Pepper Smoking, Might Have Learned Something

[tallbm]

So I think I discovered something very interesting while smoking some peppers this weekend.
Top rack Jalapenos, middle rack Chile Tepin (HOT), bottom rack Baby Backs and St Louis Spares.

Well I think I might have transferred the heat of my Chile Tepin peppers onto my Jalapenos :eek::eek::eek:

After the ribs were done the peppers still needed more time to dehydrate. Well I grabbed a Jalapeno slice and popped it in my mouth. It started out normal like a Jalapeno but THEN wow! It kept getting hotter and hotter and wouldn't stop and I couldn't get the heat to go away with water or lactose free milk etc.! lol

I THINK what happened is that as the heat and smoke moved upwards from the Chile Tepin the air and smoke carried oils UP to the Jalapenos. Thereby giving me Tepin heat on my Jalapenos hahahaha.

If you have experienced this or if this sounds sensible to you feel free to let me know.

All I can say is that I'm going to have some EXTRA hot Chipotle powder to sit next to my EXTRA HOT Chile Tepin chili powder hahahaha. Mother's Tamales are going to be smokin hot this year once I give her some of these powders :D

 

[indaswamp]

Jalapenos get hotter as they dry because the capsacin is more concentrated. But you could have had some transfer from the Tepin peppers.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Lesson learned. Very possible oils transferred. Also citrus juice is a good cool down for hot mount from spicy food.

Warren

 

[browneyesvictim]

First of all- that looks like a very happy full smoker! :cool:

I don't know an answer to your question but that seems plausible. But I have noticed a BIG difference in heat levels with different Jalapenos; especially lately. Sometimes you get a real mild batch, and sometimes they are really hot like that.

 

[indaswamp]

But I have noticed a BIG difference in heat levels with different Jalapenos; especially lately. Sometimes you get a real mild batch, and sometimes they are really hot like that.

The heat in a jalapeno is influenced by how often and consistent the plant was watered. Hot jalapenos happen during a drought, mild jalapenos occur with routine irrigation.

 

[indaswamp]

*Edit- Unless you have some kind of a cross pollinated seed with a hotter variety from saving seeds with different peppers growing in close proximity.....

 

[chilerelleno]

I think you need to send out generous samples to all interested in this phenomena so we can test them and help you ascertain the correct answer.
I'll be test subject #1.
And I'll also need a few dozen tamales to confirm my findings on the chiles.

I'm in agreement that some plants fruits are simply hotter, due to a variety of influences.
Genetics, environmental stresses, ripeness and more.

And that smoking (heat) releases the capsaicin oils into the whole chile, rather than concentrated in ribs/seeds.
But I'm not sure how any significant transferred of oils could happen in the smoker.

 

[zwiller]

Add me to tamale sampling please. Also agree and doubt the oil evaporated and transferred. Dehydration indaswamp makes most sense.

FUNNY to me as I thought your were gonna tell me the juice of all the peppers landed on the ribs!

 

[tallbm]

Jalapenos get hotter as they dry because the capsacin is more concentrated. But you could have had some transfer from the Tepin peppers.

Thanks for the input, I'll give more info some of my possible transfer theory further down :)

Lesson learned. Very possible oils transferred. Also citrus juice is a good cool down for hot mount from spicy food.

Warren

I have an oil transfer theory further down and thanks for the OJ recommendation I'll have to try it sometime :)

First of all- that looks like a very happy full smoker! :cool:

I don't know an answer to your question but that seems plausible. But I have noticed a BIG difference in heat levels with different Jalapenos; especially lately. Sometimes you get a real mild batch, and sometimes they are really hot like that.

I was told these jalapenos were hot. See my oil transfer theory below :)

The heat in a jalapeno is influenced by how often and consistent the plant was watered. Hot jalapenos happen during a drought, mild jalapenos occur with routine irrigation.

These peppers were gifted to me so I have no clue how they were kept up before being picked.

*Edit- Unless you have some kind of a cross pollinated seed with a hotter variety from saving seeds with different peppers growing in close proximity.....

There very likely could have been cross polination. They weren't very big and some looked more like serrano than Jalapeno. The guy that gave them to me may be one that grows like 8 different pepper varieties or so. I could totally see some cross pollination easily happening.

I think you need to send out generous samples to all interested in this phenomena so we can test them and help you ascertain the correct answer.
I'll be test subject #1.
And I'll also need a few dozen tamales to confirm my findings on the chiles.

I'm in agreement that some plants fruits are simply hotter, due to a variety of influences.
Genetics, environmental stresses, ripeness and more.

And that smoking (heat) releases the capsaicin oils into the whole chile, rather than concentrated in ribs/seeds.
But I'm not sure how any significant transferred of oils could happen in the smoker.

