September 18, 2019 • 33 mins
These peppers are a staple fresh, pickled, dried, and fried -- and their heat can sneak up on you. Anney and Lauren dig in to the history and spicy science of jalapeños and chipotles.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, I'm welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio
and Stuff Media. I'm Anneries and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and
today we're talking about lapenias. I didn't think I was
going to get cravings for this one, but I really
really have. Yes, Like I've envisioning just eating lapenos and
I know I would regret it pretty quickly, just like
fresh like acronym, Yes, have you ever done that? I've
(00:31):
definitely eaten one that way. Okay, I won't know about many,
and I've had many that I like stuffed with stuff
with stuff. Yeah, but apparently in times of stress, all
I want or hot peppers and fun. Oh that's it. Well,
I mean, you know, one of these is distracting um
(00:53):
and the other is like the best comfort food ever.
So it's true. I'm not gonna say which is which.
That's up for you to decide. I did a I
did a Google search because it's been going on for
over a month now where all I want is fun,
hot peppers. I was like, Google, tell me what's the problem,
and it said it might be and I didn't put
anything about running. It said it might be because you're
(01:15):
a runner and you're not running as much, which is true,
and the spice heat is very similar to a runners high,
and so my body is just trying to find like
another another thing too. It's like, oh, we're not having
fun this way. Where else can we have fun? We
must have fun peppers. It's just too hot outside. I
will start running again more regularly, body, but right now
(01:36):
it's like a hundred degrees outside. Yeah. No, no, even
in the morning, it's really warm and like he was stuck.
Yeah yeah. And then I've had a couple of friends
asked me if I'm pregnant, which I am not, because
I keep eating hot peppers, and it likes brought a
party to a halt because everyone was clearly expecting me
to be like, well, I wasn't gonna say no, no.
(02:00):
And then I learned while researching this one that one
out of every ten shoshidos, which are a mild pepper
that kind of having a moment right now, are hot.
And I was eating some shoshidos when I was doing
this research and I got a really hot when I
was like, there you got research, Yeah, right there. I
do love halpinos, though they add so much with so
(02:21):
little and food and cocktails. Oh Man, halepenias taste like
death to me. Um, it's slightly spicy death. Yeah, that
that fresh, grassy flavor that they have in common with
bell peppers. Um, bell peppers being a thing that I'm
intolerant to and have gotten sick from a whole bunch. Yeah,
it's like a It's like a warning signal in my brain.
Even though I can totally have like a little halopenia
(02:41):
and be fine most of the time. You're only using
a little anyway. But yeah, I just associate that with
like whoa, Nope, Yeah, probably not good. No one good
aboard a board? Yeah, too bad? I agree. But let
us get question. Yes, lapenos, what are they? Well, jalapeno
(03:09):
is the fruit of a specific variety of chili pepper
botanical name Capsicum and um um. They're officially classified as
a short and stubby That's that's the scientific classification. They're
short and stubby pepper. Okay. They're usually maybe about two
to three inches long, about an inch wide, that's around
seven by three centimeters or so, and they are hollow
(03:30):
with a with a cavity inside for their flat round seeds.
They grow on these short sort of shrubby plants um,
and when the fruits are mature, they're this deep dark
green color, but if allowed to keep growing, they will
ripen to a bright, deep red. Their flavor is fresh
and vegetable and a little bit grassy, and and they
get sweeter as they ripen. They're not typically super spicy um,
(03:52):
though they do contain cap sasin, which is a chemical
defense mechanism that some plants evolved that makes the nervous
system of some animal like humans think that they are
actually on fire. Um, which jokes on the plant is
an effect that some humans have decided that we totally enjoy.
Halapinias don't contain much capsace, and though they weigh in
(04:13):
and around two thousand five eight thousand Scoville heat units um.
Though they can surprise you. I have been surprised before,
especially oh you get the juice in your eye. That's
oh gosh. Yes, As with any potentially spicy pepper, always
always used extreme caution when when slicing and dicing, and
(04:34):
I don't know, juggling whatever else you get up to
in the kitchen. Goggles, Wash your hands, wash, wash your hands,
wash your hands, were gloves if you'd like to you know,
do what you can. Safety first. A bunch of the
spiciness is in the seeds of halapinias, though, which makes
sense because that's the part that the plants would particularly
benefit from protecting. Um, So if you don't like spice,
(04:57):
leave the seeds out, or try using canned or frozen
pepper instead of fresh. They can lose about half of
their capsa sin during processing. Really yeah. Chipotle's chipotles are
lapenos that are grown to ripeness, then dried and wood smoked.
The seeds are often removed beforehand, or sometimes making the
resulting product less spicy. Chipotle's are smoked slow and low
(05:20):
for like up to a week, resulting in a or
greater water loss. The result is a deep reddish brown
dried fruit that tastes sweet and smoky and like a
little bit bitter and nutty, with a kind of mild spice.
This was news to me about the chipole Oh yeah,
oh yeah, I did not know. Did not know. Relatively
(05:40):
recent news to me, but not like as of this episode.
Yeah yeah. There are two main varieties of Chipotle's mecho,
which are allowed to like really fully ripen on the
plant and are smoked extra long until they're like crinkly
um and merita, which are picked a little bit earlier
and smoked for a shorter time, leaving them more pliable
and a little bit milder. If you've ever noticed pale
(06:03):
scars or stripes down the length of halapenos are other
hot peppers. By the way, that's called corking, and it's
it's stretch marks from rapid fruit growth. Um might mean
skin is a little bit thicker, but otherwise it does
not affect the quality totally to eat today. The thing
that I learned, um, is that chili pepper plants leaves
(06:24):
are generally edible, unlike other members of the nightshade family.
And yeah, you can. You can cook them up like
the way that you would any other green. I want
to try that. Yes, this is this is what I've
come to understand. Anyway, It's apparently not really a thing
in the West, but it's super popular in many parts
(06:44):
of Asia, so well, I am down to try it. Yeah.
The name comes from the town where a lot of
lapenos are grown, Lapa air Crews. Halapa is a different spelling.
It's spelled with an ex in this case of Halapa
with a chain chili comes from an Aztec dialect chill
pocked chili, meaning smoked chili pepper. Historians think that due
(07:08):
to helping a thick flesh, the Aztecs frequently drive them
out to prevent them from going bad. Yeah, and that's
where we get the word chipotle from m M in
American English, rabbit hole. Chili with an e is an
acceptable spelling, but in the UK English only the I
spelling is accepted, or maybe sometimes with a y. The
(07:31):
e is how the Spanish spell it, but the eye
is probably how the Aztec spelled it. According to a
French dictionary, neither has anything to do with the country chili,
which was called chili with an eye until the twentieth century.
Then there's chili with an e powder and chili with
(07:51):
an eye powder, which are two separate things. Yeah, Chili
powder with an e tends to be just ground dried
chili's and eli powder with an eye tends to be
um a powder made from a few from a blend
of things that you used to flavor chili the stew.
