Jalapeno Peppers

Jalapeno peppers are common these days with a relatively low spice that can be used for a lot of cooking. I think picking these at the store is relatively simple. I look for ones that tend to have a smooth and waxy skin. You can also look at the color of the stems to see how dark they are and how dried they are as well. The more shriveled they are, they’re obviously older. These store very well in the fridge as well.

One thing that many might not know about is trying to tell whether or not they are spicy. We’ve all had the occasional one that’s very spicy. There’s a clue that you can look for and that’s for dried wrinkle marks that run lengthwise along the pepper. This is called corking, and they tend (not always) to be spicier. While this is not a guarantee, it’s a sign that the pepper went through some rapid growth, but corking is also present on more mature peppers which tend to be spicier as well.

Left and center pepper with some visible corking and the right pepper shows much more corking.

So if you’re more risk adverse for spice, you can always remove the seeds and the white membrane on the inside of the pepper since most of the capsaicin, the chemical that’s responsible for the spice, is found in these parts of the pepper. Since Cantonese cuisine is not known for spice, these tend to be preferred for their relatively low spice.