Fresh Red Chillies

I'm looking for fresh red chillies in the heat range of thai/cayenne. I thought Argyle would be the answer, but a quick visit to Tai Nam yesterday yielded only bags of green thai chillies, with an almost nonexistent smattering of red (they are sealed, so no chance of picking them out).

Before I start trawling each and every grocery store in the neighbourhood, I thought I'd check to see if anyone has spotted any in specific stores recently? These things are everywhere (including in banh mi!) at home (Melbourne) and I miss them so

If anyone happens to have a source for fresh cayennes, that would also be most appreciated. Although, I suspect this is a find from my old farmers' market that is going to be hard to repeat.

retzie wrote:
If anyone happens to have a source for fresh cayennes, that would also be most appreciated. Although, I suspect this is a find from my old farmers' market that is going to be hard to repeat.

Well, can you make it this weekend to a farmer's market? (Or you could have gone to the Lincoln Sq Market today.) The season for hot peppers goes on for a good amount of time, especially as peppper store pretty well. At the last Evanston market last weekend, there were tons of hot peppers for buying, including cayenne. At Green City Market this coming Saturday, I am pretty positive you will still find hot peppers from Green Acres and Genesis Growers.

Or go to Maxwell St! I was there on Sunday, and one of the produce guy had plenty of locally grown peppers. The only problem, in his mind, they were way too hot (a problem often with locally grown peppers). Poblanos had way more heat than they "should", and jalepenos were at least as hot as serrano's.

As much as I love local tomatoes, I am convinced that the thing I miss the most, out of season, is fresh hot peppers. To help, I just made myself a big batch of harrisa, and I also plan on making some piri-piri soon.

Golden Pacific always has packaged thai chillies, my last batch was almost all red.

I just saw a bunch at Strack and Van Til on Elston on Sunday. No idea what kind they were, but they were red.

Wonderful, thanks for all the tips! I should have said, I'm new to Chicago, so my knowledge gets very hazy away from the beaten track (except for cocktails... *cough*priorities*cough*)

Vital Information wrote:At Green City Market this coming Saturday, I am pretty positive you will still find hot peppers from Green Acres and Genesis Growers.

This, I can probably do. Without a car and settling into a new job, I have not really had much chance to hit the farmers' market scene. I'm totally up for stockpiling a vast array before the season runs out, though.

Would you say the heat warning applies to anything grown locally? ie. Will my face melt with cayennes I find at Green City?? (Face-melt is not necessarily a problem, but I'd prefer to know in advance!)

AlekH wrote:Golden Pacific always has packaged thai chillies, my last batch was almost all red.

This is very convenient to my commute, so will hopefully be a good regular source

Hi- I have hot peppers in my garden, and I also buy them at the Evanston farmer's market, and I usually plant jalapeno in my garden, and I never have any problems with them being too hot. Nichols should have some hot peppers at Green City too. I have bought quite a few from him this summer at the Evanston market to make salsa. You just have to let them know how hot you want your peppers. They also sell some super hot peppers, and sometimes the peppers get mixed together by the customers. I believe Green Acres sells their hot peppers by the quart, and so there is less of a chance that you will get super hot peppers by mistake.

I remember one year, I bought a bunch of red sweet peppers from Nichols when they were super cheap. I chop them up, and then I freeze them on cookie sheets, and then put them in a zip lock freezer bag when they are frozen. This particular batch of sweet red peppers, I found out when I got home and started cutting them up, had hot peppers interspersed with them. I discovered this when I sampled the first pepper I cut up, and discovered it was a large hot pepper. About a third of the peppers I brought home that day were hot. I suspect that a customer picked out some hot peppers, and put them in a bag, and then decided he did not want them, and put them back in the wrong basket. Hope this helps, Nancy

Most of the larger Mexican markets sell red jalapenos that will blow your head off. My fave market is Supermercado Morelia, in Rogers Park. I make my salted Hunan chile condiment from the beauties found there, as they are always fresh as a daisy and available in quantity. Great bakery and prepared Mexican food department, too. Well worth a trip.

