Saturday, August 23, 2008

Our Habanero problem...

A few months ago, early in the summer Court and I were idling through the Carrboro Farmer's Market. We were hunting out something to plant in our garden. Specifically we were looking for some fun, hot chiles to plant. We had had a rough start to the season, losing a Cayenne plant and nearly losing another to the depredations of the local rabbit and groundhog population.

Jokingly, I looked at a rack of innocently looking pepper plants and said, "How 'bout some of those Habaneros?" I laughed... then Court said, "Do you want to? I think it would be fun."

So we set about trying to find a healthy plant, but immediately ran into a problem. They only came in four packs. I figured, given my luck that we'd lose a few so that was fine. At the time of writing this we have 2 cayenne, 3 Jalepeño and 4... yes, 4... Habanero plants producing. I had seen Cayenne and Jalapeño plants before and figure the same numbers of fruit would be produced by a Habanero plant. Silly man. Below I will give you a couple of recipes and some advice on working with Habaneros

I would estimate that I have harvested 20-30 chiles off each Habanero plant and at least 100 are still on the plants! We have been searching for recipes to use these in. I mentioned the Jerk marinade in my last post so here's that recipe:

Jerk Marinade

Ingredients:

2-3 Habanero peppers, cored, seeded and roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
4" piece of ginger, peeled and chopped finely
2 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tsp ground allspice
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1-2 tbsp. cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Combine these ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until relatively smooth. A few chunks are okay. If possible, marinate your meat in this for 24-36 hours to get good penetration of the flavor. If you are using a denser meat like a pork chop, it may be a good idea to pierce the meat in a few places to allow the marinade to get into the meat.

The amounts here are sufficient to marinate a whole chicken that has been processed into pieces. It worked well for 3 pork chops, as well. Meats like pork chops and steaks can be cooked over a grill or on a grill pan. Pork roasts or tenderloins, chicken and fish can be similarly grilled or roaste/baked as appropriate.


HOWEVER... 2-3 Habaneros just ain't cuttin' it! We have a hundred viciously hot peppers staring at us and we needed to come up with a big Habanero sink . Now some of these peppers will be getting sliced and then pickled using the dilly bean pickling method in an earlier post (I will leave out most of the ingredients other than the vinegar, water, salt and garlic). But today Court and I had a brainstorm. In case some of you don't know, both Court and I have spent extended periods of time in the Central American country of Belize. Both of us love that place and have many fond memories (although for some reason we've never managed to get there together) there. Anyone who's been to Belize can attest to the fact that there are three things that everyone encounters in Belize: Belikan Beer, beans and coconut rice (a great side for Jerk chicken, incidentally) and Marie Sharp's Hot Sauce.

Marie Sharps is a fantastic hot sauce, packing in both wonderful flavor and a powerful kick. What is the main ingredient of Marie Sharp's classic hot sauce? You guessed it: Habanero chiles. The other great thing about Marie Sharps Hot Sauces is that they are relatively simple when it comes and so have wonderful, clean flavors, unlike a lot of fancy hot sauces that sacrifice taste for heat. We don't, of course, know what the exact recipe the Marie Sharps company uses but we've come up with an approximation that we like. This recipe makes about 12-15 oz. of a great and flavorful Hot Sauce. It won't replace Marie Sharps for those special occasions, but if you have too many Habaneros, it is a great way to use them.

Nick and Court's Habanero Hot Sauce

Ingredients:
8 Habanero chiles, cored seeded and finely chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 small yellow onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
Lime juice (from 3 limes)
1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar
salt to taste

Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. This hot sauce doesn't have a completely liquid consistency. Because of the fresh ingredients there will be a pulpy consistency. Test the salt and spice to see if it's to your taste. If it's too spicy you can counteract that with more carrot. The carrot gives the sauce a great sweetness while cutting the pain. When you have the flavor and consistency right, move the sauce to a small sauce pan and bring up to a low simmer for a couple minutes to make sure you kill off any bacteria. Then put the sauce in a clean container (we used a sterilized 20 oz. resealable beer bottle, but a jar or tupperware is fine). I'm not 100% on how long this stuff will last, but given that the sauce that we love so much and gave us the idea for this has identical ingredients and lasts for a year or two in the fridge, I figure you're good for a few months at least.

Working with Habaneros
These are good rules for working with any hot chile, but Habaneros are as hot as most of us are likely to see. They are the second spiciest chiles in the world (the spiciest on record is the Dorset Naga, a cultivar of the South Asian Naga Jolokia chile, that was created in, of all places, Dorset, England). According to Wikipedia the Habanero's spiciness is somewhat dependent on the soil they grow in but, on average, they sit anywhere from 350,000 to 580,000 Scoville units. To put it in perspective this is 44 to 290 times as spicy as a Jalapeño, so care must be taken. Even if you aren't too senstive to working with peppers, I suggest wearing gloves to handle these. Latex or vinyl food prep gloves will protect you. If you are cutting up a lot of the peppers

I also recommend a well ventilated area. I notice a burning in my lungs and frequent coughing when working with these guys.

If you do decide not to where gloves I suggest smearing your hands with a little vegetable or olive oil. The capsaicin that gives chiles their spiciness is not water soluble and it will tend to hang out in the oil, making it easier to wash off.

Be careful of touching the area around your eyes (God help you if you get this stuff on your fingers and you wear contact lenses) and any sensitive skin, like around your nostrils.

Finally, after you've blended your jerk marinade or your Habanero hot sauce, DO NOT for the love of all that's loveable put your nose in the blender and sniff. I did this... it isn't fun...

Nick