Comapeño chillies are about an inch in length, thin skinned, orange and red, and have many seeds for their size. Their flavor is bright, acidic, and about as spicy as chiltepins.

The chilli originated in Comapa, Veracruz, which is where its name comes from. It is sold mainly in central Veracruz, specifically Orizaba. They are primarily eaten dried — added to many dishes and condiments. Popular foods include chilli oil, pork rinds in red sauce, and tesmole de olla (a stew with meat or pork rinds and steamed or boiled veggies).

According to Diana Kennedy, 95% of comapeño chillies are sold dried [5].

Sources:

1. “Comapeño Chile Powder.” Boonville Barn Collective. Accessed October 2024. https://www.boonvillebarn.com/blogs/updates-from-the-farm/comapeno-chile-powder.
2. “Comapeño Chile Powder.” Boonville Barn Collective. Accessed October 2024. https://www.boonvillebarn.com/collections/all/products/comapeno-chile-powder.
3. Zurita, Ricardo. Los Chiles Nativos de México. Photograph of several comapeño chillies, page 89. Mexico: DGE Equilibrista, 2015.
4. Kaitlin. How to Make Chili Oil, figure 1 (cropped), photograph, 2024. Accessed October 24 2024. https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-make-chili-oil/.
5. Long, Janet. Capsicum y Cultura: La Historia del Chilli. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1998. PDF, accessed October 2024, on Culinary Art Schools website, possibly from Capsicum y Cultura. https://www.culinaryartschool.edu.mx/cocinasdemexico/Biblioteca/unidad-3/bloque3/capsicum-y-cultura-la-historia-del-chilli.pdf.

Comapeño was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Datil chillies (pronounced /ˈdeɪ.tɪl/ — date-l) are difficult to find outside of St. Augustine, Florida, where the majority are grown and sold. They taste sweet, fruity, a little tangy, and are very similar to habaneros in color and heat level. The chillies are used in a wide variety of foods all the way from seafood to jellies. Datil means “date” probably because of its wrinkled skin and golden color that looks like a date. There are several theories on where they came from: one is that they were brought over from Africa in the slave trade; another is that the Minorcans leaving Spain, brought the chilli with them to Florida; and the last is from Dr. Daniel Cantliffe, who says that it originated in St. Augustine. The best ways to get a hold of datils are online retailers, or if you are in St. Augustine, the local farmers markets are the way to go.

SOURCES

Andrews, Jean. “A Botanical Mystery: The Elusive Trail of the Datil Pepper to St. Augustine.” Florida Historical Quarterly 74, no. 2 (1995): 132–147.

Andrews, Jean. Peppers. Texas: University of Texas Press, 1984.

“Datil Pepper.” 2024. Wikipedia. Last modified October 12, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datil_pepper.

Hultquist, Mike. 2018. “Datil Pepper Sauce.” Chili Pepper Madness. Published October 15, 2018. https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/datil-pepper-sauce/.

Pooler, Alex. 2024. “What The Heck Is a Datil Pepper?” Visit St Augustine. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.visitstaugustine.com/article/what-heck-datil-pepper.

Powers, R. “How To Make Minorcan Datil Pepper Relish.” Pure Florida (Blog). Published October 7, 2007. https://pureflorida.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-make-minorcan-datil-pepper.html.

Datil was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Salsa 101 Course Description

Salsa 101 provides an introduction to the vast world of Mexican salsas. You will practice foundational techniques, and be introduced to the broad range of flavors found in Mexican salsas.

You will study the general definition of Mexican salsa and their primary ingredient — chillies (identification, flavors, and anatomy TK). You will make a variety of recipes, and practice iterative cooking.

Materials: notebook, molcajete (optional), blender, camera (cell phone works), salsa ingredients (recipes and shopping list are provided with course materials)

Price: $40 one time fee, provides access to materials and instructor. Register here.