Supermercado Morelia
7330 N. Western
Chicago, IL 60645
(773) 761-3291

I lied, it wasn't Strack I saw them at, though I do sometimes, it was Treasure Island on Clybourn. Sorry!

The Oakton Market in Skokie usually has those little red Thai peppers. They are located at the far end of the produce section (towards the back of the store).

Market Place on Oakton
4817 W Oakton,
Skokie, IL 60077
847.677.9330

Super HMart in Niles always has at least a couple kinds of red chilies.

801 Civic Center Dr.
Niles, IL 60714
http://www.hmart.com/index.asp

I came here to ask more or less the same question as the original poster. I'm out in Oak Park, and frequently I come across an Asian recipe (sometimes Thai but more often Asian-influenced Australian) that calls for fresh red chilis. Yet I can't recall ever coming across them locally, not at Whole Foods, not at Pete's; sometimes Caputo's or Tony's will have Thai green chilis, but not red.

Obviously Mexican chilis abound - both colors of jalepeno, habanero, serrano, poblano, et al. - but in my experience these are hit or miss as substitutes. Too strong, or too smokey, or too associated with specifically Mexican flavors.

Any more recent suggestions for finding fresh red chilis?

Vitesse98 wrote:I came here to ask more or less the same question as the original poster. I'm out in Oak Park, and frequently I come across an Asian recipe (sometimes Thai but more often Asian-influenced Australian) that calls for fresh red chilis. Yet I can't recall ever coming across them locally, not at Whole Foods, not at Pete's; sometimes Caputo's or Tony's will have Thai green chilis, but not red.

Obviously Mexican chilis abound - both colors of jalepeno, habanero, serrano, poblano, et al. - but in my experience these are hit or miss as substitutes. Too strong, or too smokey, or too associated with specifically Mexican flavors.

Any more recent suggestions for finding fresh red chilis?

I like Thai bird chiles, which can be found at various Asian markets and often come in a small bag containing chiles of various colors.

=R=

Yeah, Asian markets are definitely the way to go, but I was hoping there was some place more convenient! Especially for a fresh ingredient. Dried chilis are easy to store and stock up on, so they're worth a trip, but fresh chilis ... less so.

Asian markets usually only have the small Thai bird's and not larger red chiles like Fresnos or Red Jalapenos. Even then, the Thai bird's at an Asian market seem to be seasonally red. At certain times the bags they sell are entirely green. I think the red ones are spicier and taste better. You can also get frozen red chilies at Argyle markets and they sell very delicious pickled red chilies that are longer and a bit less spicy.

GNR Fresh Farms always has fresh Thai bird chilis (and other types) in bulk. You can usually pick through them and find ones that are red...or are at least starting to turn red. A couple of days on your counter will complete the process.

Fresh Farms
5740 W Touhy Ave
Niles, IL 60714
(847) 779-7343

I've seen them pretty much every time I've been to Super H Mart, too. We have taken lately to chopping up fresh chilies and putting them in the freezer for just such occasions.

Long, hot, red chills were available yesterday at Whole Foods on Chicago Avenue in Evanston.

Which one? There are two Whole Foods stores on Chicago Avenue in Evanston.

The "Chicago Avenue" store is the southern of the two; the other is generally referred to by WF as the "Downtown" store.

Marketplace on Oakton had a great big binful of a 50/50 mix of very fresh green and red Thai chiles today. They customarily have a large variety of chiles, so I'd pay them a visit ASAP.

4817 W Oakton
Skokie, IL 60077
Phone: 847.677.9330
http://www.marketplaceonoakton.com/

Jerry's lately has been carrying small thai red chilies. I think they are called bird chilies? They have been quite reliable. Hope you have the same experience!
Jerry's Fruit & Garden
www.jerrysfruitandgarden.com
7901 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL 60714 · ~1.8 mi
(847) 967-1440
Open 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM