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HANDLING and PEELING FRESH CHILES

SOME WISE ADVICE:
After handling chiles, especially the fresh variety, do not touch your face, eyes or any other sensitive skin areas until you have washed your hands. {For the hands and fingers only} Try 1 part of common household bleach mixed with 5 parts of water to help neutralize the burning, then dip the hands into this solution for 5-10 seconds follow by rinsing quickly under cold running water.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

- Chiles should be plump, smooth and shiny.

- The sizes should range from 1/8 of an inch to 8 inches long.

- Colors go from green to yellow to orange to red as they ripen.

- As a NOT infallible guidline, the smaller the chile the hotter.

PREPARING FRESH CHILES FOR SALSA .................

GETTING THEM READY:
1. To peel chiles and peppers their skins must first be charred.
   • Do not worry because the flesh of the chile will be fine if you do this correctly.

2. For Chiles Jalapenos, Anchos and long green and red chiles the tough
   transparent outer skin needs to be removed before preparing. This is accomplish by charring and blistering.

3. The chile pods should have the seeds removed, the veins are optional.
   • Always wear plastic gloves when doing this if possible.
   • The removal of the seeds and veins will make the end product/salsa less "picante"

BLISTERING FRESH CHILE AND PEPPER PODS .................

To blister the skin of a fresh pepper or chile you must "Char Roast" the skin. There are 4 commonly accepted methods to accomplish this......

DIRECT FLAME on a BROILER RACK .................Place the chile-pepper pods about 3 inches under the broiler flame for 6 to 8 minutes turning frequently until they are equally roasted on all sides. If you do not have a broiler and are using a gas stove burner top place a wire rack over the burner to roast the chiles or you can also roast them one by one by using a long fork or skewer and handle the chile pods like a marshmallow. ELECTRIC STOVE .................Turn the burner up to high and roast the pods on an open wire rack placed over this burner. This is the same technique as in the method above for an open burner. OVEN ROASTING ................. Preheat oven to 555 degrees F. or 228 degrees C. Pinch the pod's skin to prevent bursting caused by the internal steam developed inside the chiles due to the high temperatures Place pods on an open rack and place inside the oven and turn as needed to evely blister the skin. Ideally the rack should be located at mid-level. OIL ROASTING ................. This is really just deep frying the peppers as is really indicated for quantity production circumstances only. Have oil at 400 degrees F. or 204 degrees C. Fry just a few at a time and do not over-load the fyer.

SCRAPE METHOD .................Using the back of a small pairing knife scape the peppers. Start at the stem end and work away from you. Try doing this either on a flat surface or carefully under cool running water. RUB METHOD .................Rub the pepper pods with a clean towel under cold running water.

A METHOD .................Carefully split or cut in half the peeled pod , then remove the seeds and or veins under cold running water. Remember the precautionaryWise Advice at the beginning of this document concerning your hands.

OPTIONS FOR USE ................. If you are going to freeze the chile-peppers....   - DO NOT peel in order to preserve the flavor and nutrients. If you are going to stuff the chile-peppers....   - Leave stem in and make as small a slit as possible. If you are going to make "Rajas"...   - Remove seeds and veins and then cut into 1/2 inch strips If you Smell a hot chile...   - Somethimes you can actually smell a hot chile-pepper when you     cut it open.   - After they are peeled try soaking in in salt water or vinegar     for 30 minutes.   - This will reduce the piquancy of the peeled chiles.