(08:12):
And speaking of where did that come from? That word
originated in eighteen fifty seven with the phrase chili concarnate
chili with an E, but then in the nineteen chili
concarnate within I overtook the original spelling, and it's been
in the lead ever since. An entry in a Mexican
dictionary describes chili concarnate like this, a detestable dish sold
(08:35):
from Texas to New York City, erroneously described as Mexican. Oh,
this was a whole thing there. They were like essays, essays,
essays written about it. Why did this happen? I tried
to steal it, But it's just a lot of confusion,
at least for me. Maybe linguists understand. Anyway, Let's talk
(08:58):
about the nutrition. Yeah, Halapenos, like other fresh fruit that
doesn't contain much sugar, are pretty good for you. Lots
of fiber and vitamins, a lot of flavor considering their
low calorie content. Um they're low and fattened protein though,
so they're best paired with other foods to help keep
you going. Numbers wise, according to once that I read,
twenty five of the planet's population all around the globe
(09:22):
eat chili peppers every day. Yes. Yeah. In the US.
In the decade from two thousand five, US consumption of
chili peppers jumped by thirty eight percent, and it continued
growing after that. In the next decade it jumped another.
Texas named the lapino their state pepper in I love this.
(09:47):
I thought we'd do another dramatic reading all sundays. Oh excellent, Yeah,
because this is this is a beautiful and and long
um declaration. It is. It is the official resolution, all right. Whereas,
in keeping with this custom, the designation of the halapino
as the official state pepper of Texas will provide suitable
(10:08):
recognition for this delicious and indispensable staple of Texas cuisine.
And whereas capsicums, more commonly called peppers, provided nourishment for
Native Americans in Central Mexico was early as nine thousand
years ago, and following the voyage of Columbus to the America's,
became a popular addition to the diets of people throughout
the world. And whereas the most popular variety of capsicum,
(10:30):
the jalapeno, is considered by many Lone Star citizens to
be an essential ingredient in chili, our official state dish
found in salsa and caeso, The ubiquitous jalapeno is used
by Texans to add zest to even the most common
American dishes, and many brave souls have been known to
consume the fiery food stuff and it's raw and pickled
(10:50):
states and Whereas, in addition to pleasing Texas palettes, lapenos
are an important agricultural crop in the Lone Star State,
which leads the nation in halip hanial production and consumption.
These savory peppers are also a hot commodity in the
national marketplace, with demand growing in an estimated fift each year.
(11:11):
And whereas lapenos get their distinctive s thing from capsisen,
a chemical used to treat arthritis, shingles, sort muscles, and
nerve disorders and believed by many researchers to be effective
in the fight against cancer and heart disease. The remarkable
health benefits of these small but potent peppers are compounded
by the fact that they contain as much vitamin as
carrots and more than twice the vitaminc of oranges and limons.
(11:33):
And Whereas a culinary, economic and medical blessing to the
citizens of the Lone Star State, the halapeno is widely
recognized as an emblem of our state and is a
distinctive reminder our state's unique heritage and diverse culture. Now,
therefore be it resolved that the seventy fourth Legislature of
(11:54):
the State of Texas hereby designate the jalapeno as the
official state pepper of Texas. I tried to cut that down,
and there was no part. I wasn't like this, this glory.
It's just so beautiful, it's so silly puns. Oh, I
loved it. I loved it a state pepper. Even outside
(12:17):
of Texas you can find out finos and chipoles and
all kinds of things. A lot of Mexican issh and
tex mex dishes, dip soup, stews, cocktails, jalepeno poppers more
on that later, sauces like mole or adobo. In Mexico,
some twenty percent of palepenos are consumed fresh. Another tent
are dried and smoked. Chipotlets and six are pickled. Um.
(12:39):
Often that the fermented version of pickling rather than a
quick pickle. It's not uncommon to to add other veget
these pickles. I got carrots and onion spices like cinnamon, time,
majorum um, garlic and clove, and cans marked as containing
halapenos are one of the ways that Mexican drug cartels
have smuggled cocaine into the United States. Wow. Interesting. There's
(13:05):
been some speculation that lapinos have been at the heart
of more food born illness outbreaks than previously thought because
it's present in things like salsa and guacamole where it's
used fresh right, Yes, one and thirty six. Sausa and
guacamole outbreaks causing five thousand, six hundred illnesses have been
recorded from two eight. A salmonella outbreak in two thousand
eight involved jalapeno and serrano peppers. The Guinness record for
(13:29):
the most talapenas eaten in a minute is sixteen. But
what happened after that? Oh gosh, I they there's nothing
in the record about it. I feel concerned for this person.
I hope everything is okay. Anyway, that about brings us
(13:49):
to our history segment. It does, But first it brings
us to a quick break for a word from our sponsor.
We're back, Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. The jalapeno
originated in Mesoamerica, possibly going back to five thousand BC,
(14:12):
and their gradual domestications specifically beginning in the Tahua Kan
Valley of Mexico. Researchers know this because of chili pepper
seeds and chili pepper residue on cooking tools. Wild chili
peppers were probably being eaten before even that, as far
back as seven thousand BC. Yeah, that kepsas and stuff
(14:32):
is pretty useful, as those early cultures found out, Like,
not only do pests like insects and rodents avoid it,
but molds and other funguses don't like it either, or
at least it it inhibits their growth. I don't I
can't really say what moldsen fungus like and don't know
what they're up to. Generally um, but so so, adding
spicy peppers to foods, aside from being like fun um,
(14:52):
was a way to preserve them. Most of the rest
of the world was oblivious to the halpino and other
peppers until Christopher Columbus. That guy arrived. Conquistadors documented their
observations of the local population eating chili peppers, as well
as using them medicinally and for fumigation. They also wrote
about finding smoked ones Chipotle's in markets. It wasn't Columbus
(15:16):
but the Portuguese that were responsible for the spread of
chili peppers along trade routes. According to the editors at
Chili's Chocolate quote, so swiftly and thoroughly did the chili
pepper disperse that botanists long held it to be native
to India or Indo China, but all scholars now concur
that it is a new World plant with origins in
South America. Wow. The Portuguese were conducting a lot of
(15:38):
this trade secretly, by the way, since the Treaty of
Tortoise Sillers carved out most of the region for Spain.
The chili pepper spread throughout Europe throughout the fifteen hundreds,
but until a blockade cut them off from their precious,
precious spices. These peppers were mostly grown ornamentally among the rich. Anyway,
poor poor people were willing to eat them. Yes, says
(16:00):
I believe we talked about in our black pepper episode,
or tomatoes for sure. Yeah, yeah, this this was one
of those foods where, um, there's this confusion about the
spiciness of these hot peppers and also about the word pepper,
and so you know, pepper, black pepper was quite expensive.
