LOL; Let us know if you find them

Byron, care to explain? I've only seen them in recipes and have never seen them listed anyplace. Are they the great creation of a marketing whiz and I didn't know it?

Seeds are not available, ? to keep the price up.

A few folks on another list spent almost 2 years trying to buy seeds..

So, if they are being sold in Lebanese and Syrian grocery stores here, they aren't the same as what is in the powdered form? I'm just trying to get this right so I don't buy the wrong thing, especially if they really are that hard to find. I know someone that does quite a bit of flying overseas as well as an engineer friend that is currently living S.A. at the moment, so I might be able to finagle some from either of them. Byron, if I find some, I'll send some your way, if you're interested, ok?

Sure I am interested in seeds.

The last I knew, ripe pods and seeds we not available in
Lebanon.

In the powdered form, the seeds are crush/ground beyond use as a seed.

Hey Byron...

http://www.thespicehouse.com/product/product_Crushed_Aleppo_Pepper.php

This might be a source of seed, for a few bucks it's worth a shot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aleppo pepper

Hendrick, the spicehouse sells the ground stuff, I'm pretty sure anyway, cause I checked about a million places before posting here and that was what everyone seemed to have. I called a Lebanese grocer that seems to be willing to try and get some, so we'll see what happens. I'll post to you Byron, when I find out more. I will be bugging the others as well. You never know what those guys buy shopping in the markets there. Sometimes, I don't think THEY know. Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

You might get lucky and find 1 or 2 seeds in the ground stuff that may or may not work

I believe John T found that seeds dried at 140f did not germinate. Dewitt says you can dry seeds at 100F so I still have my doubts of finding viable seeds.

How hot do you think it gets inside a red pod that's drying in the sun? 90, 100, 120? These pepper flakes might have some viable seed in them, I figgure that for under ten bucks it's worth a try and at worst you'll have some great tasting groumd pepper and at best you'll have the pepper and some seed to grow. Win Win

I have germinated seed from several varieties of purchased dried peppers as well as seed from home dehydrated peppers. I think it's well worth the try.

John

Hi Elana! I spent considerable effort a year ago to find Aleppo seeds with no success. Please let me know if you find them and where! You are doing a lot better than I did!

Just got back from San Diego where I visited the Near East Market looking for Aleppo. They had them crushed and I asked about whole pods. The woman told me they always got them crushed and she had never seen whole pods.

john

I'll leave the experimenting with you folks, I am trying to find about 25 different Ají seeds. :-)

Chimayo is #1 for me next year

BTW Aleppo is AKA Halaby or Halab

Last year I got some crushed aleppo from Penzeys, and upon examining it I found some seeds, since it was not ground, though far fewer than most crushed red pepper contains. They may not be viable, but it's worth a try, if you would use the pepper anyway.

Dave

I've been talking to an American jet mechanic working in Kuwait, and he went into the markets looking for the whole pods, without success as far as we know. He got some un- named red peppers from India, and I'm getting seeds from those. I have checked out absolutely every lead I can find and have not found the seed.

I actually spoke with someone at Indo Euorpean Food Wholesales regarding whole dried aleppo peppers and the woman there said they do carry them. However, they don't do retail sales only wholesale. She said I'd need to have a retailer special order them. The grocer at Cedarsky I spoke with is still trying to have his supplier get them into a shipment here. I explained I could not recieve stuff like that in the mail because Customs frowns on that kind of stuff and they hand out stiff fines for it. I have to actually give him a call to place an order for some stuff though, so when I speak with him, maybe I can get some more information. My overseas friend is looking with no success either. My pilot friend hasn't flown there in a while as he's been kind of promoted and now does management stuff about 50% of the time and since that horrid quake, he's been flying aid into that area instead or shuffling supplies here to go there. So, I'm still waiting.

Are these "Aleppo" peppers indigenous to India?

There's a nice lady who owns a farm in India who wants me to send her some seed for crafting gourds that she can't get there. She offered to send me some seeds from local Indian peppers as a trade.

Is there another name or names that Aleppo goes by in various regions of India?

So far, she has only sent me a list that she copied from a catalog she uses to order seed for her farm:

CHILLI
1. N.P.-46 A mild long dark green variety. Heavy yielder.
2) Jwala light green coloured long fruited variety. mild pungency. Heavy cropper.
3) G-4 Released from Guntur, a good variety for semi arid zones. much longer in size.
4) P.C.-1 released by GB Pant University. fruits long and thick facing upwards. heavy cropper.
5) P.C.-2 selection fromNP46.A, having pendant fruits
6) X235 fruit and yield is better than G$
7) Surya Mukhi Cluster - fruiting like PC1 but in cluster, fruiting throughout the year.
8) CA960 early fruiting and is superior in dry pod weight
9) Trupti Jwala-type but longer

10. LCA305 dark green, heavy fruiting
11. LCA206 developed from G3, having good colour retention

I don't see anything indicating "Aleppo" there, do you?

In any case, if you can tell me what to ask her to look for, I will.

Bill

It seems so incredible any pepper variety could be so difficult to find! Beyond imaginable. But Bill, I never heard of most of the India peppers you just listed so I guess it's possible. There are just so many varieties of hot peppers in the world. That's what makes this hobby fun!

Who knows, maybe you'll get sent seeds for the PC-1 that measured 850,000 SU on the heat scale :)

Chris

A friend who has been to the area, claimed that the pc-1 claim was way out of whack. She has eaten the Tez Pur pepper and said it was about the same heat as cayanne.

She writes about Asain recipes in a CA newspaper.

jt, ~thats Mary Anne..

Dave- After reading your post, I bought a lb of Aleppo from Penzey's and there are a few uncrushed seeds floating around in there. Will try them next spring. Meanwhile, the pepper, along with some smoked paprika, is going into a nice big batch of spanish chorizo (smoked).

Did you ever find them ElanaLV?

Hi.
I bought a pound from Penzeys.
Picked out all of the whole and partial
seeds.
They did NOT germinate.
Appeared to have been heated at a high heat.
Bought another pound (somewhere else) It hadn't
been heated but was chopped much finer.
Be great to get some seeds.
Dan