Hahahaha I'll grind and test some of it today. I'll see how much powder is created in the end and go from there ;)
My mother's tamales are either eaten or traded for diamonds or gold it seems hahaha. Lots of people make a claim like "so and so makes amazing tamales" and then you eat one and are like meh. These tamales are out of this world but only people that get to try them can verify so lol.

See my oil transfer theory below.

Add me to tamale sampling please. Also agree and doubt the oil evaporated and transferred. Dehydration indaswamp makes most sense.

FUNNY to me as I thought your were gonna tell me the juice of all the peppers landed on the ribs!

I'm not sure there is ever a such thing as tamale sampling with her tamales. It is usually just tamale inhaling :P
Hahhaah yeah, during the smoke I was like "oh crap I hope they don't drip on the ribs somehow" hahahahhahaha. Luckily no such thing happened and the ribs were great!!!!


Ok here is my oil/spicy heat transfer theory.

It is hard to stand over Chile Tepins or other hot peppers if you are cooking/roasting them in a pot/skillet, roasting in an oven, or hell even trying to smell the smoke out of the smoker when peppers were loaded like the ones in my pic!

If you do put your face over these cooking peppers you get stinging in your ears and eyes and your sinuses start up to rid whatever has caused the irritation. Even without any liquids added to cause noticeable steam!

This leads me to believe that moisture and/or oil particles in these peppers start to rise in the air and carry these hot stinging particles on the way up. I'm no scientist, but I bet if you took a big whiff while putting your face over 2 pounds of a hot pepper (habenaros) as they are getting good and roasted in a skillet or a tray in the oven, you will get a rude awakening with whatever is coming off those peppers, however it is coming off of them.

So in short, my theory is that something that will burn your eyes and sting your nose is rising so I am assuming this mystery particle would also burn your mouth.

Someone feel free to test my theory out and let me know what you find out! :D My peppers are all dehydrated and ready to grind lol.

 

[DanMcG]

Interesting theory Tallbm, I don't know the answer but I guess it's possible.

 

[ironhorse07]

I guess it's possible, when I have dried peppers in the oven and open the door to check on them and get a little close too soon it will clear out your sinuses. And that was at 170 deg.

 

[tallbm]

Interesting theory Tallbm, I don't know the answer but I guess it's possible.

I guess it's possible, when I have dried peppers in the oven and open the door to check on them and get a little close too soon it will clear out your sinuses. And that was at 170 deg.

I'm with the both of you here. I don't know what's really happening I just know that I don't enjoy burning eyes, nose, and sinuses so I will try and keep the bulk pepper processing out doors and keep my face out of the mix as much as possible lol.

 

[chopsaw]

Didn't read thru all of what you posted above , don't have the attention span for that . Not meant to be rude ,,,
However I dried lunch box red ( sweet ) and green bell peppers , MES 30 no smoke and was surprised at the heat level when I ground them into powder . Not hot , but for sure had some heat to them .

 

[JckDanls 07]

FUNNY to me as I thought your were gonna tell me the juice of all the peppers landed on the ribs!

Same here.. I busted out laughing when I seen the pic and that was my first thought ...

 

[tallbm]

Didn't read thru all of what you posted above , don't have the attention span for that . Not meant to be rude ,,,
However I dried lunch box red ( sweet ) and green bell peppers , MES 30 no smoke and was surprised at the heat level when I ground them into powder . Not hot , but for sure had some heat to them .

No problem :)
Interesting to know. It could be that maybe the Jalapenos just got really really concentrated with the heat. I just know it burned like a Tepin where I felt it in my ear sinuses and earlobe on the side I chewed it on hahaha :)

 

[zwiller]

Actually, your theory makes a lot of sense. I looked into it and capsaicin does boil/evap so...

 

[smoking4fun]

*Edit- Unless you have some kind of a cross pollinated seed with a hotter variety from saving seeds with different peppers growing in close proximity.....

That's what I was gonna say - I've found that my jalapenos are super-hot when I grow them in close proximity to ghost peppers and other super-hots.

 

[tallbm]

Actually, your theory makes a lot of sense. I looked into it and capsaicin does boil/evap so...

Well there we have it.
I think we all hit on a bit of what was happening.
I would bet that the heat in the jalapenos concentrated AND the capsaicin from the tepins transferred up to the jalapenos giving me a double wammy of burn lol :)

Well more testing may be needed but if anyone wants to dehydrate bell peppers over some really hot peppers and see if the bell peppers get some heat then we will know how much transfer occurs :)

 

[indaswamp]

Guess you had to do like me and pick all your peppers before all that cold weather hit and got them with a freeze/frost! I picked 9# of jalapehos and 12# of bell peppers. I chopped and froze the bells and pickled the jalapenos.

 

[browneyesvictim]

Ok Tall... Are you keeping us in suspense? The obvious question is HOW DID THE PEPPERS COME OUT? Got more pics and details? You said you were making chipotle powder and Chile powder... How dry do you get 'em?

I just processed some fresh Habs into sauce yesterday...