Week 1

• What is Mexican salsa?
• Introduction to Mexican chillies

Week 2

• Fresh chilli tasting & anatomy of a chilli
• Roasting chillies
• Make fresh salsa verde
• Make cooked salsa verde

Week 3

• Dried chilli tasting
• Make a dried chilli salsa
• Make a mixed chilli or fried salsa

Week 4

• Make a mole or pipián
• Make a guacamole

Week 5

• Iterative cooking
• Choose a salsa and prepare it a few times

Week 6

• Review and wrap up

An Introduction to Mexican Salsas was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Basics

Nopalito is a Mexican cookbook written by Gonzalo Guzmán, the head chef of Nopalito in San Francisco. I was interested in this book because of its inclusion of a few regional Mexican foods, its salsa recipes, and the bold images. You can watch an interview with the authors here.

The Book

In Nopalito, Gonzalo provides a basic introduction to Mexican food and instruction of how to make foundational recipes and a few regional dishes. There is nothing terribly groundbreaking here, but those who are relatively new to the Mexican kitchen will find it useful. I was happy to see the inclusion of a section of dried chile descriptions — 11 varieties. The recipes range from ceviches to moles to tostadas. And props to chef Guzmán for his emphasis on masa and tortillas, made from dried corn.

Nopalito is a beautifully designed, hardcover book, filled with many excellent color photos — see examples above. Eva Kolenko, the photographer has done a good job at showcasing Gonzalo’s food.

The Salsas

My primary interest in any Mexican cookbook are the salsas. Chef Guzmán has included around 20 different salsa recipes in Nopalito. You can see a few of them in the photo below. I made two of the salsas from the book: salsa de árbol, and pequin hot sauce. Both were interesting and tasty but there were some oddities in their writing. It’s clear that whoever edited Nopalito hasn’t edited many Mexican salsa recipes. Measurements like a “scant 1/4 cup árboles” were a bit tricky; usually whole, dried árboles are measured by number of pods or by weight. I was also a little surprised that the pequin hot sauce didn’t call for any salt…especially since the word salsa has its origins in the word salt. Not the best recipes for beginners, but if you have experience making salsas, they should be easy enough to navigate.

A sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to review. I try not to let free swag effect my reviews, but I’m human, so this review is most likely tainted, which is why you should read the book for yourself — sorry.

Nopalito was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

a review

What is a taco?

According to Tacopedia, a taco is made up of three elements: some sort of filling, held in a tortilla, spice-up with salsa.

What is Tacopedia?

Tacopedia is the English language version of the wonderful La Tacopedia which was published in 2012. While the book is indeed encyclopedic, with its analysis of the origins, elements, and varieties of tacos, it is by no means stuffy or boring — quite the opposite. Tacopedia has an informal illustration style that’s delightful — except for the cartoony, sexualized, busty women. The photos of real Mexican women in the book are more tasteful and, thankfully, the English version is more tacopedia and less boobiepedia than its Spanish counterpart, but I digress.

Tacopedia is super-duper educational, which makes sense, since it took four years to realize. Having traveled south of the border a few times, I know a fair amount about Mexican food, but I still learned quite a bit reading this book, like where the nixtamalification (made-up that word) of corn spread to (and didn’t), and which side of a tortilla is considered the cooked side (and why), and what’s used to make red tortillas in San Luis Potosí. The authors of this book clearly love tacos and have taken great care to share their research with us. One example of this is the ‘corn map’ in the tortilla section, which is an informative visual of various corn processing and preparing techniques — seriously, check it out.

A word about salsa

Salsa is of particular interest to me, so I pay especially close attention to salsa information in Mexican cookbooks. Tacopedia has an excellent section at the end of the book dedicated to this piquant taco condiment. It includes a good discussion of what qualifies as a ‘guacamole’, what the central ingredient of most salsa is (tomatoes or chillies?), and 36 “super” salsa recipes.

In conclusion

If your granny is totally into Mexican food (which of course she is), this would make a fantastic birthday present for her.

A sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to review. I try not to let free swag effect my reviews, but I’m human, so this review is most likely tainted, which is why you should read the book for yourself — sorry.

