Padrón me.

[wolfe]

Spanish Table newsletter announces opening of the season: ¼ lb bags Happy Quail pimientos de Padrón - $6.99

[PegS]

Thanks. I just saw them at Rockridge Market Hall too. They're about a dollar cheaper there.

[wolfe]

If things develops similarly to last year Monterey Market will have them significantly lower, I hope.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6472...

[Zeldog]

Peppers at $28 a pound! I love them, but that is completely irrational. Aside from culinary characteristics there is nothing special about Padrones. They grow just like any other chili. I must have given away a couple hundred dollars worth from the dozen or so plants I grew in my very small back yard last year. The problem seems to be just there's just one supplier in the entire US (although I do thank Happy Quail for helping to popularize the pepper).

If you love these peppers (they really are tasty) and have a yard or even a deck where you can grow some potted plants, go ahead and buy a $6.99 bag, collect the seeds from a couple of the largest peppers, put them in a paper envelope and store in a dry place. Plant some next year.

[AntarcticWidow]

If you don't want to start from seed, check with Berkeley Hort. I bought a few starts from them a couple of years ago. When the plants started producing fruit we would pick a handful of peppers, turn on the outdoor burner and heat up the paella pan, fry 'em up in a little olive oil and sprinkle with maladon salt or fleur de sel. Then we'd munch on peppers and sip a glass of wine while we waited for the paella to cook.

[emily]

You can also buy at the plants at Roger Reynolds nursery in Menlo Park (or you could last year).

[rabaja]

They are really more of a Summer crop. Be patient and you will find them for less $$$.
Green String and Mariquita will have them again, and thank all the Gods for MM.

[wolfe]

Padrons at Monterey Market $6 a pound. Larger than I remember last years at least this batch.

[Joan Kureczka]

While early ones are usually milder than later in the season, the larger the padron the more likely they are to be incendiary.

[karoshi]

I've been growing Padron in my backyard for three years now (up to 19 plants this year!) and I respectfully disagree. I've let some get really big and they are still sweet as ever. I've have been trying to find a visible characteristic signifying hotness, but have yet to. HOWEVER, later in the season (especially in the late fall) a higher percentage become hot or flaming hot. Also, older peppers tend to be hotter (by older I mean, if you let them sit in the fridge for a week or more). I had this theory confirmed by Happy Quail dude.

Love them Padrons!

[achefsbest]

Working in a Spanish restaurant, I had my hands in oodles and oodles of Padrons. The Mexican cooks swore they could figure out which ones were HOT. They told me to go by the shinyness of the pepper.

[Dawgmommy]

So, shiney means more hot or less hot?.... I've tasted a few raw ones here and there at farmer's markets, and they were hot. How does frying affect the hotness?...

[bbulkow]

Frying? Usually they're roasted.

[wolfe]

I beg to differ, sauteed in olive oil until blistered and sprinkled with salt.
http://www.otherspain.com/pages/recip...

[achefsbest]

According to the guys, the shiny ones were more hot. They were always trying to play tricks on me with the padrons, and they were usually right on the money. I'm not sure how frying affected the heat because we only served them fried.

One cook, saw his former disliked chef in our restaurant. The chef ordered padrons, and he picked out all the hot ones to serve to him in retaliation.

BTW, I just bought padrons at Happy Boy at Berkeley Farmers' Market. $4 for a green basket full of 'em. We also had them last night at Contigo on a coca.

[wolfe]

I saw those at the BFM and I bet they work out to over $20 a pound vs $6 at Monterey Market.

[achefsbest]

I was at Monterey Market two days ago and couldn't find 'em. I looked by the peppers, where I found them before, and by the entrance. :(

[JasmineG]

La Quercera at the Berkeley FM sells them for $12 a pound. I bought some today and none were hot (good, just not hot).

[achefsbest]

I went by Monterey Market today and asked Ricardo, who works there, on the status of the Padrons. He told me that Borba, their supplier, only brings a case or two at a time and it is sporadic. I asked him if he knew when they would be available again, and he said he didn't know.

[bbulkow]

Had padrons at the Slow Club last night. Small amount, moderate size, a little heavy on the oil but nicely prepared, tasty but not crazy. Wonder who their supplier is.

[Windy]

Most likely Mariquita.

[Dawgmommy]

Achefsbest: Thanks, think I'll get some and give it a try.

[teleme]

Yes, the shiny ones are (much) hotter. I've got a couple dozen padron plants, and the shiny (hottest) ones seem to grow in the most shade -- almost always at the base of the plant, not in the (brighter) sun. They also get hotter as they get bigger.

Happy to give away baskets of these guys to anyone in Napa...

[achefsbest]

Teleme:
Jealous that you can grow them. I have a plant, but because the summer here in Berkeley hasn't been that hot, my poor padron plant has been struggling. It only has one pepper.

Very interesting your observation about shade and placement of the pepper.

Dawgmommy: Hope you are close to Monterey Market. Ricardo wasn't sure when they would be in again, and I haven't seen them there for the past week and a half.

[Zeldog]

Bad year here in SF as well. Too cold. No padrones for me this year.

[achefsbest]

I talked to Harold at Monterey Market today. (Yes, I'm very tenacious when it comes to padrons.) He told me the supplier usually comes once a week, usually Friday, with a case. It usually sells out in a couple of days. I will try to walk by tomorrow and check in and see if they are really there.

Zeldog: I feel your padron pain!!

[wolfe]

Just checked, not in yet expect 2 cases about noon at MM.

[achefsbest]

You're awesome! Maybe I'll brave the crowds and see if they're around now.