When poor people were like, oh we can this is
(16:22):
spicy and it's called pepper. We can have pepper now, yeah,
the girl yeah, yeah, there was a yes, that was
our black pepper episode. A lot of confusion around pepper naming.
Either way, great foods. Yes, I'm glad they did me too.
Go a state of India came under the rule of
(16:42):
Portuguese a Fonso to Albuquerque. One of the main reasons
Portugal wanted to control this region was due to its
strategic location when it came to trade routes, and the
fact that it was located on the Malabar Coast, which
was known for its spices. Together, this gave Portugal more
control over the spice trade. According to the records of
a Portuguese official operating in India from fiftd to fifteen sixteen,
(17:05):
Indian cooks welcomed the chili pepper with open arms, used
to having spice in their foods. As Portugal's trade dominance
and colonization grew, so too did the presence of the
chili pepper around the world, from the Middle East to
Japan to China, where they became huge in Sechuan cuisine.
If we look at North America, the chili peppers journey
(17:28):
is a bit convoluted. It would make sense that they
just came up through Mexico, and some probably did, but
they were probably not widely adopted until the slave trade came,
even though Native Americans were already using them in their cuisine,
most notably tribes in Texas and the Southwest. Botanists believed
birds helped spread the seeds of chilis to North America
(17:49):
long before the Native Americans domesticated them. Portuguese traders and
colonies introduced chilis to West Africa, and they were enthusiastically adopted,
so much so that West Africa slavers brought chili peppers
with them on the journey across the Atlantic for planting
in plantation gardens. The peppers were a natural fit for
the climate in the South and inslade. People from West
(18:10):
Africa and the Caribbean, who had already been using the
chilies in the cuisine, grew and ate them. Going back
a bit, Spanish colonists in New Mexico were commercially growing
chilies by the sixteen hundreds. The Antonio Espejo expedition in
fifteen two may have introduced the Pueblo to chili, giving
them seats to plant with the population of Southwestern cuisine
(18:31):
in the nineteen eighties and keeping ahead just a little,
just a little, a small window when chefs in Texas, Arizona,
and New Mexico applied classical training to their cuisine, more Americans,
and specifically white Americans, began to eat lapeino and chipotleys,
while at the same time shaping how we saw Mexican food.
Mexican restaurants doubled their annual sales from one point five
(18:54):
to three billion dollars between nineteen seventy seven and nine.
One alone. Wow in the Chicago Tribuwed bestowed Pole with
the title Turndy a Sauce of the Year, while the
Los Angeles Times took a different approach, writing it's difficult
to figure out why all the fuss about the Chipotle
chili I. Suspect that might have had to do with
(19:17):
the fact that California would have had it for yeah,
a lot longer, like California's like what come like? Of course, anyway,
not everyone appreciated the heat, though in researchers out of
Texas A and M released a non spicy Hlipinia variety. H.
(19:38):
Halipinias became the first fresh chili pepper eaten in space
In two. Astronaut Bill Lennar and I hope I'm saying
his name right grew them in his backyard and would
bring bags of them to work on the ground, um
as a snack, and apparently took great pleasure in giving
them to unsuspecting coworkers who didn't know what they were,
(20:00):
and he took a paper bag of them with him
into space. There is a much more stringent process for
taking up fresh food and vege these days, but yeah,
you just like took sack with him. Um. He experienced
about a space sickness on that trip, and the jalapenos
were sort of jokingly blamed. Um, But apparently all of
the astronauts enjoyed them. I would imagine so, because in
(20:21):
our Space Food episode we talked about spice and the
value of having that kind of heat. Yeah. Yeah, check
out that episode for more. Yeah, Okay, let's talk about
the halloweeno popper. Yes, and this it's there's there's not
like a whole We had a hard time finding super
specific history about the palapeno until yes, Because if you've noticed,
(20:46):
I've been saying chili peppers a lot and that's just
because it's hard to differentiate. They think the jalapeno was
part of that, and most definitely probably was, but you know,
in history, we just different words get used and have
to kind of take a leap of faith. That's what
they were talking about, especially when there's no like like
botanical name that is a really specific thing for this
(21:09):
product exactly. But there is so much Yes, and if
you're unaware of this, this is kind of a beloved
snack of a jalapeno stuffed with cheese and maybe other
things and heated or sometimes fried deep fried like breaded
and deep fried. Yes, Texans like too late claim to it,
(21:29):
but others point out it's essentially a chilly yano, and
folks in Mexico have been making those long before the Texas,
and the tradition of stuffing a vegetable goes back to
ancient times. Also, Boston had a whole spate of stuffed
pepper recipes in the late eighteen hundreds, but the pepper
in question was usually bell pepper. Anyway, poppers existed in
(21:53):
Texas at least in the nineteen eighties, probably long before that,
but commercials for them, first from hot lines didn't start
popping up until the early two thousands. Hines actually launched
a poppers product in two thousand and one. Before that,
in McCain food subsidiary Anchor Food Products, applied for and
(22:18):
received a registered trademark for the phrase jalapeno popper. They
made many different varieties of popper found in the frozen
section across the country, but they lost the trademark in
two thousand four when they failed to update their paperwork.
Also in Steve Elves founded Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado,
(22:38):
which is a whole another episode. Oh goodness it is
it is put back to poppers. Antonio restaurant owner chef
Jason Daddy says of his Halapinio poppers quote, he likes
to use raw halapinos. I don't like the ones that
are made with pickled halapenos because they're not spicy. You
want to have a plate of them, and like Russian roulette,
(23:00):
you don't know if one might blow your face off.
I love that. I love it. It's true. You never know.
They can surprise you. They really can. In some parts
of Mexico you can find a version called bassos Cient's
Hot Kisses and there's a version called Armadillo eggs, allegedly
invented at Texas Tech, probably sometime in the seventies. It's
(23:22):
a cheese stuffed talapeno that is then coated with bread
crumbs and sausage, which kind of reminds me of Scotch egg.
Oh yeah, yeah, those but poppers had a brush with stodom.
In the film Office Space, shrimp stuffed talapeno poppers were
the Monday special at the fictional restaurant Jennifer Anderson's character
worked in Without a Flare. Yeah, I don't remember. That
(23:46):
came up in my research, so I included it. Love
for the jalapeno has led to experimentation on the like
the lapeno popper, but also breeding large varieties are yes,
the one without heat um. One source of new varieties
is the New Mexico State University Chili Pepper Institute spelled
with an E C H I L E. Because they
(24:07):
say that like it's too confusing to call it chili
with an eye because of the food chili the stewe. Yeah,
so they put their foot down, they took a stand um.
