The Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers were a little hotter than anticipated, but we still love the balance of sweet and heat. I decided pickling would be perfect. Find Peter Piper, I need a peck.
A Word to the Wise
Pickling is a food preservation method as old as the hills. Most all cultures have salting, fermenting and pickling somewhere in their culinary heritage. Proper canning methods enable you to store foods without refrigeration. Seeing as I have neither the space to store summer's bounty; nor the inclination to buy and use home canning equipment; I decided to fall back on common sense. First off, I am not recommending this recipe for preservation purposes. These pickled peppers are more like pickled napa or tsukemono pickles that Japanese and other cultures make for more immediate consumption. They are also to be kept in the refrigerator.
How Hot is Hot?
The thing that makes peppers hot (or not) is a chemical called capsaicin. Many people erroneously believe this compound is found in the seeds of the pepper. Capsaicin is actually in the membrane which connects the seeds to the pepper. If you remove the seeds and membrane, you will reduce somewhat the heat of the pepper. You're never going to tame a habanero or Scotch bonnet, but you can reduce the heat of many peppers by proper preparation. Of course, some of us chile-heads would ask the obvious question: why would you want to?
Wilbur Scoville devised a method to measure heat in peppers to rationalize and codify one man's "hot" with another's "mild". Essentially, Scoville diluted peppers with water and sugar and recorded the required amount of dilution of any given pepper to reduce its heat as perceived by testers. These Hungarian Wax Peppers are in the mid- to low-end of the Scoville scale. They range from 5,000 to 15,000 SHUs.
The regular consumption of hot peppers is said to reduce the receptors of this compound, hence the noted ability of elders in many parts of the world to eat the hottest of peppers as if they were popcorn.
Some people will try to douse the fire with water when they've eaten something uncomfortably hot. Little good it will do. Milk or other dairy is far more effective as it interrupts the capsaicin's ability to bind to your pain receptors.
Taste is an objective thing. Even our widely used Scoville scale has a wide degree of overlap, with most charts giving a range of SHUs (Scoville Heat Units) for any given pepper. That is due to the fact that factors such as seed/plant cultivation, soil, weather conditions can make any pepper hotter or milder within its range. Even within a region and a growing season, I've noticed varying degrees of heat from the same type of pepper.
So the net result is you have to just experiment with peppers a bit to see what level you enjoy, and find your own heat tolerance.
A Pepper a Day?
Peppers also have health benefits: vitamin A, vitamin C and bioflavinoids, among them. And then of course, there's euphoria. Always a fine line between pain and pleasure. The neurological process which enables us to sense the heat from chiles, also enables the release of endorphins. Those are the things that make us feel good all over and help us ignore pain. Think of chiles as nature's Prozac. Did I mention that Scoville was a Parke-Davis chemist?
If you know of "runner's high", that euphoria that happens when people exercise at certain levels, you know the effect we're talking about. There's even research going on now into ways to harness capsaicin for pain management.
Well, why not just enjoy our peppers? You may recall my fondness for spicy Chinese food Eat Spicy Food and You'll Never Know the Cold. Devy Stone uses these in stir fry dishes . And my love for pickles, such as the excellent Moon Brine brand.
In this recipe, you'll find that tantalizing combination of sweet and hot.
The Leather District Gourmet's Hungarian Pickled Peppers
- 8-10 Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
- 1 tsp Kosher or Sea salt (not iodized, you should get rid of it if you have any...!)
- ¾ C Vinegar (I'd use white here or half white/half cider)
- 1 sprig fresh dill
- Half clove of fresh garlic
- Slice of fresh fennel, with some fronds
- 3 leaves of lemon basil
- 1 inch piece of good cinnamon stick
- 3 allspice berries
- 2 juniper berries
- 5 Ecuadorean peppercorns
- 1 ½ C water
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- Wash, seed and slice peppers so that you've got about 1-2" pieces minus seeds, stems, membranes
- Pack in jar, about a quart size that has been sterilized along with its lid.
- Add garlic, fennel, salt, dill, and basil.
- Bring Vinegar, water to a boil with the spices.
- Pour over peppers. Seal with sterilized lid.
Remember: these pickles are to be refrigerated and enjoyed now. Not put on the shelf to grow nasty microbes to make you sick next year.
Stay tuned for more heat. Peppercorns up next.
