Taste of Place: Chile Pequin Vinegar
Chile pequin peppers are ripe and reading for the picking when they’ve turned red, like most of these. PHOTO Sally and Andy Wasowski
WHAT ROUNDS OUT A MEAL better than bread, dessert or a perfectly paired glass of wine? Something as simple as the ideal condiment can be just the linchpin a culinary experience needs.
Lucky for our Thanksgiving recipe roundup, Wildflower Center Taste of Place intern Rosalie Kelley had a similar thought and recently threw together some chile pequin (Capsicum annuum) and vinegar and stashed it in our breakroom fridge — much to the delight of staff taste buds.
It’s just the thing to punch up a salad or soup … or, if you’re like me on many work days, a ho-hum frozen dinner.
Chile Pequin Vinegar
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup chile pequin
- 1 1/2 cups vinegar of your choice (white distilled or rice vinegar)
LEFT Harvest of plenty. CENTER Rosalie’s pepper collection weighed in at a little over 5 ounces. RIGHT White distilled and rice vinegar editions, ready for the lunches of Wildflower Center staff. PHOTOS Rosalie Kelley
DIRECTIONS
Clean a cruet or a reused glass container with boiling water. (Hint: A vinegar or vodka bottle are great options and basically already clean.)
Pack the bottle with chiles.
Heat the vinegar in a small saucepan over low heat until it steams slightly.
Pour the hot vinegar over the chiles to the top of the bottle.
Cover and allow the mixture to sit for a day before using.
The bottle can be refilled with vinegar several times. Keep refrigerated between uses.
MAKES ONE BOTTLE
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