Freezing an opened jar is fine, they will get a bit more mushy however. You can dry them in a dehydrator and that will give you solid pieces that you can grind into a powder.

Hi Melissa,

What a great pepper that aji is! I've grown several varieties and C. baccatums never disappoint.

Freezing peppers just can't be beat. The only way to retain original flavor & heat. Dehydrating is 2nd & canning a dead last.

My very good friend Beth is known as "The Aji Queen" and is the one who turned me on to baccatums. I highly recommend her seeds.

jt

Here is a link that might be useful: La Reina de los Ajís

Thanks JT and Ken. In the next day or so I will freeze them in pairs. It turned out there were 10 in the jar, 2 layers of 5 peppers about 4" long. Between the ceviche and the causa I used two, and the mashed potatoes are still not too spicy. These peppers don't seem very hot, which is perfect for me. I guess they have already lost flavor because they're canned. But my food was authentic. :-)

Melissa

Melissa,

Baccatums are known for flavor and productivity, not heat. Dehydrated and powdered Lemon Drop gets more favorable reviews than any other of my powders. Brazilian Starfish and Aji Colorado are great ones too.

Never made or tasted ceviche myself. Always seemed a little scary, but the recipe below came from one of our brainier (engineer) chile-heads. Willard was also the inspiration for my tomatillo/turtle bean salsa.

Ceviche Camaron

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs small raw shrimp, cleaned
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 Tomatillos, diced
6 limes, juiced
2 lemons, juiced
1 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 green unripe chile, I used a chilaca, seeded and finely

chopped (picante to taste)
1/2 of a cucumber, peeled and diced
1 red onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION:
Lay out shrimp in the bottom of glass baking dish. Pour lemon and lime juice over them and refrigerate for 3 hours. Toss with remaining ingredients and refrigerate for one more hour or longer (better longer).

Serve with tostadas.

Interesting. All the recipes I read suggested cooking shrimp first, since citrus juice tends to break up the flesh. My ceviche was just halibut with enough lime juice to cover it, red onion but not too much, aji amarillo, and plenty of salt. I let it "cook" all the way through and it was perfect. I believe aji rocoto is traditional but I forgot I needed that when I was at the bodega. If the fish has been commercially frozen, it is pretty safe to eat raw. Once the ceviche sits overnight, the fish tastes like cooked fish. Mine was much better after I drained it because the extra sourness was a distraction.

Melissa

> ...and didn't buy aji rocoto at the bodega...

Melissa,

I'm curious about the aji rocoto in your recipe. Is C. chinense or C. pubescens? A large diff in flavor, but both can be hotter than heck. The chinense would be like the usual tan, flat seeds and the pubescens would be black & fatter.

jt

Here is a link that might be useful: database