I Made Arnie Tex’s Chiltepin Salsa from his Recent Video

It is what I would consider VERY warm and it takes a minute or so to start making my scalp sweat. It's the right amount of heat that doesn't make me want to stop eating it, but there's enough heat to keep me sweating.

Ingredients:

• Chiltepin chiles, 1/2 cup

• Garlic cloves, 2 ea

• 1/4 small onion

• Tomatoes, Roma, 3 ea

• Mexican Oregano, 1 large pinch

• Cumin, 1/4 tsp

• Salt, TT

• FGBP, TT

MOP:

• Add tomatoes and onion to boiling water

• When tomato skins are starting to separate from the flesh, remove tomatoes and put into ice bath to stop the cooking process.

• When onions are starting to soften, remove and put into ice bath with tomatoes.

• While tomatoes and onion are cooling, place garlic into molcajete and grind into a paste. Add Chiltepin, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, and continue grinding to break down all ingredients.

• Cut tomatoes and onions down into small pieces and add a small bit to molcajete, grind until well incorporated. Continue adding tomatoes and onion in another 2 or 3 additions and grind until everything comes together.

YIELD: Approximately 2 cups (500 ml)

NOTES:

• I grabbed a few Tabasco chiles from the plants next to the chiltepin plants because they were ripe and I didn't have any plans for them.

• Everything I picked for this salsa was bright red and fully ripe.

• Arnie's recipe was for a smaller batch so I used a CRF of 1.5 for everything.

• The salsa was very flavorful with good heat, but it had a bit of a "green" flavor to it as if the chiles were not fully ripe.

I have grown chiltepin plants from seeds that I got in Arizona about 7 years ago and the seeds are still viable. I'll up the plant production next year so that I can experiment with this recipe further. In order to reduce the greenness of the flavor, I may dehydrate or quickly put the chiltepin chiles under the broiler for a short time.