But okay, so for for for one example, they started
work in the mid nineties creating lapenos that reach different
colors when they're ripe, and in came out with the
(24:31):
yellow lemon spice, the bright orange spice, and the deeper
pumpkin spice lapenos um. Oh, and but these these are
quite a bit hotter than the average halopenia, like a
thousand times hotter. They range from eighty thousand scoville units,
which is about as hot as a tied chili. Yeah. Um,
(24:53):
you can order seeds from the institute if you want
to grow your own pumpkin. I want to know what
that's about. They don't taste like sentiment in nutmeg from
what I understand. Um, then color only okay. Also in
um they released their Helmundo um, which is a large
(25:17):
talipenia variety that's medium spicy, like seventeen thousand scoville units
or so, and as they say, perfect for making poppers. Um.
Popular Science magazine ran a story about it with the
headline giant pepper for stuffed talepeno poppers, bread specifically for
increased cheese payload. It's very American. How do we get
(25:40):
more cheese into this what was once healthy vegetables? And
then maybe let's fry it sounds right, U. UM, poppers
are motivating use apparently UM as of one of the
projects that students that you see Davis were working on
was developing particularly large halopenias that were more hardy and
(26:01):
resistant to pests and UM and therefore would would thrive
with fewer pesticides and fertilizers. But yeah, specifically with like
poppers in mind. I read a beautiful essay about why
poppers are the best Super Bowl food and essentially it's
because they're like messy and handheld and warm and cheesy,
and you don't want to take pictures of them, so
you have to focus on the people you're talking to
(26:22):
because they're not very pretty. Oh they're not. No, no, no,
they're not. They're in terms of instagram able stuff, Yeah,
they're not up there. UM. On a totally different track,
there is these days some research going on into the
anti microbial properties of extracts of chili peppers, including specifically
(26:43):
helapenas UM. They've been found to be effective against some
food born pathogens UM, both like the capsaicin and other
compounds in halepania peppers. So yeah, it could be useful
in the future for keeping food safe with fewer antibiotics
and stuff like that. Exciting stuff is m Oh, today
(27:05):
is the day that I get my shashidos. Oh right, Yeah,
there's a farmer's market here, and I can't find shoshidos
anywhere in Atlanta, but it is your farmer's market. You're
definitely just not going to the right places by anywhere,
like the Asian markets and stuff like. Well, if I
have to drive there, then you know, it's like I'm
about to say, can you just not find it in
the grocery store that's within walking to stance of your house?
(27:27):
But multiple grocery stores within walking to and I have
looked and looked and looked. I was really disappointed in
the Whole Foods because I thought for sure they'd have them.
But I'm very excited about it. I'm excited for you. Yes,
they know me. I come like running now and right
when it's you and I just have this bag and
I'm like, put them in there. That's what they have.
(27:50):
They have other peppers too, They have alpinos. Yeah, go yeah,
get some, maybe make some poppers. I do like poppers.
They're delicious kind of in Yeah. I've only made him
once and they're pretty easy to make I didn't fry it,
but I didn't deep. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's a that's
a that's a danger. Yeah, Lauren and I have discovered
we're not We're not meant for that game hot oil
(28:14):
in us. We're we're both too easily startled and um
deep frying involves too too much splatter. Yeah, yeah, too
too much popping, too much popping. I see what you
did there. I think we need to in this episode
or we make any worse funs. We do have a
little bit more for you. We do. First, we've got
(28:37):
one more quick break for a word from our sponsor.
We're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, And we're
back with I like that makes you cough? Something's really spicy?
(29:02):
Why don't yeah coughing? Like, no, I want another one.
There's a fire. You have lit a fire somehow in
your face. Stop it. I guess that's another benefit of
poppers if they usually have like a dairy all limit. Yeah,
it helps helps keep you nice and cool. I guess so. Yeah,
(29:23):
a modern innovation Humanity Els wrote, I'm writing this time
about the Squim Lavender Festival, which you mentioned in the
Lavender episode. A quick correction. Squim is pronounced Squim rhymes
with swim, rather than either of the attempts any made
in the episode. Thank you for the correction. It's a
rather difficult name to pronounce without having been there. My
(29:45):
grandparents were from Squim, Washington, and I used to spend
my summers with them when I was little. To my
heart's disappointment, I always just managed to miss the lavender
festival by chance, which adult me now realizes was very
deliberate on my grandparents part, because my grandfather was allergic.
That time of year, the whole town smells like lavender.
(30:05):
My grandparents lived next door to a woman who grew
lavender and made me little sachets to put my clothes
so they would smell nice when I unpacked my suitcase.
To this day, I still have sachet in my sock drawer.
While there is no lavender crown at the festival, there
is Lavender Stock, a music festival as part of the
larger festival. They also have the best lavender lemonade in
(30:28):
the world. Another note about Squim their home to the
Olympic Game Park, which is home to retired and rescued
performing animals such as bears, bison, zebras, wildcats and more
mere cats than you can shake a stick at. At
the entrance, you can purchase a loaf of bread to
feed the animals, but you can't get to have a car.
There are areas where you can't stop your car because
(30:48):
the bison will stick their heads through the window. The
Squim Lavender Festival made me think of another festival of
my childhood, the Gilroy Garlic Festival. They were in the
news recently for being the side of a mash shooting
where three people were killed, but the organization itself has
been doing amazing work for years and years. It's an
enormous local fundraiser for local nonprofits, and they also have
(31:09):
the best food in the world garlic ice cream. Nearby
is Gilroy Gardens, a theme park with both beautiful gardens
and garden themed rides, including a mushroom flying swing and
artichoke spinning teacups. Yes, that is so delightful. I know,
I know, we talked about that briefly in our uh
(31:30):
Garlic episode, but I didn't know about this, yes, yea.
And she also suggested we do an episode on food
based theme parks, and I am in in in I
did not know that this was a thing either. But
now that I do, I've got to know more. Yes,
got to know everything absolutely. Um, Ashley wrote, I wanted
(31:51):
to follow up now that I've heard the delightful Lavender episode.
It's funny you mentioned the Lavender festival and squim um
pronunciation pro tip it's not intuitive pronounced squim um, as
it was on our way back from that very event
that my friend recommended the favor podcast. Dang Um. We
both used lavender in our respective weddings three years ago,
(32:12):
and this was our first trip to the festival. We
had lunch of crab cakes over a spring green mix
with a lavender balsamic vinegrette dressing and lavender lemonade on
the side. So yummy lavender lemonade. Oh gosh, that's my
creating of the episode. I know. Well, I've got a
lot of things going on, but I found out I
(32:32):
can't remember if I told you this, but I recently
went um to visit my mom and De Lanaga and
kind of when you get into de Lanaga, you get
you get to the end of the highway. It has
a bunch of agro tourism sign most of them for wineries.
Because you're a lot of wineries around there, but there
was one for a lavender farm which is new and
I got yes. Oh that sounds so nice. Maybe they
(32:55):
have lavender lemonade field trip in the meantime, Thanks to
both of them for writing in. If you would like
to write to us, you can. Our email is Hello
at favorite pods dot com. We're also on social media.
You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at
savor pod. We do hope to hear from you. Savor
(33:15):
is a production of I Heart Radio and Stuff Media.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
super producers Dylan Vagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you
for listening, and we hope that lots more good things
are coming your way.
Hello, I'm welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio
and Stuff Media. I'm Anneries and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and
today we're talking about lapenias. I didn't think I was
going to get cravings for this one, but I really
really have. Yes, Like I've envisioning just eating lapenos and
I know I would regret it pretty quickly, just like
fresh like acronym, Yes, have you ever done that? I've
(00:31):
definitely eaten one that way. Okay, I won't know about many,
and I've had many that I like stuffed with stuff
with stuff. Yeah, but apparently in times of stress, all
I want or hot peppers and fun. Oh that's it. Well,
I mean, you know, one of these is distracting um
(00:53):
and the other is like the best comfort food ever.
So it's true. I'm not gonna say which is which.
That's up for you to decide. I did a I
did a Google search because it's been going on for
over a month now where all I want is fun,
hot peppers. I was like, Google, tell me what's the problem,
and it said it might be and I didn't put
anything about running. It said it might be because you're
(01:15):
a runner and you're not running as much, which is true,
and the spice heat is very similar to a runners high,
and so my body is just trying to find like
another another thing too. It's like, oh, we're not having
fun this way. Where else can we have fun? We
must have fun peppers. It's just too hot outside. I
will start running again more regularly, body, but right now
(01:36):
it's like a hundred degrees outside. Yeah. No, no, even
in the morning, it's really warm and like he was stuck.
Yeah yeah. And then I've had a couple of friends
asked me if I'm pregnant, which I am not, because
I keep eating hot peppers, and it likes brought a
party to a halt because everyone was clearly expecting me
to be like, well, I wasn't gonna say no, no.
(02:00):
And then I learned while researching this one that one
out of every ten shoshidos, which are a mild pepper
that kind of having a moment right now, are hot.
And I was eating some shoshidos when I was doing
this research and I got a really hot when I
was like, there you got research, Yeah, right there. I
do love halpinos, though they add so much with so
(02:21):
little and food and cocktails. Oh Man, halepenias taste like
death to me. Um, it's slightly spicy death. Yeah, that
that fresh, grassy flavor that they have in common with
bell peppers. Um, bell peppers being a thing that I'm
intolerant to and have gotten sick from a whole bunch. Yeah,
it's like a It's like a warning signal in my brain.
Even though I can totally have like a little halopenia
(02:41):
and be fine most of the time. You're only using
a little anyway. But yeah, I just associate that with
like whoa, Nope, Yeah, probably not good. No one good
aboard a board? Yeah, too bad? I agree. But let
us get question. Yes, lapenos, what are they? Well, jalapeno
(03:09):
is the fruit of a specific variety of chili pepper
botanical name Capsicum and um um. They're officially classified as
a short and stubby That's that's the scientific classification. They're
short and stubby pepper. Okay. They're usually maybe about two
to three inches long, about an inch wide, that's around
seven by three centimeters or so, and they are hollow
(03:30):
with a with a cavity inside for their flat round seeds.
They grow on these short sort of shrubby plants um,
and when the fruits are mature, they're this deep dark
green color, but if allowed to keep growing, they will
ripen to a bright, deep red. Their flavor is fresh
and vegetable and a little bit grassy, and and they
get sweeter as they ripen. They're not typically super spicy um,
(03:52):
though they do contain cap sasin, which is a chemical
defense mechanism that some plants evolved that makes the nervous
system of some animal like humans think that they are
actually on fire. Um, which jokes on the plant is
an effect that some humans have decided that we totally enjoy.
Halapinias don't contain much capsace, and though they weigh in
(04:13):
and around two thousand five eight thousand Scoville heat units um.
Though they can surprise you. I have been surprised before,
especially oh you get the juice in your eye. That's
oh gosh. Yes, As with any potentially spicy pepper, always
always used extreme caution when when slicing and dicing, and
(04:34):
I don't know, juggling whatever else you get up to
in the kitchen. Goggles, Wash your hands, wash, wash your hands,
wash your hands, were gloves if you'd like to you know,
do what you can. Safety first. A bunch of the
spiciness is in the seeds of halapinias, though, which makes
sense because that's the part that the plants would particularly
benefit from protecting. Um, So if you don't like spice,
(04:57):
leave the seeds out, or try using canned or frozen
pepper instead of fresh. They can lose about half of
their capsa sin during processing. Really yeah. Chipotle's chipotles are
lapenos that are grown to ripeness, then dried and wood smoked.
The seeds are often removed beforehand, or sometimes making the
resulting product less spicy. Chipotle's are smoked slow and low
(05:20):
for like up to a week, resulting in a or
greater water loss. The result is a deep reddish brown
dried fruit that tastes sweet and smoky and like a
little bit bitter and nutty, with a kind of mild spice.
This was news to me about the chipole Oh yeah,
oh yeah, I did not know. Did not know. Relatively
(05:40):
recent news to me, but not like as of this episode.
Yeah yeah. There are two main varieties of Chipotle's mecho,
which are allowed to like really fully ripen on the
plant and are smoked extra long until they're like crinkly
um and merita, which are picked a little bit earlier
and smoked for a shorter time, leaving them more pliable
and a little bit milder. If you've ever noticed pale
(06:03):
scars or stripes down the length of halapenos are other
hot peppers. By the way, that's called corking, and it's
it's stretch marks from rapid fruit growth. Um might mean
skin is a little bit thicker, but otherwise it does
not affect the quality totally to eat today. The thing
that I learned, um, is that chili pepper plants leaves
(06:24):
are generally edible, unlike other members of the nightshade family.
And yeah, you can. You can cook them up like
the way that you would any other green. I want
to try that. Yes, this is this is what I've
come to understand. Anyway, It's apparently not really a thing
in the West, but it's super popular in many parts
(06:44):
of Asia, so well, I am down to try it. Yeah.
The name comes from the town where a lot of
lapenos are grown, Lapa air Crews. Halapa is a different spelling.
It's spelled with an ex in this case of Halapa
with a chain chili comes from an Aztec dialect chill
pocked chili, meaning smoked chili pepper. Historians think that due
(07:08):
to helping a thick flesh, the Aztecs frequently drive them
out to prevent them from going bad. Yeah, and that's
where we get the word chipotle from m M in
American English, rabbit hole. Chili with an e is an
acceptable spelling, but in the UK English only the I
spelling is accepted, or maybe sometimes with a y. The
(07:31):
e is how the Spanish spell it, but the eye
is probably how the Aztec spelled it. According to a
French dictionary, neither has anything to do with the country chili,
which was called chili with an eye until the twentieth century.
Then there's chili with an e powder and chili with
(07:51):
an eye powder, which are two separate things. Yeah, Chili
powder with an e tends to be just ground dried
chili's and eli powder with an eye tends to be
um a powder made from a few from a blend
of things that you used to flavor chili the stew.
(08:12):
And speaking of where did that come from? That word
originated in eighteen fifty seven with the phrase chili concarnate
chili with an E, but then in the nineteen chili
concarnate within I overtook the original spelling, and it's been
in the lead ever since. An entry in a Mexican
dictionary describes chili concarnate like this, a detestable dish sold
(08:35):
from Texas to New York City, erroneously described as Mexican. Oh,
this was a whole thing there. They were like essays, essays,
essays written about it. Why did this happen? I tried
to steal it, But it's just a lot of confusion,
at least for me. Maybe linguists understand. Anyway, Let's talk
(08:58):
about the nutrition. Yeah, Halapenos, like other fresh fruit that
doesn't contain much sugar, are pretty good for you. Lots
of fiber and vitamins, a lot of flavor considering their
low calorie content. Um they're low and fattened protein though,
so they're best paired with other foods to help keep
you going. Numbers wise, according to once that I read,
twenty five of the planet's population all around the globe
(09:22):
eat chili peppers every day. Yes. Yeah. In the US.
In the decade from two thousand five, US consumption of
chili peppers jumped by thirty eight percent, and it continued
growing after that. In the next decade it jumped another.
Texas named the lapino their state pepper in I love this.
(09:47):
I thought we'd do another dramatic reading all sundays. Oh excellent, Yeah,
because this is this is a beautiful and and long
um declaration. It is. It is the official resolution, all right. Whereas,
in keeping with this custom, the designation of the halapino
as the official state pepper of Texas will provide suitable
(10:08):
recognition for this delicious and indispensable staple of Texas cuisine.
And whereas capsicums, more commonly called peppers, provided nourishment for
Native Americans in Central Mexico was early as nine thousand
years ago, and following the voyage of Columbus to the America's,
became a popular addition to the diets of people throughout
the world. And whereas the most popular variety of capsicum,
(10:30):
the jalapeno, is considered by many Lone Star citizens to
be an essential ingredient in chili, our official state dish
found in salsa and caeso, The ubiquitous jalapeno is used
by Texans to add zest to even the most common
American dishes, and many brave souls have been known to
consume the fiery food stuff and it's raw and pickled
(10:50):
states and Whereas, in addition to pleasing Texas palettes, lapenos
are an important agricultural crop in the Lone Star State,
which leads the nation in halip hanial production and consumption.
These savory peppers are also a hot commodity in the
national marketplace, with demand growing in an estimated fift each year.
(11:11):
And whereas lapenos get their distinctive s thing from capsisen,
a chemical used to treat arthritis, shingles, sort muscles, and
nerve disorders and believed by many researchers to be effective
in the fight against cancer and heart disease. The remarkable
health benefits of these small but potent peppers are compounded
by the fact that they contain as much vitamin as
carrots and more than twice the vitaminc of oranges and limons.
(11:33):
And Whereas a culinary, economic and medical blessing to the
citizens of the Lone Star State, the halapeno is widely
recognized as an emblem of our state and is a
distinctive reminder our state's unique heritage and diverse culture. Now,
therefore be it resolved that the seventy fourth Legislature of
(11:54):
the State of Texas hereby designate the jalapeno as the
official state pepper of Texas. I tried to cut that down,
and there was no part. I wasn't like this, this glory.
It's just so beautiful, it's so silly puns. Oh, I
loved it. I loved it a state pepper. Even outside
(12:17):
of Texas you can find out finos and chipoles and
all kinds of things. A lot of Mexican issh and
tex mex dishes, dip soup, stews, cocktails, jalepeno poppers more
on that later, sauces like mole or adobo. In Mexico,
some twenty percent of palepenos are consumed fresh. Another tent
are dried and smoked. Chipotlets and six are pickled. Um.
(12:39):
Often that the fermented version of pickling rather than a
quick pickle. It's not uncommon to to add other veget
these pickles. I got carrots and onion spices like cinnamon, time,
majorum um, garlic and clove, and cans marked as containing
halapenos are one of the ways that Mexican drug cartels
have smuggled cocaine into the United States. Wow. Interesting. There's
(13:05):
been some speculation that lapinos have been at the heart
of more food born illness outbreaks than previously thought because
it's present in things like salsa and guacamole where it's
used fresh right, Yes, one and thirty six. Sausa and
guacamole outbreaks causing five thousand, six hundred illnesses have been
recorded from two eight. A salmonella outbreak in two thousand
eight involved jalapeno and serrano peppers. The Guinness record for
(13:29):
the most talapenas eaten in a minute is sixteen. But
what happened after that? Oh gosh, I they there's nothing
in the record about it. I feel concerned for this person.
I hope everything is okay. Anyway, that about brings us
(13:49):
to our history segment. It does, But first it brings
us to a quick break for a word from our sponsor.
We're back, Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. The jalapeno
originated in Mesoamerica, possibly going back to five thousand BC,
(14:12):
and their gradual domestications specifically beginning in the Tahua Kan
Valley of Mexico. Researchers know this because of chili pepper
seeds and chili pepper residue on cooking tools. Wild chili
peppers were probably being eaten before even that, as far
back as seven thousand BC. Yeah, that kepsas and stuff
(14:32):
is pretty useful, as those early cultures found out, Like,
not only do pests like insects and rodents avoid it,
but molds and other funguses don't like it either, or
at least it it inhibits their growth. I don't I
can't really say what moldsen fungus like and don't know
what they're up to. Generally um, but so so, adding
spicy peppers to foods, aside from being like fun um,
(14:52):
was a way to preserve them. Most of the rest
of the world was oblivious to the halpino and other
peppers until Christopher Columbus. That guy arrived. Conquistadors documented their
observations of the local population eating chili peppers, as well
as using them medicinally and for fumigation. They also wrote
about finding smoked ones Chipotle's in markets. It wasn't Columbus
(15:16):
but the Portuguese that were responsible for the spread of
chili peppers along trade routes. According to the editors at
Chili's Chocolate quote, so swiftly and thoroughly did the chili
pepper disperse that botanists long held it to be native
to India or Indo China, but all scholars now concur
that it is a new World plant with origins in
South America. Wow. The Portuguese were conducting a lot of
(15:38):
this trade secretly, by the way, since the Treaty of
Tortoise Sillers carved out most of the region for Spain.
The chili pepper spread throughout Europe throughout the fifteen hundreds,
but until a blockade cut them off from their precious,
precious spices. These peppers were mostly grown ornamentally among the rich. Anyway,
poor poor people were willing to eat them. Yes, says
(16:00):
I believe we talked about in our black pepper episode,
or tomatoes for sure. Yeah, yeah, this this was one
of those foods where, um, there's this confusion about the
spiciness of these hot peppers and also about the word pepper,
and so you know, pepper, black pepper was quite expensive.
When poor people were like, oh we can this is
(16:22):
spicy and it's called pepper. We can have pepper now, yeah,
the girl yeah, yeah, there was a yes, that was
our black pepper episode. A lot of confusion around pepper naming.
