Ripe jalapeños washed, stemmed, sliced (not seeded). Ready for the smoker.

Back in early June, I bought a dozen jalapeño starts from Eremita at the Dixon Farmers Market. Fine and robust specimens they were, and they took quite readily to their new life in the semi-fertile ground of my little garden plot.

The jalapeño was my first introduction to the chile world when as a youngster, my mom trotted out a new after school snack – Nachos topped with canned jalapeños. While I avoid commercially canned chilis now, at the time, they seemed like a spicy version of a pickle, and I was quite taken. The jalapeño remains my favorite raw chile and the roasted kind (like they serve [for free] at the Guadalajara Grill in Taos) is a menacing treat. When one has a dozen fruitful plants however, a fellow can only consume so many of these things raw before that fiery chemical strand begins to infect his dreams. So I roasted a bucket full and gobbled them up like large incendiary raisins.

Still there's a bunch of peppers here. What else to do with them? Well I could experiment with creating a tabasco like substance, but that sounded too involved, yet may still happen if the cold weather keeps its distance for much longer.

Chipotles. Of course! Smoked and dried jalapeños… I’ve often thought of this, but had never actually attempted them. I dusted off the smoker, scratched at a few cobwebs inside and got a fire going in the base of the contraption. I put a few dozen peppers sliced open (so the smoke will easily find its way inside the fruits) with their stems removed in the lower grill and tossed some soaking mesquite into the coals.

Sitting in the smoker. Try the top level next time... you ninny!

After two hours I took a peek at the progress of my sunken fruits. Egad! They were burnt literally to a crisp on one side while soft and slightly gooey on the other. I cut off the burnt bits and made a hell of a salsa with the gooey halves. I couldn’t rest though with chipotle failure weighing on my shoulders, and a week later I tried again. This time with a much less robust fire down below. Just a few coals, and plenty of wet wood, and the chiles arranged on the top grill. Smoke billowed, but the chiles were bathed in warm, not scorching air.

I began this project at 3 in the afternoon, and by the time I went to bed that evening, all were softened and shriveled but still quite full of moisture. I gave them all a turn and went to bed. Of course, I couldn’t exactly sleep soundly knowing there was something on fire just outside my door, so I got up and checked on my chipotles every so often. At 3 am, I added a few more coals and went back to bed. At 7 the fire was dead and the chiles were rather cool but still quite moist and pliable.

Smoked and dried... awaiting your imagination.

I stoked the fire again, threw in some more soaking mesquite chunks and went about my business. After 24 hours in the smoker, some of the smaller chiles had completely dried and were ready to come out, but some still had plenty of moisture. Over the next several hours chilis were checked for dryness, removed as needed and after 36 hours in the smoker, the last of the jalapeños had completed their journey to Chipotledom.

There will be chipotle flavored everything this winter… salsas of course, but once you rehydrate these little puppies, they can be tossed into salads for a bit of smoky zest, ground up and rubbed on meats, tossed into soups and stews, and wrapped up in breakfast burritos.

That smoky aroma is so intoxicating, I'll bet if you smoked a dish rag, it'd be pretty tasty. Yes and after my thanksgiving chipotle-pumpkin pie, I believe I’ll wash it all down with one of these:

Chipotle Beer? If it's from Stone, you bet!

Cheers!