Jalapeños are grown primarily in Mexico and the USA. People usually like to eat them raw there; in Europe, they are mainly eaten pickled.
Culinary uses:
Jalapeño peppers are incredibly versatile and used in a wide variety of dishes, from savory and sweet to pickled, fresh, and dried. While they are a classic ingredient in Mexican cooking, they have become a popular addition to cuisines around the world.
You can use fresh jalapeños in salads, salsas, and homemade guacamole. Or add them to cooked dishes like soups, sauces, breads, and stir-fries for a burst of flavor. Use them as a topping for pizza and to add an extra bite to smoothies. Combine fresh jalapeños with liquids such as juices and cook the mixture down to make jalapeño jelly.
Pickled jalapeños are often used as a topping, where they add a spicy tex-mex flavor to dishes. They are also used in commercial and homemade salsas. You can make jalapeño poppers by stuffing these sturdy peppers with a filling and baking or grilling them. Chili pastes are easy to make, store well, and can be used as a seasoning or spread.
Roast your fresh jalapeños for a delicious addition to meals. If you are lucky enough to have an overabundance of fresh jalapeños, you can dehydrate them and then crush or grind into a powder. Use for rubs or seasoning. Chipotles are smoked, ripe jalapeños.
Purchasing:
Jalapeño peppers are sold fresh, dried, pickled, and frozen and are available at most well-stocked grocery stores.
Storing:
To store, keep refrigerated and away from moisture. Plan on using them within two weeks.
Nutritional information:
Wikipedia: In a 100 gram serving, raw jalapeños provide 29 calories and are an excellent source (> 20% of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin C, vitamin B6 and vitamin E, with vitamin K in a moderate amount. Protein, dietary fiber, fat and other essential nutrients are low in content.1
Health aspects:
Jalapeños are a low-acid food with a pH of 4.8-6.0 depending on maturity and individual pepper. Improperly canned jalapeños can have botulism and in 1977 home-canned jalapeños led to the largest outbreak of botulism in the US in over a century. If canned or pickled jalapeños appear gassy, mushy, moldy, or have a disagreeable odor, then to avoid botulism, discard the food and boil the jar, lid and contents for 30 minutes in water, scrub all surfaces that may have come in contact with it, and wash all clothing and hands; discarding sponges or towels used in the cleanup in a plastic bag. Canning or packaging in calcium chloride increases the firmness of the peppers and the calcium content, whether or not the peppers are pickled as well as canned.
Jalapeño juice may be used as a remedy for seasonal allergies and clearing sinuses from colds.1
Scoville heat units:
Compared to other chillies, the jalapeño heat level varies from mild to hot depending on cultivation and preparation and can have from a few thousand to over 10,000 Scoville heat units. The number of scars on the pepper, which appear as small brown lines, called 'corking', has a positive correlation with heat level, as growing conditions which increase heat level also cause the pepper to form scars. For US consumer markets, 'corking' is considered unattractive; however, in other markets, it is a looked for trait, particularly in pickled or oil preserved jalapeños.
The heat level of jalapeños varies even for fruit from the same plant; however some cultivars have been bred to be generally milder, and on the low side of the heat range, such as the TAM Milds and Dulcito, and others to be generally hotter, and on the high end of the heat range, such as Grande. As the peppers ripen their pungency increases, making red jalapeños to be generally hotter than green jalapeños, at least of the same variety….
All of the capsaicin and related compounds are concentrated in vesicles found in the placenta membrane surrounding the seeds; the vesicles appear white or yellow and fluoresce in the range of 530– 600 nm when placed in violet light. If fresh chili peppers come in contact with the skin, eyes, lips or other membranes, irritation can occur; some people who are particularly sensitive wear latex or vinyl gloves while handling peppers, if irritation does occur washing the oils off with hot soapy water and applying vegetable oil to the skin may help. When preparing jalapeños, it is recommended that hands not come in contact with the eyes as this leads to burning and redness.1
General information:
The jalapeños (/ˌhæləˈpeɪnjoʊ/, /ˌhɑː-/, /-ˈpiːnjoʊ/, Spanish pronunciation: [xalaˈpeɲo]) is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum. A mature jalapeño fruit is 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and hangs down with a round, firm, smooth flesh of 25–38 mm (1–1 in) wide. It can have a range of pungency, with Scoville heat units of a few thousand to as high as 10,000. Commonly picked and consumed while still green, it is occasionally allowed to fully ripen and turn red, orange, or yellow. It is wider and generally milder than the similar Serrano pepper. The Chile Pepper Institute is known for developing colored variations.1
- - Cultivation and harvest:
Jalapeños are a pod type of Capsicum annuum. The growing period is 70–80 days. When mature, the plant stands 70–90 cm (28–35 in) tall. Typically, a plant produces 25 to 35 pods. During a growing period, a plant will be picked multiple times. As the growing season ends, the peppers turn red, as seen in Sriracha sauce.… Once picked, individual peppers may turn to red of their own accord. The peppers can be eaten green or red. Though usually grown as an annual they are perennial and if protected from frost can produce during multiple years, as with all Capsicum annuum… . After harvest if jalapeños are stored at 7.5 °C (45.5 °F) they have a shelf life of up to 3–5 weeks. ... The majority of jalapeños are wet processed, canned or pickled, on harvesting for use in mixes, prepared food products, and salsas.1
Literature / Sources:
- Wikipedia. Jalapeño [Internet]. Version dated 03.07.2018 [Quoted 03.07.2018]. Available from: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalapeño
Comments