Chili Pequin or what is called the Bird Pepper in South Texas...........

[Kelley (Texas)]

A few weeks ago, Debbie asked me to get her some Bird Peppers next time I went to Leon Creek. She uses these peppers, along with Jalapenos when she makes up a batch of Salsa. These hot little peppers are also called Chili Pequin peppers and they grow wild down here in South Texas, but many folks now grow them in their back yards in small gardens or large plant containers. Birds love to eat these small peppers and will spread the seeds in their droppings.

Last week I drove over to Leon Creek with a large zip lock bag and got Debbie some of these Bird Peppers. There are several areas at the old Melton Ranch where there are a few large patches of these small peppers. These pepper plants stay green year round and will grow up to four feet tall. You do have to be careful when you pick them because if you have any cuts or scratches on your hands, they will burn you just like when you eat them. As a matter of fact, don't ever try to eat one without lots of water available to drink because they are ten times hotter than a Jalapenos pepper. Like a lot of peppers the color determines how hot it is...green is mild and red is the hottest. When Debbie wants to make a mild Salsa, she will use the green ones, and she will use the red ones when making a hot Salsa.

I am posting a couple of pictures of the Bird Peppers. Kelley (Texas)

[attachment 177246 pepperone.jpg]

[attachment 177247 peppertwo.jpg]

 

[Micheal_R]

I try to get a batch hotter than the previous year. I had some habeneros last year, Jalapenos the year before, Kung Pow this year.. I think that the Kung pow just MIGHT be hot enough. I like a mildly hot pepper... but we have friends who absolutely love them as hot as are able.
The fellow, George, can eat a pepper whole and say that it is starting to get hot enough. :

But this year, he tried one of the newest batch, and declared that it was MOST CERTAINLY HOT... then he gulped down a quantity of milk to assuage his burning tongue. :

I will have to get some of yours Fred, and give them a try.

Going to try for some arrowheads today.. wish me luck

Calm seas

Micheal

 

[Cupajo]

Mom always had a pint jar with some of those little fire-balls in vinegar on the table.
Dad was especially fond of them and as a youngster I kept away from them.
One tentative test was enough to convince me that they weren't for me.

As an old guy now I enjoy a variety of milder peppers, but when they get so hot that the hurt over-powers the flavor I pass.

Thank you Fred for the memories,

CJ

 

[Buck]

I have a friend who grows them here Kelly. They are my favorite pepper to make salsa with. The taste of them is great!

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

of an arrowhead. After all these years of arrowhead hunting, I still get excited when I find one or part of one. Please let me know what you find today!

The Bird Pepper grows wild down here in South Texas and I have always just taken them for granted. Now I am getting interested in them and will be planting some over in the corner of the back yard. I have also thought about planting a wild plum tree, but the birds make a mess when they eat them and I do not want purple colored bird dropping all over this yard. It seems to me that the folks now days do not know about gathering up Bird Peppers, wild plums, black and blue berries and even native pecans, they just buy everything at the grocery stores. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Skelly Creek to gather some Black Berries that turned into a nightmare for me. When my bucket was about half full, my hands were getting tired of holding it so I decided to put it on the ground and rest for a minute or two. As I was putting it down, there beside me was one of the biggest snakes that I had ever seen. I do not know what type it was, do know it was not a rattlesnake, but it scared the fire out of me. As far as I was concerned, my Black Berry picking day was over, but Mother had a different opinion and I continued picking the berries, but at a different area of the berry patch. On the way home, Mother decided that we would gather some Bird Peppers too! The "we" ended up to be "me" picking the peppers off the plant. Well, my hands were chewed up from picking the Black Berries and by the time I was done picking the peppers off the plant, my hands were on fire. When we arrived home my hands were still burning. Those were some great times in my life! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

for my garden years ago. I read about them in my Organic Gardening book and they said if you put three in a gallon of chilli it was perfect. If you put 4 in you would have to throw the chilli away I never did find any. That was the days before the web so I can probably find them now. Thanks for the reminder.

