The Soul of Food series continued a couple Saturday’s ago at East New York Farms! for Pepper Smoking 101. And we had such a lovely turnout of chili pepper enthusiasts and growers from across the city join us to celebrate hot peppers and the transformative power of smoke.

We talked about chili peppers’ cultivation origins in North, Central, and South America (particularly along the Andes and up in Mexico) as well as how they have spread and been changed thanks to Indigenous peoples, birds, and other creatures. Alexx then talked through the different varieties being grown at the farm, and the different challenges as well as joys of growing alongside chili peppers. We then headed back over to the main smoking area to engage with each variety more closely (see below photo for just a taste of some of the varieties), talk through names for fresh and dried peppers, get into the nitty gritty of different smoker set-ups, and review drying and grinding approaches.

After some smoking demonstrations everyone got jars, New York-sourced salt, and smoked chili peppers of their choice to create their own custom chili salt blend. We concluded the day with a chili salt tasting atop a variety of spreads, bread, and farm fresh tomatoes!

Big shout out to everyone who came out to participate as well as to the NYRP crew for supporting this work and ENY Farms for hosting us.