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Help identify this green chili


rotuts

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I get these green chili's from my local Indian grocery store in waltham ma. bulk. 1.99 lbs They are hot to very hot, not anywhere near Scotch bonnet hot. tape give you an idea of size. left out they turn orange maybe red. I plan to make some green chili oil tomorrow with them as an Experiment. i like the taste of green over red. grind up a bunch in the Cuisinart with some neutral oil, heat in the microwave and keep hot for a bit and filter with a coffee filter or two:

Indian Chili.jpg

my guess is green Thai birds. your thoughts?

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These are the hotter smaller chilis I get at the Vietnamese market. I think habanero is a whole different flavor. The ones above have a high seed to flesh ratio. I am not sure how much "green" flavor you will get from them as opposed to just heat if processed as proposed. Please report back though. I have only ever used them chopped in vinegar or a dish or munched alongside. I usually grow them as well and prefer them with the rounder flavor they have red/ripe.

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I get these green chili's from my local Indian grocery store in waltham ma. bulk. 1.99 lbs They are hot to very hot, not anywhere near Scotch bonnet hot. tape give you an idea of size. left out they turn orange maybe red. I plan to make some green chili oil tomorrow with them as an Experiment. i like the taste of green over red. grind up a bunch in the Cuisinart with some neutral oil, heat in the microwave and keep hot for a bit and filter with a coffee filter or two:

attachicon.gifIndian Chili.jpg

my guess is green Thai birds. your thoughts?

They are a varietal of bird, as to what kind, no idea.

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thanks. i had planned on a small batch 100% chili w seeds, the another batch 50 % with seeds 50 % no seeds just flesh combined.

they have two other green chili's there a serrano like and a longer green I have no idea on the heat of these. maybe some combo

of all the above in various proportions would result in a hot chili oil with good 'green' flavor.

stay tuned!

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excellent point. on your ref pic, third row, first on the left looks very interesting as a comparison. these if picked young would not

get as long as some of the pics in the ref and not curl at the bottom.

well these are the ones Im stuck with to use and lets see what happens.

a long time ago i was going to clarify all the Mexican Chili types etc by study, selection and sampling as i had a source in mexico.

After a while i gave up so as not to become insane prematurely.

this is clearly the standard green thin small chili, hot, for the various East Asian communities and restaurants.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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My mother grows identical-looking ones, and after much pondering it over the years, I've pretty much convinced myself they're green chile de arbols - images here.

I have seen lots of de Arbol and buy them 2 or 3 times a year in Texas. The OP's chiles do not look like de Arbol to me. The shoulders are too narrow. I've seen chiles like the OP's in more Asian type stores, and they are usually labeled Thai chiles. I think it would be strange to see de arbols in MA. The flavors are very different. De arbols are more smoky. For me the heat is ver quick and sharp without much linger. The Thai seems hotter, sticks around, and builds.

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after my experiments on the next trip to the store Ill take a few of the others ( 2 - 3 others green that they have )

Ill also ask for their version of the

names. :laugh:

Edited by rotuts (log)
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sorry I think I got it a bit wrong.. prik kee noo but probably not suan. prik kee noo suan are a bit smaller and hotter than regular thai birds

Edited by Ashen (log)

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It's impossible to guess because there are many similar looking cultivars.

I've grown upwards to 60 different cultivars that look similar to what's in the picture.

~Martin

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

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Yep. I go to the Alemany Market in San Francisco each year to buy the red ripe version of a chile like this to ferment for hot sauce. Is Martin selling his 60 different cultivars at different stands there? It would appear so.

Very important to take a bite before purchase. This should be a terrible mistake, otherwise don't bother buying those chiles.

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Yes, cut into one and put your tongue on it. If that doesn't frighten you, take a little bite. No way to know how to cook with them unless you have a good idea of flavor and heat. I am surprised how often chiles I expect to be blistering hot are not. Depends on the seed and where it was grown.

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heat has been deliberately bred out of supermarket main stream serranos and jalepenios.

these are quite hot which is why I got them and hope to make hot green chili oil this week: similar to red hot chili oil one finds in chinese restaurants etc but with a green flavor.

thanks for your input.

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Round here (southern China) they call them 美人椒, which can be translated as 'beautiful woman chillies'.

I guess that is totally unhelpful but perhaps interesting.

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Looks like Thai or bird's eye chili's to me as well.

I got some in the garden. They vary very much in heat depending on the season.

I've been told that they get hotter if you let them get close to wilting point during the fruit formation.

At the moment they are hot and longer than usual as we are in the rainy season. In fhe dry, they are hotter and much much smaller.

I use them cut up in a variety of dishes, but also make them into sambal badjak

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  • 2 weeks later...

Totally agree with always having a nibble first - assuming you are sure they are not a naga chilli or some such crazy chilli:-) Surprising how buying the same chilli's from the same store can range between mild and blisteringly hot.

One thing I have noticed is that in the UK our suppermarkets are getting much better at stocking a wise range of chillis. In the past it was very much just red or green whereas now there are thai(birds eye) chililes, habernaro, etc

I used to love going to the states just for the different chillies such as padrano, jalapino, etc

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  • 1 year later...

Hi liuzhou,

 

Those look similar to what Madhur Jaffrey calls "long green medium-hot" chiles - regularly available in the Indian groceries near my house.

 

If these are they, the heat are exactly as described - medium-hot. Of course varying from chile to chile and plant to plant and season to season as usual, but far less mouth-burning than small Thai chiles, with still a touch of the fresh flavor of green bell peppers. 

 

I use them for all sorts of preparations - the heat level makes them very versatile.

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I also get those longer green chiles at my Indian Market, picked some up today.

 

the little red ones remind me of the plants many people have that have little chiles like those on them, ripe red.  cant say Ive ever tried one some who knows how hot they are.

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Those look like "Calcutta" - (Capsicum frutescens), the most common chili available in supermarkets in South Africa. They were brought here by the Indian immigrants for their curry spices and are grown everywhere. I put one in every jar of pickled onions I make to add a bit of a kick to the onions. They grow 3 to 4 inches in length, are hot and will turn red if not harvested too early. Dry them out, whizz in a blender for a few seconds and you have chili flakes to use to enhance many a dish (just a pinch needed or you may have take-off).

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Hi liuzhou,

 

Those look similar to what Madhur Jaffrey calls "long green medium-hot" chiles - regularly available in the Indian groceries near my house.

that was my first thought on seeing them as well

 

they look like Indian chiles

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