Title: What Are Tepins
Categories: Spice Info
Yield: 1 Servings

1

Info file

Tepins are Chiltepins, Chiletepins, and sometimes referred to the locals around here in south Texas as chile Petins, a variant of the commercial(larger, football-shaped)Pequin, perhaps. Joe Schallan posted awhile back on the derivation of the name: Tecpin; from the Nahuatl Indian "flea". They are found from the Arizona Sonoran desert all the way down into the Yucatan; They do grow wild around here, spread by mockingbirds and such, and we even have a creek nearby named Chiltepin, where they grow on the sloped, washed-out clay dune banks.

They are quite hardy, and require only a little micro-climate protection from the occasional freezes, and have small leaves that endure the ever-present coastal winds. I've got a old Tepin on tyhe side of my house that is about 8 years old, and has produced about three dozen seed packs for chile-heads around the world. I've experimented with commercial New Mex pequins such as the Alton-Bailey hybrid, but none compare with the flavor and heat produced by these and the Sonoran desert Tepins. Well known to the list members, the controversy over which chile is hotter continues, although the winner ususally owes it's extended capsico-nature to the conditions during fruiting, particularly water-stress and temperatures.

Sometimes we can eat 'em like popcorn; other times just one of these little green or red "B-B's" will cause a slow, blistering fire in the mouth that is only rivaled by the Habanero grown in similar conditions.

Bob "docpepr is miss-spelled for a reason" Opersteny From: Docpepr Date: 02 Mar 97 Chile-Heads List Ä

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