“Peppering your relationship with a dash of mystery can make it far more palatable.”
— Khang Kijarro Nguyen
Would you like to pepper your culinary relationships with a dash of mystery in a jar?
Cowboy candy, aka candied jalapeño, is an ideal way to preserve jalapeño peppers in a jar of spicy sugar-and-vinegar syrup. Apologies if you were expecting a recipe for a handsome cowboy, which I believe, includes lifting heavy hay bales, wild bull riding, tight wrangler jeans, manners, chivalry, and a knack for fixing anything broken. Try Montana’s smaller towns for one.
Peppers, genus Capsicum, come from South America, they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and they come in thousands of varieties, thanks to their ability to mutate quickly. Collectively they are referred to as “Chili pepper”, and despite the huge range of species, only five are domesticated. Capsicum annuum, the most common of the five chili pepper groups, has a plethora of cultivars that include bell peppers and jalapeños, aka chipotle.
Jalapeños and chipotle are actually the same plants except chipotle peppers are just red jalapenos that have been smoke-dried, which is why the two have distinct tastes. Jalapeños are a great source of Vitamin C, even though most people associate oranges as the best source of vitamin C, thanks to misleading marketing efforts. In reality, chili peppers, with 107 mg of the healthy stuff per half a cup are a superior source of vitamin C compared to an orange’s 69 mg. In addition to providing valuable nutriment and setting your tongue on fire, chili peppers have another trick up their sleeve. Because Of their capsaicin, they can help unblock your sinuses and relieve congestion. Keep that in mind for the next cold season.
If you couldn’t care less about health and wellness, which we doubt, and rather just enjoy the taste of chili peppers all year- ’round, try preserving them in the following recipe which we spiked with habanero chili peppers. These little firecrackers require strong morning sun and slightly acidic soil to grow and most likely made it to your neck of the woods all the way from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
Today’s cowboy candy tastes a little spicy, a little sweet, a little tangy, and oddly addictive. Top them on hotdogs, sandwiches, potato salad, pulled pork, tacos, cornbread, and burgers. Toss a few in your salad or pop one in your mouth for a zesty snack. Use it on any sad food that needs a bit of zap to cheer up.