Either way, great foods. Yes, I'm glad they did me too.
Go a state of India came under the rule of
(16:42):
Portuguese a Fonso to Albuquerque. One of the main reasons
Portugal wanted to control this region was due to its
strategic location when it came to trade routes, and the
fact that it was located on the Malabar Coast, which
was known for its spices. Together, this gave Portugal more
control over the spice trade. According to the records of
a Portuguese official operating in India from fiftd to fifteen sixteen,
(17:05):
Indian cooks welcomed the chili pepper with open arms, used
to having spice in their foods. As Portugal's trade dominance
and colonization grew, so too did the presence of the
chili pepper around the world, from the Middle East to
Japan to China, where they became huge in Sechuan cuisine.
If we look at North America, the chili peppers journey
(17:28):
is a bit convoluted. It would make sense that they
just came up through Mexico, and some probably did, but
they were probably not widely adopted until the slave trade came,
even though Native Americans were already using them in their cuisine,
most notably tribes in Texas and the Southwest. Botanists believed
birds helped spread the seeds of chilis to North America
(17:49):
long before the Native Americans domesticated them. Portuguese traders and
colonies introduced chilis to West Africa, and they were enthusiastically adopted,
so much so that West Africa slavers brought chili peppers
with them on the journey across the Atlantic for planting
in plantation gardens. The peppers were a natural fit for
the climate in the South and inslade. People from West
(18:10):
Africa and the Caribbean, who had already been using the
chilies in the cuisine, grew and ate them. Going back
a bit, Spanish colonists in New Mexico were commercially growing
chilies by the sixteen hundreds. The Antonio Espejo expedition in
fifteen two may have introduced the Pueblo to chili, giving
them seats to plant with the population of Southwestern cuisine
(18:31):
in the nineteen eighties and keeping ahead just a little,
just a little, a small window when chefs in Texas, Arizona,
and New Mexico applied classical training to their cuisine, more Americans,
and specifically white Americans, began to eat lapeino and chipotleys,
while at the same time shaping how we saw Mexican food.
Mexican restaurants doubled their annual sales from one point five
(18:54):
to three billion dollars between nineteen seventy seven and nine.
One alone. Wow in the Chicago Tribuwed bestowed Pole with
the title Turndy a Sauce of the Year, while the
Los Angeles Times took a different approach, writing it's difficult
to figure out why all the fuss about the Chipotle
chili I. Suspect that might have had to do with
(19:17):
the fact that California would have had it for yeah,
a lot longer, like California's like what come like? Of course, anyway,
not everyone appreciated the heat, though in researchers out of
Texas A and M released a non spicy Hlipinia variety. H.
(19:38):
Halipinias became the first fresh chili pepper eaten in space
In two. Astronaut Bill Lennar and I hope I'm saying
his name right grew them in his backyard and would
bring bags of them to work on the ground, um
as a snack, and apparently took great pleasure in giving
them to unsuspecting coworkers who didn't know what they were,
(20:00):
and he took a paper bag of them with him
into space. There is a much more stringent process for
taking up fresh food and vege these days, but yeah,
you just like took sack with him. Um. He experienced
about a space sickness on that trip, and the jalapenos
were sort of jokingly blamed. Um, But apparently all of
the astronauts enjoyed them. I would imagine so, because in
(20:21):
our Space Food episode we talked about spice and the
value of having that kind of heat. Yeah. Yeah, check
out that episode for more. Yeah, Okay, let's talk about
the halloweeno popper. Yes, and this it's there's there's not
like a whole We had a hard time finding super
specific history about the palapeno until yes, Because if you've noticed,
(20:46):
I've been saying chili peppers a lot and that's just
because it's hard to differentiate. They think the jalapeno was
part of that, and most definitely probably was, but you know,
in history, we just different words get used and have
to kind of take a leap of faith. That's what
they were talking about, especially when there's no like like
botanical name that is a really specific thing for this
(21:09):
product exactly. But there is so much Yes, and if
you're unaware of this, this is kind of a beloved
snack of a jalapeno stuffed with cheese and maybe other
things and heated or sometimes fried deep fried like breaded
and deep fried. Yes, Texans like too late claim to it,
(21:29):
but others point out it's essentially a chilly yano, and
folks in Mexico have been making those long before the Texas,
and the tradition of stuffing a vegetable goes back to
ancient times. Also, Boston had a whole spate of stuffed
pepper recipes in the late eighteen hundreds, but the pepper
in question was usually bell pepper. Anyway, poppers existed in
(21:53):
Texas at least in the nineteen eighties, probably long before that,
but commercials for them, first from hot lines didn't start
popping up until the early two thousands. Hines actually launched
a poppers product in two thousand and one. Before that,
in McCain food subsidiary Anchor Food Products, applied for and
(22:18):
received a registered trademark for the phrase jalapeno popper. They
made many different varieties of popper found in the frozen
section across the country, but they lost the trademark in
two thousand four when they failed to update their paperwork.
Also in Steve Elves founded Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado,
(22:38):
which is a whole another episode. Oh goodness it is
it is put back to poppers. Antonio restaurant owner chef
Jason Daddy says of his Halapinio poppers quote, he likes
to use raw halapinos. I don't like the ones that
are made with pickled halapenos because they're not spicy. You
want to have a plate of them, and like Russian roulette,
(23:00):
you don't know if one might blow your face off.
I love that. I love it. It's true. You never know.
They can surprise you. They really can. In some parts
of Mexico you can find a version called bassos Cient's
Hot Kisses and there's a version called Armadillo eggs, allegedly
invented at Texas Tech, probably sometime in the seventies. It's
(23:22):
a cheese stuffed talapeno that is then coated with bread
crumbs and sausage, which kind of reminds me of Scotch egg.
Oh yeah, yeah, those but poppers had a brush with stodom.
In the film Office Space, shrimp stuffed talapeno poppers were
the Monday special at the fictional restaurant Jennifer Anderson's character
worked in Without a Flare. Yeah, I don't remember. That
(23:46):
came up in my research, so I included it. Love
for the jalapeno has led to experimentation on the like
the lapeno popper, but also breeding large varieties are yes,
the one without heat um. One source of new varieties
is the New Mexico State University Chili Pepper Institute spelled
with an E C H I L E. Because they
(24:07):
say that like it's too confusing to call it chili
with an eye because of the food chili the stewe. Yeah,
so they put their foot down, they took a stand um.
But okay, so for for for one example, they started
work in the mid nineties creating lapenos that reach different
colors when they're ripe, and in came out with the
(24:31):
yellow lemon spice, the bright orange spice, and the deeper
pumpkin spice lapenos um. Oh, and but these these are
quite a bit hotter than the average halopenia, like a
thousand times hotter. They range from eighty thousand scoville units,
which is about as hot as a tied chili. Yeah. Um,
(24:53):
you can order seeds from the institute if you want
to grow your own pumpkin. I want to know what
that's about. They don't taste like sentiment in nutmeg from
what I understand. Um, then color only okay. Also in
um they released their Helmundo um, which is a large
(25:17):
talipenia variety that's medium spicy, like seventeen thousand scoville units
or so, and as they say, perfect for making poppers. Um.