Tacopedia was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

a book review

101 Chilies to Try Before You Die is a small, hardcover book that provides a good introduction to the vast world of chilies. It’s author, David Floyd, is an avid chili grower and the founder of the UK website Chile Foundry.

It’s divided into 101 one-page “chapters” which present basic information for each chili. The final chapter is the Carolina Reaper, which holds the Guinness record for most piquant chili at around two-million Scovilles; I wonder if it’s the last pod in the book because one might die after eating it. :-)

The level of detail varies quite a bit from chili to chili (see a sample chapter below), illustrating that some pods are more difficult to research than others. And while the author does a good job combining his personal knowledge with what he could find online, nothing particularly detailed or groundbreaking is presented. As previously mentioned, this book serves as a good introduction to the world of chilies. Each chapter has a photo and data on where to buy seeds. The author sometimes mentions the flavor (which I wish he had done more) and sometimes offers a culinary use for the chili. There is quite of bit of contradictory and ambiguous information in the world of chilies, which is reflected in this book. David often suggests that genetic testing would help better distinguish between chili varieties; I wish that testing was done in conjunction with the writing of the book, providing the reader with novel information.

My interest is the world of Mexican chilies and salsas. I was happy that David included many varieties of Mexican chilies a few of which are: Poblano, Cascabel, Serrano, Jalapeño, Guajillo.

Even if you’ve been an avid chilihead for many years, I suspect that you will find 101 Chilies to Try Before You Die an interesting and informative read. In its pages you’ll discover a chili cross created by the Amish, varieties with black, purple or white pods, and even a chili plant that can grow up to 6.5 feet tall! And as Bill Moore says at the end each of his tasting videos, “Enjoy the burn.”

Thank you to Firefly Books for sending me a review copy of the book. I try not to let free swag affect my reviews, but I’m human, so this review is most likely tainted (sorry), which is why you should read the book for yourself.

101 Chilies to Try Before You Die was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

chipotle

Chipotle is not a variety of chilli. If you are new to the world of Mexican chillies, that might come as a surprise. So what is a chipotle then? Technically speaking, a chipotle is any smoked chilli…as its Nahuatl origins suggest— chil(chilli), poctli(smoke). Most often, this dried, smoked chilli is made from our friend the jalapeño. What’s so special about the jalapeño that it is so often smoked? Well it turns out that the old adage “necessity is the mother of invention” proves true with chillies. The native Mexicans dried chillies (before Columbus brought over refrigerators) as a way to preserve their crop. The flesh of the jalapeño, being thicker than most chillies, doesn’t fully dry before going bad. So the Mexicans smoked the pods, which enabled them to dry. And so the chipotle was born. It is a special creation — a killer flavor combination of smokiness, piquant bite, and a slight sweetness.

At the market, you are likely to find these variations of chipotle.

• chipotle meco: a large jalapeño that is smoked then dried; it is a light tan color
• chile mora/morita (pictured above): a smaller, dark brownish red chipotle; it bears the name mora (meaning mulberry) because of its similarity in color and shape to a mulberry
• chipotles en adobo: the mora/morita chiles cooked in adobo (a spiced, vinegar, tomato, chilli, garlic sauce) and preserved (usually canned)

Even though other smoked chillies exist, they are far less common than smoked jalapeños. One example of another “chipotle” is the pasilla de oaxaca. And technically, you could turn just about any chilli into a chipotle…if you do, let me know!

EXTRA CREDIT ACTIVITIES

• make your own chipotles from fresh pods
• buy some moritas and make chipotles en adobo (recipe below)

RECIPES

• Dan’s Party Salsa: a delicious, well balanced dipping salsa that uses moritas as its chilli
• Chipotles en Adobo: a great slow food recipe that can be added to tons of dishes

SOURCES

From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients by Diana Kennedy

Peppers by Jean Andrews

This concludes the Chilli A Week project. Thanks for reading!