My wife always said she could eat any pepper and I was convinced she could. A Mex at work took a trip to Texas and I asked if he would bring me a few back. He did and I gave them to Carol. She bit into that little sucker and the look on her face was priceless as she ran to the sink for water

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I remember one time that Debbie used too many when making Salsa and I just had a difficult time eating it. By the way, they are great when making chilli on a cold, wet winter day too! Kelley (Texas)

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Correct? Are you still using it? What are you planting in it? I do not know how the Bird Pepper/Chili Pequin would grow up there in Michigan. They tend to stay green all year long down here with an abundance of peppers. Your cold weather might kill the plant during the winter up there, but I would think that you could grow some in a large plant container and some way protect it from the cold, maybe bring the plant indoors during the winter. What do you think? Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

We had tomatos, strawberrys, rubarb, squash, and one pepper plant and they all grew great. Next year I am not going to grow strawberries as they take too much room up for a few berrys that I can buy cheaply.

I doubt the Texas Peppers would winter but I figure I could plant them new every spring and save some for seed. I just might pot a few to see if they would do well in the house. Maybe a few pots would look good on the deck rail in the summer. I don't know. I am gonna do a google and see if I can find some for next spring.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

down the hole before you fill it with soil. This will prevent most diseases and your tomatoes will be beautiful. Also, the problem with growing strawberries is that you must rotate the rows every year because they use up all the nitrogen in the soil, plus the deer will eat them. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

the strawberries take up too much room in the box. There just is no room. The deer don't destroy anything in my garden. They don't really care to get electrocuted

 

[George-CT]

I like them but not real hot. When the heat over powers the taste, they loose if for me. Was a time I liked them pretty hot. ONe fo the guys used to bring in these red ones, stuff with something. He was Italian and would bring in gallon jars of them.... I got where I could handle those pretty well. Now, I tend to avoid them. I changed over to the horse radish....Been on that kick for a few years....
Peppers now to me are the big green bell peppers stuff.... Like those... I know you Texas folks like that hot stuff, but way hotter than I can handle...

Geo-CT

 

[Wayne in BC]

mild ones i like and i cannot eat hot peppers at all! I figure if it hurts it ain't good for me

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

are good for treating Arthritis pain and Diabetic Neuropathy? Also, always remember that the green colored peppers are milder than the red colored ones? The red ones are the hottest ones. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

they came up with a pepper that is 20,000 times as hot as a Jalapeno pepper. Now what the hell would they use that sucker for ??http://www.slashfood.com/2007/02/20/guinness-names-worlds-hottest-pepper/

Well maybe my math is not exact but I ain't eating that sucker!!!

 

[Cupajo]

Maybe paint remover?!!??

There is an old tale shared by pepper eaters about an old timer who saw his brother chowing down on a meal loaded with hot peppers.
He asked his brother why he was eating so many peppers, because he knew what would happen the next day when they were expelled.
The brother told him that he was planning to eat a huge dish of ice-cream after the pepper feast and that the cold desert would cool off the peppers.

Early the next AM he walked past the bathroom where he heard his brother moaning, "Come on ice-cream!!!"

Another lesson learned the hard way!!

CJ

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

be to set it on top of a ice cube and see how long it takes for the bird pepper to melt a hole all the way through the ice cube. The hotter the pepper, the faster it will make the hole. I have never tested one this way, only passing on what I have heard. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Wayne in BC]

n/t

 

[Micheal_R]

None were spectacular... but each one is a joy to find. I will be trying later on in the week.

I know whereof you speak in terms of people buying rather than growing. Up here in Canuck land, there is a "one hundred mile diet" This is where people try to purchase their food that was grown within 100 miles of where they live. It still has the problem of people buying food. Alice and I have lived by a 100 yard diet for a great many years. In other words, we grow the food and then preserve it.

A lot of the nations problems [ yours and ours] could be solved by people growing their own food... healthier food, an appreciation of the amount of work it takes, money saving, grow what you want, etc, etc, etc,

Calm seas

Micheal