Popular Science magazine ran a story about it with the
headline giant pepper for stuffed talepeno poppers, bread specifically for
increased cheese payload. It's very American. How do we get
(25:40):
more cheese into this what was once healthy vegetables? And
then maybe let's fry it sounds right, U. UM, poppers
are motivating use apparently UM as of one of the
projects that students that you see Davis were working on
was developing particularly large halopenias that were more hardy and
(26:01):
resistant to pests and UM and therefore would would thrive
with fewer pesticides and fertilizers. But yeah, specifically with like
poppers in mind. I read a beautiful essay about why
poppers are the best Super Bowl food and essentially it's
because they're like messy and handheld and warm and cheesy,
and you don't want to take pictures of them, so
you have to focus on the people you're talking to
(26:22):
because they're not very pretty. Oh they're not. No, no, no,
they're not. They're in terms of instagram able stuff, Yeah,
they're not up there. UM. On a totally different track,
there is these days some research going on into the
anti microbial properties of extracts of chili peppers, including specifically
(26:43):
helapenas UM. They've been found to be effective against some
food born pathogens UM, both like the capsaicin and other
compounds in halepania peppers. So yeah, it could be useful
in the future for keeping food safe with fewer antibiotics
and stuff like that. Exciting stuff is m Oh, today
(27:05):
is the day that I get my shashidos. Oh right, Yeah,
there's a farmer's market here, and I can't find shoshidos
anywhere in Atlanta, but it is your farmer's market. You're
definitely just not going to the right places by anywhere,
like the Asian markets and stuff like. Well, if I
have to drive there, then you know, it's like I'm
about to say, can you just not find it in
the grocery store that's within walking to stance of your house?
(27:27):
But multiple grocery stores within walking to and I have
looked and looked and looked. I was really disappointed in
the Whole Foods because I thought for sure they'd have them.
But I'm very excited about it. I'm excited for you. Yes,
they know me. I come like running now and right
when it's you and I just have this bag and
I'm like, put them in there. That's what they have.
(27:50):
They have other peppers too, They have alpinos. Yeah, go yeah,
get some, maybe make some poppers. I do like poppers.
They're delicious kind of in Yeah. I've only made him
once and they're pretty easy to make I didn't fry it,
but I didn't deep. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's a that's
a that's a danger. Yeah, Lauren and I have discovered
we're not We're not meant for that game hot oil
(28:14):
in us. We're we're both too easily startled and um
deep frying involves too too much splatter. Yeah, yeah, too
too much popping, too much popping. I see what you
did there. I think we need to in this episode
or we make any worse funs. We do have a
little bit more for you. We do. First, we've got
(28:37):
one more quick break for a word from our sponsor.
We're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, And we're
back with I like that makes you cough? Something's really spicy?
(29:02):
Why don't yeah coughing? Like, no, I want another one.
There's a fire. You have lit a fire somehow in
your face. Stop it. I guess that's another benefit of
poppers if they usually have like a dairy all limit. Yeah,
it helps helps keep you nice and cool. I guess so. Yeah,
(29:23):
a modern innovation Humanity Els wrote, I'm writing this time
about the Squim Lavender Festival, which you mentioned in the
Lavender episode. A quick correction. Squim is pronounced Squim rhymes
with swim, rather than either of the attempts any made
in the episode. Thank you for the correction. It's a
rather difficult name to pronounce without having been there. My
(29:45):
grandparents were from Squim, Washington, and I used to spend
my summers with them when I was little. To my
heart's disappointment, I always just managed to miss the lavender
festival by chance, which adult me now realizes was very
deliberate on my grandparents part, because my grandfather was allergic.
That time of year, the whole town smells like lavender.
(30:05):
My grandparents lived next door to a woman who grew
lavender and made me little sachets to put my clothes
so they would smell nice when I unpacked my suitcase.
To this day, I still have sachet in my sock drawer.
While there is no lavender crown at the festival, there
is Lavender Stock, a music festival as part of the
larger festival. They also have the best lavender lemonade in
(30:28):
the world. Another note about Squim their home to the
Olympic Game Park, which is home to retired and rescued
performing animals such as bears, bison, zebras, wildcats and more
mere cats than you can shake a stick at. At
the entrance, you can purchase a loaf of bread to
feed the animals, but you can't get to have a car.
There are areas where you can't stop your car because
(30:48):
the bison will stick their heads through the window. The
Squim Lavender Festival made me think of another festival of
my childhood, the Gilroy Garlic Festival. They were in the
news recently for being the side of a mash shooting
where three people were killed, but the organization itself has
been doing amazing work for years and years. It's an
enormous local fundraiser for local nonprofits, and they also have
(31:09):
the best food in the world garlic ice cream. Nearby
is Gilroy Gardens, a theme park with both beautiful gardens
and garden themed rides, including a mushroom flying swing and
artichoke spinning teacups. Yes, that is so delightful. I know,
I know, we talked about that briefly in our uh
(31:30):
Garlic episode, but I didn't know about this, yes, yea.
And she also suggested we do an episode on food
based theme parks, and I am in in in I
did not know that this was a thing either. But
now that I do, I've got to know more. Yes,
got to know everything absolutely. Um, Ashley wrote, I wanted
(31:51):
to follow up now that I've heard the delightful Lavender episode.
It's funny you mentioned the Lavender festival and squim um
pronunciation pro tip it's not intuitive pronounced squim um, as
it was on our way back from that very event
that my friend recommended the favor podcast. Dang Um. We
both used lavender in our respective weddings three years ago,
(32:12):
and this was our first trip to the festival. We
had lunch of crab cakes over a spring green mix
with a lavender balsamic vinegrette dressing and lavender lemonade on
the side. So yummy lavender lemonade. Oh gosh, that's my
creating of the episode. I know. Well, I've got a
lot of things going on, but I found out I
(32:32):
can't remember if I told you this, but I recently
went um to visit my mom and De Lanaga and
kind of when you get into de Lanaga, you get
you get to the end of the highway. It has
a bunch of agro tourism sign most of them for wineries.
Because you're a lot of wineries around there, but there
was one for a lavender farm which is new and
I got yes. Oh that sounds so nice. Maybe they
(32:55):
have lavender lemonade field trip in the meantime, Thanks to
both of them for writing in. If you would like
to write to us, you can. Our email is Hello
at favorite pods dot com. We're also on social media.
You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at
savor pod. We do hope to hear from you. Savor
(33:15):
is a production of I Heart Radio and Stuff Media.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit
the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
super producers Dylan Vagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you
for listening, and we hope that lots more good things
are coming your way.
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