Chipotle was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

manzano

Chile Manzano is a unique pod, evidenced by its black seeds and super-thick flesh. Even its scientific classification is unique — capsicum pubescens (you’re welcome biology nerds); most chillies found in the market are either capsicum annuum (jalapeño, serrano, bell) or capsicum chinense (habanero). Manzano is the Spanish word for apple, possibly referring to the chilli’s apple-like size and shape. It looks a bit like an inflated habanero and, like the habanero, it has a fruity flavor and piquant bite — or as Jean Andrews puts it, a “murderous pungency.”

In Mexico and South America, the manzano is also known by the names rocoto or padrón. It is often grown at high elevation, and there are two main varieties, one of which ripens to orange and the other which ripens to red. In the kitchen, it is used in its fresh form to make salsas and relishes. One such relish is found in the recipe section below. The hard, black seeds are usually removed before preparing. From my taste testing, the manzano is less fruity and less piquant than a habanero, and it has a slight green bell chilli flavor. If you are able to track one down at your local Mexican market, give it a try!

RECIPES

Fresh Pickled Manzano Peppers With Onions from Mely Martinez’s recipe site: Mexico In My Kitchen

Tomato & Manzano Salsa — (poor video quality, but good salsa)

SOURCES

From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients by Diana Kennedy

Peppers by Jean Andrews

Manzano was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The habanero is a fairly well known pod, so I would like to forego all the normal descriptions and share some little know facts with you.

• The word habanero means “from havana” (capital city of Cuba). I’m not sure why it carries this name — maybe because it’s used a fair amount in the Caribbean. It is also an essential food of Yucatán, Mexico. David Sterling describes it this way, “Yucatecan men (and even some women) can frequently be seen holding the stem of a whole chile and devouring it a nibble at a time with their meal.” Since the habanero doesn’t have a unique name in the Mayan language, this suggests that it might have come to Yucatán from the Caribbean.
• The habanero is an interesting pod because of its shape, heat, and flavor. Diana Kennedy says roasting brings out its flavor. Diana describes how Mexican cooks sometimes use the chilli sparingly to give food just a bit of flavor and spice. “The chile takes a walk through the sauce.”
• One of the sauces that is made with habaneros is called chiltomate. As its name implies, it is a chilli and tomato sauce — possibly the most ancient cooked tomato sauce we know of.
• Habanero is commonly mispronounced. To correctly pronounce habanero, there are two letters you must pay attention to. The first letter “h” is silent in spanish, so don’t pronounce it. The second letter to take care with is the “n”. It’s pronounced like a normal n in English. It is commonly mispronounced as if it were an “ñ” — like jalapeño. See more here - hyperforeignism. So it’s pronounced like this: abba-nay-row
• The Red Savina chilli, it is a mutant offshoot of the habanero.

EXTRA CREDIT ACTIVITIES

Eat a whole habanero pod ;-)

RECIPES

Chiltomate — a very simple sauce made primarily of tomatoes and habaneros

Taco Truck Salsa — Boil equal numbers roma tomato, jalapeño, and habanero until the jalapeños are soft. Blend with a little water, salt, and a clove of garlic (optional).

SOURCES

From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients by Diana Kennedy

Peppers by Jean Andrews

Yucatán by David Sterling

up next: Chile Manzano

Habanero was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This week’s article is going to be short. Why? Because there isn’t much information about this week’s chilli readily available. So without further ado, I present the costeño. Its name means “coastal” which makes perfect sense since it is grown in Oaxacan and Guerrero coastal areas. It’s mostly used in its dried form. There are both yellow and red varieties, though the yellow are rarely found in the U.S. The costeño is an ingredient in moles and other salsas. Diana Kennedy describes a common salsa costeña this way.

“The chile costeño is most popularly used toasted and ground with garlic, salt, and water for a rustic table sauce, sometimes with tomatoes added.” — DK

SOURCES

From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients by Diana Kennedy

Some photos of chilli costeño

An in depth documentary about chilli costeño

up next: ¡Habanero!

Costeño was originally published in Piquant Pods on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.