- Thread starter Roguejim
- Start date
Both are my two favorite chile's. I've grown pequins before but not chiltepin. They both seem to have a dry less fruity taste than many chile's and I find the heat similar but varies plant to plant. The last year I have grown very fond of eating a pickled blend of pequins and chiltepins en escabeche. Great stuff if you can find it. The brand I get is called Mama Lycha and get it at Mexican mercado's here in Texas. I eat that sheeit with everythang!
My personal experience.
I have been making a chiltepin salsa that people rave about for the past three years. Everyone wants the recipe, which I've given out to no one!
Last Spring, I purchased four supposed chiltepin plants from a huge local nursery here in Tucson (and other chilies that turned out different than what the label said!), which turned out to be pequins, not chiltepins. I also purchased two chiltepin plants from Tohono Chul Park's nursery, who's chiltepins come from seed from the Baboquivari Mountains in Southern Arizona.
I had read that Chiltepins have a quick, sharp bite that fades away quicker than normal chilies, and that has been my experience. I had also read that Pequins take a little longer to hit, but the heat lingers on much longer than the chiltepin.
So I made two batches of my chiltepin salsa, first batch with chiltepins and second batch with the same amount of pequins (in grams). There was a world of difference between the two! The heat of the chiltepin salsa is almost instant, while with the pequin salsa you have to wait a bit to feel the heat. I also found the chiltepin salsa to be a bit hotter than the pequin salsa, but that could have been due to a variation in the heat of those particular chilies.
Both are good peppers, but I BY FAR prefer the Chiltepin! Too bad there's a severe shortage of them this year.
That's my personal experience.
I have been making a chiltepin salsa that people rave about for the past three years. Everyone wants the recipe, which I've given out to no one!
Last Spring, I purchased four supposed chiltepin plants from a huge local nursery here in Tucson (and other chilies that turned out different than what the label said!), which turned out to be pequins, not chiltepins. I also purchased two chiltepin plants from Tohono Chul Park's nursery, who's chiltepins come from seed from the Baboquivari Mountains in Southern Arizona.
I had read that Chiltepins have a quick, sharp bite that fades away quicker than normal chilies, and that has been my experience. I had also read that Pequins take a little longer to hit, but the heat lingers on much longer than the chiltepin.
So I made two batches of my chiltepin salsa, first batch with chiltepins and second batch with the same amount of pequins (in grams). There was a world of difference between the two! The heat of the chiltepin salsa is almost instant, while with the pequin salsa you have to wait a bit to feel the heat. I also found the chiltepin salsa to be a bit hotter than the pequin salsa, but that could have been due to a variation in the heat of those particular chilies.
Both are good peppers, but I BY FAR prefer the Chiltepin! Too bad there's a severe shortage of them this year.
That's my personal experience.
yeah they have a little bit of a different flavor
i'll start with some pics: tepin versus pequin.
tepin(main plant)
tepin(close up of pods)
pequin(3 plants)
pequin(close up of pods)
i find they taste similar, red cayenne like especially the pequin but i find both have that overtone, much like members that us the phrase "tastes like a habanero". the pequin is no where near as hot as the tepin, i just popped a pequin as a reminder and yep, has a similar taste to cayenne and manageable heat. the tepin pods are really slow at maturing to red. the problem i have with tepin is how many little seeds are packed away inside those small, thin skinned pods.
if i had to pick one plant over the other, i would pick the tepin.
tepin(main plant)
tepin(close up of pods)
pequin(3 plants)
pequin(close up of pods)
i find they taste similar, red cayenne like especially the pequin but i find both have that overtone, much like members that us the phrase "tastes like a habanero". the pequin is no where near as hot as the tepin, i just popped a pequin as a reminder and yep, has a similar taste to cayenne and manageable heat. the tepin pods are really slow at maturing to red. the problem i have with tepin is how many little seeds are packed away inside those small, thin skinned pods.
if i had to pick one plant over the other, i would pick the tepin.
Depending on where the Pequin,Chiltepin,Chiltepe actually comes from they do have different taste and plant and or pod variations at times.
I find the wilds (Tepin,Pequin etc.) are better tasting in general.
Mexican varieties compared to Texas , Guatamala or whatever are probably landrace stuff that adapted to the place they were grown.
I find a lot of commercial plants just re named to sell what ends up being the same thing under several names,like a lot of pepper seeds are these days.
I find that the sudden burst of heat and taste is a lot like some of the Frutescens varieties.
Gotta find a way to get a GIANT Pequin,Chilten,Chiltepe or Tepin variety so I don't have to pick a zillion pods each day or so.
Tastey little buggers,prolific too.
I find the wilds (Tepin,Pequin etc.) are better tasting in general.
Mexican varieties compared to Texas , Guatamala or whatever are probably landrace stuff that adapted to the place they were grown.
I find a lot of commercial plants just re named to sell what ends up being the same thing under several names,like a lot of pepper seeds are these days.
I find that the sudden burst of heat and taste is a lot like some of the Frutescens varieties.
Gotta find a way to get a GIANT Pequin,Chilten,Chiltepe or Tepin variety so I don't have to pick a zillion pods each day or so.
Tastey little buggers,prolific too.
Heck ! IMO the heat on both is right about the same but with the wild piquin haveing a smokier flavor when ripe (red). Theres always been wild plants of both around our place, so is def one of my favorit.
I was sent a zipplock bag full of Wild chile-Tepin pods that were picked off ov plants that grow only , in an Island off the coast of Soto La Marina Mexico. I found them to be smaller and hotter than ours here in South Texas.
By the way , a fun fact about the chile-tepin....
The word TEPIN means "flea" in the true Mexican language (Aztec).
Nahuatl to be exact ....
I was sent a zipplock bag full of Wild chile-Tepin pods that were picked off ov plants that grow only , in an Island off the coast of Soto La Marina Mexico. I found them to be smaller and hotter than ours here in South Texas.
By the way , a fun fact about the chile-tepin....
The word TEPIN means "flea" in the true Mexican language (Aztec).
Nahuatl to be exact ....
