pre soaking??

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cromag

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Mar 3, 2010
360
14
Sevierville Tennessee
I'm going to make my first batch of ABTS this weekend and someone mentioned that after you cut the pepper in half let them soak overnight in cold water so that way the spicy heat mellows out. Any truth to this? Everyone coming isn't a fan of hot jalapeno peppers so I want to ensure them that they are not spicy at all.
 
Cromag, while its true pepper flesh holds some heat your real source of heat comes from capsicum and most of it is in the white membrane inside the pepper and the seeds. Removing these two thing will reduce your heat level considerably. Never heard about soaking the peppers before but that is what this site is all about............LEARNING and SHARING...........
 
What Scrappy said.   If you have people adverse to Jalapenos just because they are Jalapenos then you can use a different type of pepper.
 
for some reason they tell you to do this when canning peppers to, I wonder if it has something to do with hydrating them b4 you "cook" them, smae thing with a pickle recipe I have too

Maybe one of the resident chefs will come around with a answer for us?
 
My wife does not like the heat. I core them and remove all the membrane & seeds. She really like the little sweet bell peppers though.

 You can take the heat out by mixing a cup of water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Soak really hot peppers for just a couple of minutes, not so hot just dunk them and rinse with fresh water. It really does take the heat out. I soaked them too long once and they lose all their heat & flavor. (I learned that on this forum)
 
cromag    if you have a Publix get a bag of sweet peppers look just like japs but green red and orange   no heat at all and are sweet

pefect for those who can't handle the heat!
 
Here is a solution for ya. My wife likes the ABT'S and if i make them too hot 
wife.gif
. So i came up with a solution. I totally strip membrane and seeds from some and mark them with a tooth pick, and stuff them before I add removed de-seeded membrane to the stuffing. this way I can get my ABT'S with some heat and keep mama happy.
 
You have some options with the Anahiem, Pablano or the multicolored ones, don't know the name... There are also Red Fresno's from Cali that are mellow...Sorry but I never heard of soaking Chiles to remove heat...I have made ABT's each month for the last three and have rarely got more than 1or 2 Hot ones and they seem to get milder as the winter progresses...Januaries batch had Zero heat...I used Hotter Texas Pete to kick them up...I really think farmers have bred the heat out of Jap's for the American palate and Popper business...I'm thinking of giving Habanero ABT's a shot but they still scare me a bit...JJ
 
The cooking process itself causes the Capsacin to sweeten some , and Ancho are a great choice for ABT's , they can be stuffed with so much more and cut into 3-4 pieces and shared. JJ mentioned the Fresno, this is a great Chile and makes a fine stuffed Chile.

If in doubt of the heat of the Chiles in your store, buy 1 and taste it (they will probably let you have it). Experiment with Anhiems and the larger Chiles...as they say , the smaller the Chile the hotter it will be...

Hope this helps,and...
 
I have heard of soaking them in Sprite - and have tried it and the peppers weren't that hot.

I agree with the others - if you have folks that don't like the heat, then get some of the mini sweet peppers -they are a nice change up.
 
Yes, you can soak the peppers in Sprite (use diet so they dont' get sugary).  I usually soak them overnight if I know my pepper is really hot.  I can eat jalapenos no problem and have made ABT's for a couple of years.  Then all of a sudden the peppers I was buying from my grocery store, started to get unbarebly hot.  I mean to the point where they were as hot has my home grown habeneros.  They were jalapenos and I cored them very well. So I started doing research on this site and found that if you soak them in Sprite, it removes the heat.  I did them overnight and it worked great, Probably a shorter soak would have been perfect.

Note of caution.  The carbonation can help the oils from the peppers go airborne.  When you first add the peppers to the sprite in a bowl, do it outdoors.  Its basically like peppers spray.  You may have to play with the soak time for your particular peppers.
 
We're not huge fans of spicy hot foods, so I made a variety of Poblanos, Anaheims, and Jalapenos. I removed all the membranes and seeds before stuffing and while good, we preferred the Jalapenos...seemed to be just enough heat. I also make ABTs with the small colorful bell peppers. 
 
You have some options with the Anahiem, Pablano or the multicolored ones, don't know the name... There are also Red Fresno's from Cali that are mellow...Sorry but I never heard of soaking Chiles to remove heat...I have made ABT's each month for the last three and have rarely got more than 1or 2 Hot ones and they seem to get milder as the winter progresses...Januaries batch had Zero heat...I used Hotter Texas Pete to kick them up...I really think farmers have bred the heat out of Jap's for the American palate and Popper business...I'm thinking of giving Habanero ABT's a shot but they still scare me a bit...JJ
I'm going to be giving the habanero ABT's a try this summer. I've got 6 orange and 4 Caribbean red hab plants in the garden and we're just playing the waiting game until they start producing. I've got a lot of flowers, hopefully to be peppers soon! I can't wait, I love the jalapenos, but the habs will be a real treat. What filling do you think you'd use if you did try them?    
 
I'm going to be giving the habanero ABT's a try this summer. I've got 6 orange and 4 Caribbean red hab plants in the garden and we're just playing the waiting game until they start producing. I've got a lot of flowers, hopefully to be peppers soon! I can't wait, I love the jalapenos, but the habs will be a real treat. What filling do you think you'd use if you did try them?    
 A blend of Cream Cheese, X-Sharp Cheddar and minced Green Onion, maybe some chopped Shrimp mixed in...JJ
 
I've had really good luck with removing the inner membrane. After I slice the pepper in half lengthwise, I use a teaspoon and scrape the inside, removing all the seeds and ribs, but also the entire satiny coating on the green flesh. This leaves the fruity flavor and removes almost all the heat. I am not a huge fan of heat for heat's sake, and my wife and most of our friends are less tolerant than I am. I've made dozens of ABT's using this method and only had 1 or 2 that were "surprises", likely because I didn't scrape enough. One word of caution, no matter what direction I scrape the pepper, or how I hold it or what direction I face in relation to the pepper, I invariably get pepper juice squirted directly in my eyes. In addition, since you're scraping the pepper, you will get juice all over your hands including under your nails, which tends to hurt for the rest of the day. For these reasons, when I do this, goggles and latex/vinyl gloves are mandatory.

Good luck!!
 
I use a teaspoon and scrape the inside, removing all the seeds and ribs, but also the entire satiny coating on the green flesh. This leaves the fruity flavor and removes almost all the heat.
Exactly this.  If you scrape the entire inside surface there will be no heat.  Skip some of it by accident or on purpose and there will be some heat. 
 
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