Chipotle are ripe, smoked, jalapenos that come from Mexico. They are allowed to completely ripen on the vine or plant and then they are then picked and smoked. Jalapenos are a chili pepper about 3 inches long of the genus capsicum and are grown extensively in Mexico.
The Mexican State of Chihuahua produces a lot of jalapenos and also produces a lot of chipotle. One of the popular and more common chipotles used in sauces in America is the morita.
The morita is purple in color and means blackberry in Spanish.
Chipotle is used in many Mexican dishes and excellent Mexican cuisines. They put chipotle in salsa, in stews and it is also used in adobo, which is a marinade for meats and includes spices and herbs and vinegar as well as many other varieties and ingredients. The chipotle I have tried has a chocolate and very rich flavor as well as the smoked flavor.
You can get chipotle is powders and as sauces or as just the whole dried pepper. The chipotle flavors I have enjoyed the most are a raspberry and blackberry chipotle.
I live in the southwest and jalapenos grow easily here with very little effort on a gardeners part. You can buy them as small plants, making sure they aren't the ornamental types of peppers. You don't really have to water them, I never have anyway or very little, just plant them in a sunny area.
The next time I grow jalapeno peppers, I am going to try and experiment and smoke some and make my own chipotle sauce. I am going to grow several plants and wait for them all to fully ripen. I will wait until they turn a deep red on the vine. Then I will try different wood chips, like mesquite perhaps and smoke them for a few days. After I have gotten the desired taste or effect, if I am successful, I am going to try and make my own sauces with raspberries and blackberries or maybe even a combination of both.
This sound like a relatively easy task to me, because planting and growing jalapenos is pretty easy, its just takes the time and patience until they grow. Then I will put them all in a smoker and I will try smoking the peppers with mesquite or the naturally growing hickory here where I live.
I am very excited about the prospect of making my own chipotle. I may have to research more on what sort of woods are used to smoke the peppers to get the best or most authentic taste. The best meal I ever had in my life had chipotle in it.
