# Chipotles in the MES



## cornman53 (Mar 7, 2016)

Took some of the last harvest of jalapenos from the garden out of the freezer, sliced them in half and threw them on the MES. I had about 3 1/2 gallon bags that fit on the 4 racks and ended up with about one gallon bag almost full when everything was said and done.  I still have another 4 bags or so of them to deal with. 













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I started them out at 160 degrees but the bottom layer was starting to burn so I turned it down to 120.  It took about 26 hours to get them to the consistency I wanted.  I ran 2 full loads of an apple/pecan mix from Todd in the AMNPS.  The smoke flavor is strong but not overpowering.  I chopped up 2 with some onion, garlic, avocado, tomato, lime, and cilantro and it makes an amazing guacamole.  They are so much better than the ones you buy at the store. I think I will make the rest of these into an adobo sauce and the next batch maybe grind half of them and leave half of them whole to add to whatever.

Its probably going to add another flavor to the next batch of jerky or pork butt I smoke.


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## SmokinAl (Mar 8, 2016)

That's awesome!

You must have a really nice garden!

Al


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## cornman53 (Mar 8, 2016)

SmokinAl said:


> That's awesome!
> 
> You must have a really nice garden!
> 
> Al


It helps when you grow up on a farm and your mom is a certified horticulturist.  People laugh at my garden because its usually 3 or 4 tomato plants, a zucchini plant, a row of lettuce, about 50 pepper plants of various types, jalapeno, Thai chili, habenaro, etc, and then about 20 pickle plants because I love canning my own pickles as well.


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## munsterfan (Mar 11, 2016)

I've a new harvest of Jalapenos and other Mexican/American chilis that I want to smoke. SOON. We only have access to these trees: carob, almond, fig, orange/lemon, olive and wild herbs...do you have any idea which one(s) I should use and once I cut and chip the branches how long before I can use them to smoke? Thank you very much for any thoughts you have..


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## cornman53 (Mar 11, 2016)

Munsterfan said:


> I've a new harvest of Jalapenos and other Mexican/American chilis that I want to smoke. SOON. We only have access to these trees: carob, almond, fig, orange/lemon, olive and wild herbs...do you have any idea which one(s) I should use and once I cut and chip the branches how long before I can use them to smoke? Thank you very much for any thoughts you have..


I can give you my opinion but I know others opinions will vary.  As far as the choice of wood, almond is a good choice with a sweeter smoke,  I have heard of smoking with olive and fig but I have no experience with it.  Not sure on the carob, orange, lemon or herb.

As far as drying it goes there is a lot of discussion on that.  Some people say you can use green wood as soon as you cut it, some say let it dry 4-6 weeks, others say 6 to 12 months.  I am not sure there is a right answer.  Usually a greener wood will impart a stronger smoke so if you use it I would maybe limit the amount of time you have your chilies in the smoke.


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## munsterfan (Mar 17, 2016)

Thank you very much for your comments. We finally broke down yesterday and bought a used 6hp chipper we're excited like babies at Christmas. All afternoon where ever we drove doing normal day business we could only see dead branches on trees within reach of the chainsaw, a quick whir-whir, wood tossed in the back of van and home to the chipper....very exciting! And now to SMOKE!


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## smokinpapist (Mar 20, 2016)

I don't have any experience with any of these woods. Here is what I can tell you though Munsterfan from all I have read. I have heard people talk quite a bit about orange and lemon. They are similar to many fruit trees in that they impart a much lighter smoke than say hickory would. Much more like apple or cherry. I would assume fig would be the same. I have not heard much about olive or carob. Herbs though I used to use quite a bit on my old Weber kettle and it worked quite nice. I used to use dried rosemary on chicken and pork with quite a bit of success. 

I always used seasoned wood at least 6 months after we cut it. Here in OK it is usually fairly dry. Good luck and happy smoking. 

P.S. A good rule of thumb is that if it grows fruit or nuts you can smoke with it. I have heard that the except to the rule is black walnut.


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## rockymtnsmoker (Mar 21, 2016)

That is inspirational, cornman.  I won't be able to get a haul like that, but now I want to grow a lot more jalapenos this year.  Very nice.


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## munsterfan (Apr 21, 2016)

Wow thanks folks all helpful information.


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