Birdseye Chilies

I am a chef at an Ethiopian Restaurant and we purchase dried birdseye chilies from Frontier Co-Op but I am looking for a purveyor of fresh birdseye chilies or a farmer who is willing to grow them for us. They are indigenous to Africa and resemble a jalepeno although they are much closer to a habenero in heat! I have found a seed company in England that carrries the seeds- is anyone got a clue on this one?

I have been told that the "chile tepin" is the same (or similar). Is what you are looking for red, and small and round about the size of blueberry? If so you should have no problem finding seeds and seedlings in this country (google "chile tepin").

Bill/SFNM

I believe there is a fairly large range of related chiles that could be called bird's eye, chiletepin or pequin, and they are close to the roots of the big family tree of chiles, with many growing wild. Around here, in Chicago, the Guatemalan community uses lots. They come pickled, in brine, and often also fresh. I've seen them at La Unica and Mexican markets (Lindo Michoacan comes to mind).

I can imagine the chiles in africa taking on different characteristics over the hundreds of years after Spaniards and Portuguese brought them over, so close might not be good enough.

try http://www.thechilewoman.com
she's got loads of varieties, grown in Indiana.
I only wish I got kickbacks

Bill/SFNM wrote:I have been told that the "chile tepin" is the same (or similar). Is what you are looking for red, and small and round about the size of blueberry? If so you should have no problem finding seeds and seedlings in this country (google "chile tepin").

Bill/SFNM

Bill, it looks like the birdseye chile is not a small round one like the tepin. Here's a picture from "uk chilehead":


and uk chilehead says the following:

Bird These are found all over Africa, where they are also called Birds Eye, Congo, Mombassa, Pequin, Uganda and Zanzibar chiles. They are very small conical chiles ranging from 1-1.6 cm long. They grow wild or semi-wild and are bright scarlet red. Their colour attracts mynah and other birds who eat them, with no apparent discomfort, distributing their seeds via their droppings. Some grow wrinkled, some smooth. (Capsicum annuum). Heat level is 8-9.

(see http://www.g6csy.net/chile/database.html )

VIPchef, have you tried looking in the various African markets around town for fresh ones?

Do you have any African markets in mind? My boss, who is Ethiopian, shops on Devon for some of her produce- we get the rest of our produce from Testa.

I don't know much about the African markets in town, but here's an old post by G Wiv with a good list, followed by an addendum by Rene G:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=4490#4490

And here is a post on a market in Forest Park, by David Hammond:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=22386

Many of these stores, however, may be primarily West African, and it sounds like your chile is more typical of East Africa (?). Anyway, it might be worth checking them out.

good luck,
Amata

Aren't Thai chiles (Prik ki nu) birds-eye chiles? That's what I've always known birds-eyes to be, and they haven't been too difficult to find around town.

Or am I completely off-base here?

Binko wrote:Aren't Thai chiles (Prik ki nu) birds-eye chiles? That's what I've always known birds-eyes to be, and they haven't been too difficult to find around town.

Or am I completely off-base here?

Those are Thai Bird chiles. A different animal altogether.

stevez wrote:

Binko wrote:Aren't Thai chiles (Prik ki nu) birds-eye chiles? That's what I've always known birds-eyes to be, and they haven't been too difficult to find around town.

Or am I completely off-base here?

Those are Thai Bird chiles. A different animal altogether.

Ah ha. A number of websites and vendors seem to share my confusion.

But you are absolutely correct.

Some sources state that this chile is also prik kee nu, the Thai "mouse dropping pepper," but that is a different, much thinner chile.

You learn something new every day.

Amata wrote:Bill, it looks like the birdseye chile is not a small round one like the tepin.

Thanks, Amata for clearing up my confusion. Sorry, VIPchef, if I gave you a bad lead. I remember going through this a while back in my search for "ojo de pajaro" chile and was directed to use chile tepin. Should have known that international chile nomenclature is tricky business.

Bill/SFNM