Jalapeno - Fresh or Dried

[Brit in Portugal]

Hi Guys. I've only been a member for a little while, but my stalking on here has been so very productive! I've been making sausages for a little while now, but as a Brit I've been concentrating on UK and northern European sausages, plus dabbling with US style Italian sausage. Having kinda got a grip of what I'm doing I now want to expand to US centric sausages, which are quite a bit different in taste profile.

I have some green Jalapenoes left on my plants that I would like to use to make some kind of Jalapeno and cheddar sausage. I've been looking at a variety of recipes and almost entirely they use dried powder or flakes as opposed to fresh. Is this because of the convenience of obtaining dried or for taste reasons? I can dry my Jalapenos but I would like to use fresh if there is not a reason to use dried. If you could give your perspective on this I would really appreciate it. Thanks

 

[Chasdev]

I can't testify on the sausage part but I consume lots of jalapeno, fresh, pickled and fried.
Each has a different taste profile (only dried ones I've tasted were chipotles and they have their own flavor profile, which is very good IMHO).
You might consider making mini batches using each type to figure out what works?

 

[chopsaw]

I use fresh or buy the diced in a jar . I add 2 or 3 medium sized peppers per pound , or 2 - 3 TBLS if using jarred . I do it mostly by sight .
Horseradish Jalapeno summer sausage .

Jalapeno cheddar smoked sausage .

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

For jalapeno cheese sausage I much prefer fresh jalapeno. It gives a brightness that would otherwise be lacking and it's a nice juxtaposition to the richness of the cheese, meat and fat. I use the dried for things like snack sticks, maybe summer sausage, etc.

 

[smokininthegarden]

I have tried all the different types but my preference is for pickled.
if youbhave some fresh jalapenos just slice them then marinate them in a simple brine (white vinegar, water and salt) for a couple of days they will then be ready to use in your sausage. just dice them first. or you could even dice them before placing them in the brine.

 

[Brit in Portugal]

I have tried all the different types but my preference is for pickled.
if youbhave some fresh jalapenos just slice them then marinate them in a simple brine (white vinegar, water and salt) for a couple of days they will then be ready to use in your sausage. just dice them first. or you could even dice them before placing them in the brine.

I think I will do that - they can sit in the pickle until I need them. Thanks for your thought guys

 

[tallbm]

I think I will do that - they can sit in the pickle until I need them. Thanks for your thought guys

Hi there and welcome!

I haven't experimented with the different options as my reading/research pointed to getting more jalapeno flavor in the sausage using dried/dehydrated jalapeno or powder.
Mine game out great and needed even more.

Now, a bit of a warning using pickled jalapenos.
The vinegar can mess with your meat bind. I learned this the hard way using an olive salad mix in a big sandwich meat chub similarly to how you plan to use pickled jalapenos.
My bind was weak because I added the stuff in along with everything else and mixed. The vinegar worked against me.

The solution, with backing from people here, would be to mix up the meat and seasoning and the good tacky bind first. THEN, once that is good, mix in my olive mix so it doesn't really have the ability to undo the bind all over.

I think you would want to follow the same process so you don't have a bind issue like I had. The good news is that may flavor was good to go with my situation, but the slices would easily break apart.

My jalapeno and cheese sausage with the died/dehydrated jalapeno (not smoked just dried), had zero bind issues. I just needed to double the amount I used is all as the recipe was on the light side, versus what a Texan would want in the amount of jalapeno :D

 

[JckDanls 07]

Put me on the fresh list... I use 4-6 large per 5lb... I use my Slap Chopper to chop them up course...

 

[smokininthegarden]

Hi there and welcome!

I haven't experimented with the different options as my reading/research pointed to getting more jalapeno flavor in the sausage using dried/dehydrated jalapeno or powder.
Mine game out great and needed even more.

Now, a bit of a warning using pickled jalapenos.
The vinegar can mess with your meat bind. I learned this the hard way using an olive salad mix in a big sandwich meat chub similarly to how you plan to use pickled jalapenos.
My bind was weak because I added the stuff in along with everything else and mixed. The vinegar worked against me.

The solution, with backing from people here, would be to mix up the meat and seasoning and the good tacky bind first. THEN, once that is good, mix in my olive mix so it doesn't really have the ability to undo the bind all over.

I think you would want to follow the same process so you don't have a bind issue like I had. The good news is that may flavor was good to go with my situation, but the slices would easily break apart.

My jalapeno and cheese sausage with the died/dehydrated jalapeno (not smoked just dried), had zero bind issues. I just needed to double the amount I used is all as the recipe was on the light side, versus what a Texan would want in the amount of jalapeno :D

if the diced jalapenos are properly drained before adding to the paste this will not be a problem. I have been doing this for years and never had a binding issue.

 

[Chris_in_SoCal]

Fresh Jalapenos are always best. In your environment it might not be possible to get them to mature into the red color. Even in Sunny California they take way longer to mature into red fully ripened state than to pick them green.

When they are fully ripened to red they are slightly less spicy but are sweeter and have a lot more flavor. I am able to get the red ones pretty easy because Asian markets out here that often have them for sale.

Either way cube them up into small pieces and remove the seeds if you cant handle the heat.

Dried ones are like beef that has been frozen. It is ok but not the same as fresh.

 

[Brit in Portugal]

Fresh Jalapenos are always best. In your environment it might not be possible to get them to mature into the red color. Even in Sunny California they take way longer to mature into red fully ripened state than to pick them green.

When they are fully ripened to red they are slightly less spicy but are sweeter and have a lot more flavor. I am able to get the red ones pretty easy because Asian markets out here that often have them for sale.

Either way cube them up into small pieces and remove the seeds if you cant handle the heat.

Dried ones are like beef that has been frozen. It is ok but not the same as fresh.

Definetly a struggle to get red now, though not so bad in mid summer. Here in central Portugal it is like living in Britain back in the 60's and finding a large variety of foodstuffs to do anything sausage, BBQ, curing, ethnic is very difficult! Nothing much changes here and food habits for the locals revolve around soup. grilled meat or fish, stew, potatoes and salad. Along with plenty of rough red wine!!!! If you want something different you grow it or make it yourself, hence me being on this amazing forum.

But with the country being a quiet safe and cheap country to live in, lots of Americans and Brits are coming to live here and the food variety situation is slowly changing. A few small stores are popping up here and there and word travels fast amongst us immigrants!! Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.