Most Chipotle chilis are produced in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, though there are a few areas in the United States where the pepper is grown and harvested. There are two varieties of the pepper: morito and meco. Morito is the variety commonly found in the United States, whereas the larger of the two, meco, is used domestically in Mexico.
Chilies can actually be pretty easy to grow at home with the right tools. They prefer to be warm at all hours of the day, at night they need to be kept at close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which is why these plants do so well in northern Mexico and the south/southwestern areas of the US.
description
A chipotle is a smoke-dried jalapeño pepper. At the end of the growing
season, jalapeños naturally ripen and turn bright red. They are kept on
the bush as long as possible. When they are deep red and have lost much of
their moisture, they are picked to be made into chipotle.
Chipotle have
heat and a distinctive smoky flavor. A mature jalapeño fruit is 2–3½ inches
(5–9 cm) long, when mature the plant stands two and a half to three feet (75
to 100 cm) tall. Jalapeños have 2,500–10,000 Scoville heat units.
Capsicum annuumis in the Solanaceae or nightshade family. It is an upright
perennial or annual shrub usually less than 1 m tall, with small, white,
pendent flowers and elongated, yellow, orange or red fruits (berries). It
can be distinguished from other types of domesticated peppers by flowers
that are solitary rather than in groups, and filaments (thread-like stalks
supporting the anther) that are not purple.
common names & nomenclature
Chipotle comes from the Nahuatl word chilpoctli meaning "smoked chili". One of it is common names, Morita, is Spanish for "mulberry".
Also known as:
morita, chile meco, chile ahumado, típico
