Hot peppers, heat, flavor or both

[larry_stewart]

Here's my dilemma,
My wife doesnt like spicy foods at all.
When a recipe calls for some sort of heat ( cayenne , chili .. pepper powder ), I eliminate it.

Obviously that solves the heat problem , but my question is, am I losing something in flavor too by omitting these ingredients from the recipe ? If so, what can I add to replace the flavor I may be missing ?

 

[blissful]

My wonderful mr bliss cannot tolerate any heat from peppers. My son and I both like some heat. He likes lots and I like a little.


I make most dishes without heat. There is nothing I can think of that will give it what it needs, besides pepper. Black pepper, serrano pepper, jalapeno pepper, or hotter peppers.


While I think, OH MAN this is too bland, mr bliss doesn't find it too bland and he has the option to add nutritional yeast, salt, ketchup (low salt), or stir fry sauce, but generally likes it just what I would call bland. We both also use lemon to lift flavor.



My son and I keep ground smoked serrano pepper in a shaker in the spice rack, right near the food prep area. We also make a hot pepper sauce, some is fermented, some is canned. We tried to use just jalepeno in hot sauce for canning, but it wasn't hot enough, we added serrano until it felt some warmth.


From mr bliss's perspective, adding mushrooms makes everything better to almost everything. Mushrooms have the umami flavor. Red wine does too, but he doesn't like that flavor. Anchovies, we don't use but they have umami. Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, bragg's amino's and miso sauce, more umami (but also more salt).

 

[pepperhead212]

There are some sweet peppers out there that can be processed like the hot peppers, for flavor, and there is one jalapeño variety that I grew one time for somebody - Fooled You - that had a great jalapeño flavor, but no heat. And Aji Dulce is a habanero with almost no heat, but incredible flavor - rated at 500 SUs, but even lower, if the veins are removed.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Here's my dilemma,
My wife doesnt like spicy foods at all.
When a recipe calls for some sort of heat ( cayenne , chili .. pepper powder ), I eliminate it.
Obviously that solves the heat problem , but my question is, am I losing something in flavor too by omitting these ingredients from the recipe ? If so, what can I add to replace the flavor I may be missing ?

Absolutely. Pepper (as in peppercorns) imparts one particular kind of heat and flavour; chile peppers (and there are hundreds of varieties) impart another.
I don´t honestly think there is an alternative; the food tastes like (A) without the hot stuff and (b) without.
My wife hates onions, so I often prepare one portion of the food with, and another without.

 

[buckytom]

Hot peppers have a floral note hiding inside all of that heat.

Maybe just adding certain sweet peppers for the aroma might suffice.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Aji Dulce is a habanero with almost no heat, but incredible flavor - rated at 500 SUs, but even lower, if the veins are removed.

Ají dulce is an essential element to all Venezuelan cooking; and yes, I´d agree it´s basically an habanero without the heat but with all the flavour - or more.
The most flavoursome ají dulce come from the island of Margarita, just off the Northeast coast of Venezuela. Unbelievable .
Incredibly, no-one has made a concerted effort to export them, and the ají dulce I´ve tried from Colombia simply don´t make the grade.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Hot peppers have a floral note hiding inside all of that heat.

Agreed - but not all of them.Some are citric, others are herbal.

 

[buckytom]

Yes, well noted.

In agreement, hot peppers aren't just about their heat.

I would try adding sumac for the subtle citric flavor.

 

[taxlady]

I have come across some "habanadas". Habanero flavours without any heat. I have also tried aji dulce. I was mostly curious. I do like the heat, sometimes more, sometimes less hot.

I have also taken a chili and cut it stem to blossom end and removed the seeds and membrane. Then, fry it in the oil that will be used for cooking the meal. I remove the peppers before adding any other ingredients to that oil. It gives some chili flavour and very little heat. I wonder if that would be within the heat tolerance levels of your wife.

 

[pepperhead212]

Habanadas do not have that strong habanero flavor that I always seemed to get in the hottest ones, until the aji dulce. It was actually hard to believe that they were a chinense pepper, when I grew them.

 

[larry_stewart]

usually Ill just avoid the hoot pepper and substitute a small piece of a bell pepper. Everything has always tasted good, just not hot.

Sometimes Il mix in some hot pepper flakes too my portion after taking hers out .

 

[GotGarlic]

There's also Coolapeño Heatless Jalapeños. You could get the seeds and grow them.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Here´s an example of ají dulce( meaning sweet chiles) from my garden:

And here are some habaneros I bought in the San Juan market in Mexico City:


There are various types of habanero, of course - typically I´ve seen small orange ones, but these are just some.