Tomatillos: Anyone ever try somking them?


 
R

Rob O

TVWBB Pro
If you tried it during the 1960s it doesn't count.
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Seriously. Gonna be doing a whole bunch of peppers either tomorrow or next weekend and have a bunch of red and green tomatillos. (At least I think the red ones are tomatillos.)


Anyone ever try smokeing them a la smoke dired tomatos? Advice? Planning on doing them along with a lot of vaired peppers. Chipotles, Guarillos, habaneros, poblanos, anaheims etc., etc.


Was thinking of putting them on the bottom rack and leaving them alone.

Whaddya think? Worth doing or not?
 
did you end up doing them?

since tomatillos are nearly all water, I don't think you'd find much benefit smoking them. They aren't like tomatoes, which have pretty thick walls and a good amount of meat. Tomatillos are very juice with really thin walls. I think it would take ages to actually dry them out (if that is what you are going for) and once it is done, I don't think you'd have much to show for it. just some shriveled skin, I imagine.

never heard of red tomatillos, by the way. interesting.

now peppers... that is a different story. Man, they are awesome. What I learned in doing them this year though is don't skimp on the wood smoke. They can take a lot. I used hickory. I could definitely have used mesquite.

good luck if you haven't already done them.
 
No, not yet. It was too windy last weekend. Maybe I'll get a chance this weekend if it doesn't rain.

I'm doing a mess of peppers anyhow. Thought I'd give this a whirl.

Plan to char some of them first and take off the skin. Will leave the rest skin on.


I'll post some pics of the red ones.
It may be a disaster but hey. You never know.
 
I just got done doing a big batch of Jalepenos and Serrano peppers. I basically used Chris' instructions on this site (the charcoal instructions - not the hot plate one) and they came out great. I cut all my peppers in half and applied heavy smoke at about 150 pit temp. Took them until they were pleanty dry and almost crispy. Then threw them all in my black & decker coffee grinder and made a beautiful powder/spice. Very hot, smokey & tastee. Can't wait to use some. Also plan to mix with other spices to create some chilli powder and maybe some other blends.
 
Yep. Works great.

What I do is throw the peppers in with some cider vinegar, water, ketchup, onions, garlic and something else I'm forgetting right now and simmer them for about 2 hours. (the peppers need to be very soft.)

Then I put them all in a blender and puree.



Strain the seeds and you have the most amazing pepper sauce!

that's kind of what's got me thinking about the tomatillos. they add a real nice flavor to salsa. If smoking them doesn't work I can always add them to this sauce raw before the blender.
 
Rob--

Not that I am an authority on tomatillos but are you sure that's what you have? I'm not aware of a red variety. There is a purple variety that gets deeper in color after picking and the greens which over-ripen to yellow (and aren't good for much at that point). All tomatillos have husks. If it doesn't it's likely a similar-sized tomato and in that case would smoke/dry fine if meaty enough. Good luck with them regardless. I've had great Key limes with more coming, calamondins nigh, and the rest of the citrus following.
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i was not able to get in any row crops at all this year.
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Hey Kevin,

LOL you're taking about citrus crops. I'm bringing out the down vests.

Anyway, I've never seen anything like them before eitehr. They have a husk like a tomatillo but they're red. I picked up a bunch on the assumption that red = sweeter.

We'll see.....
 
Save me seeds! Really! And post a pic of a raw one--I'd love to see it. Never even heard of a red tomatillo and 'exotic' fruits and vegs are my thing.

I'm hoping the calamondins survive the hurricane--the tree will--the fruits are just ripening and I'm out of frozen juice. No bananas or plantains this year either because of last year's 'canes. Bummer.

Yep,here you know it's fall when the citrus starts. We're almost down in the 70s at night!
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
I'm hoping the calamondins survive the hurricane </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Mmmmmm. me too!
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seriously, though good luck with the hurricane, sir. hope all is well for you.

Rob - you've GOT to post some pictures, my friend. Never in my life have I seen or heard of red tomatillos. Seriously, need pictures. That is really cool.

I did my chipotles a few weeks ago. They were great. Took about 24 hours, then needed some extra time in the oven to finish them off (I did them at around 170-ish in the smoker... same temp in the oven). But I don't cut mine in half, I just make a tiny 1/8th inch slit in the pepper so moisture can escape.

good luck, and seriously. Pictures of those red tomatillos.
 
Kevin, Good luck to you and your crops with the huricane.

Well... turns out I was wrong about the husks on the red ones.
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There's no way these are tomatillos. In fact now that I think about it they look a lot like Hungarian Cherry peppers. The only thing that has me thown is how hot they are.

The flesh tastes like a sweet red pepper but it's hotter than any jalapeno I've ever had. I wasn't brave enough to go near the seeds right now.

Anyway here's a link:

http://img477.imageshack.us/img477/9931/peppers3ul.jpg
 
kind of gives your tagline at the end of your messages more meaning, huh?
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I'd definitely smoke them along with the jalapenos you are doing. I've got about 20 more jalapenos on the back porch that just ripened to red. They are waiting for you to swing on by and add them to your batch...
 
Well go smoke 'em Adam, we'll exchage finished product. Then you can report back to the board on how some of the more exotics I'm doing fared.
 
I am so jealous. Yes, they look like cherries and they look delicious; cherries can be quite hot. For some reason ripe peppers have not been around down here this year. Of course you can get loads of green jals but I want ripe ones. Bummed I wasn't able to get any in. At the time i wasn't concerned since I was sure they'd be available--wrong.

If you ate the ribs/placenta when you tried the pepper you got a good idea of the heat. Seeds don't contain capsaicin per se, but their proximity to the placenta causes them to pick up some heat.

Have fun with those.

Adam, fingers crossed on the calamondins...

Thanks, both if you, for the well wishes.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
For some reason ripe peppers have not been around down here this year. Of course you can get loads of green jals but I want ripe ones. Bummed I wasn't able to get any in. At the time i wasn't concerned since I was sure they'd be available--wrong. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>shoulda let me know, man. I had a bumper crop! next year...
 
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