[achefsbest]

Just got back from Monterey Market. There's a case to your left when you come in the entrance, in front of the tomatoes, cucumbers, and flowers. It was half a case when I got there; hopefully, the other case is in back!

Anyway, it was getting busy, but everyone was very civil. A woman let me go in front of her when she saw I had only one item.

Thanks for the report, wolfe.

[wolfe]

Did you get her name? She will be barred from ever shopping at Berkeley Bowl.E or W.

[achefsbest]

You are funny! I know, pretty different, huh?

Well, I went by MM just to check in on the padrons since I was over there at the Country Cheese store. I did not see any more padrons! I wondered if they were holding a box back, but I thought that would be silly considering MM is closed for the next two days. I guess there is only a tiny window each week to get the cheapest padrons in the E. Bay.

[arlenemae]

So are there any other places to get these besides Spanish Table and Monterey Market? Would prefer south bay but I guess I'll make the trek to Berkeley if necessary.

I get the Mariquita newsletter but they don't have them yet.

[foodeye]

Happy Quail at the Palo Alto Farmer's Market.

http://www.pafarmersmarket.org/buyloc...

[wolfe]

Check with Monterey Market first to confirm availability.

[Paul H]

La Tierra Vegetables sells them in season (at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market and presumably elsewhere). So does Mariquita Farms if you can find a close drop off point.

[wolfe]

Monterey Market update 7/28, basket to the left of the front door $5.98/lb with varying sizes, some 2-2 1/2 inches long.

[wolfe]

Sauteed in olive oil in hot cast iron pan, sprinkled with salt. The first 9 were tasty the10th was the hot one.

[wolfe]

7/29 Monterey Market, Restocked with easily double the size peppers which based on the first one out off the pan spicer than the last batch. Still $5.98/lb.

[Melanie Wong]

Crescent Moon farm in Santa Rosa has started to harvest them. They're at the Sebastopol farmers market on Sundays and other locations.

http://pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com...

[Windy]

I noticed Capay is selling boxes of "patron peppers" at several groceries (Buffalo Natural in the Castro, Canyon Market).

Unfortunately they aren't patrons. They're something bigger, perhaps 4 inches long, twisty, and consistently spicier. lschow thought maybe shisito peppers. Beware.

[Windy]

Oops, that's a typo. Must have been reading that margarita thread.

The label does say padron.

[...tm...]

Riverdog Farms had them at this Tuesday's Berkeley farmer's market. I imagine they'll have some tomorrow, too.

[Spatlese]

I bought some really large padrons from the Tierra stand at the Ferry Building FM last weekend - think they were $12/lb there.

[urseberry]

A vendor at the Mountain View and Los Altos farmers market has them for $6/lb. It's the vendor that always sells lots of peppers, and some zucchini and berries. In Mountain View, they're way at the end near Acme and Heirloom Organics. In Los Altos, they're also at the end, across from the flower booth.

[SunsetKid]

Last year I got them at the Wednesday Santa Cruz Farmer's Market.

[gordon wing]

There is a fresh box of Padrone Peppers at Monterey Foods today ( Monday - August 1 ) they're from Happy Boy Farms and they're selling for $4.98 a pound. The size is quite small - don't know about the heat level yet. BTW Happy Quail Farms is the better known vendor of Padrone peppers in the Bay Area ...... good quality but more pricey.

[bbulkow]

Given that Happy Quail is right by the Ikea in East Palo Alto, do they ever do u-pick?

[Robert Lauriston]

Given their greenhouse + back yards setup, that seems unlikely.

[mariacarmen]

in a big bag i got 2-3 weeks ago from MM, i had ONE that was really hot, and it was SUPER hot, like, fiery, mouth-searing, coughing hot, gasping, eyes-tearing for 10 minutes hot. and i like hot, A LOT. you just never know.

[gordon wing]

So, you're saying that there are no visual clues to the Uber Hot ones, right?

[mariacarmen]

not that i've been able to tell. there were bigger ones that were not as hot. i do think they got hotter later in the season. i like them either way.

[Melanie Wong]

Mariquita announced a Padron pepper u-pick for Saturday August 6, 10am to 1pm at the Hollister farm.
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/81...
(scan to the bottom, reservations required)

[Columba]

Oak Hill Farm has had them at counter for weeks now. And at Glen Ellen's Sunday morning farm market this week. $3.50-$4 for a green basket, organic.

The backyard CSA had a great collection of Rancho Gordo beans & grains for $5 a bag. Great deal!

Farm Market is at Jack London Village on Sundays from 10-2.
http://www.facebook.com/glenellencomm...

[mhuang]

I picked up some at the Farmer's Market in Mountain View. $4 for a small green basket. Very small, very mild, we cooked and ate the whole basket, and not a single spicy padron.

[wolfe]

Maybe they were the mislabeled shishitos.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7949...

[foodeye]

I think size matters: the ratio of spicy to mild padrons increases as they get bigger!

[Robert Lauriston]

Later in the season I believe they get both bigger and hotter. Eventually they may all be hot.

[Zeldog]

That's pretty much my experience, although if you pick them when they're no more than 2 inches long they will almost never be hot, regardless of what part of the season you're in. Eventually they grow to about 2.5 inches, turn deep red and are universally hot. Very hot. I don't know the Scoville units, but I substituted red padrones for Thai chilis in a sweet and hot sauce and the heat was about the same.

Here is a photo of red and green padrones. The color in the photo is a bit washed out, especially the green, but note the shape. Some are pointy and some are not.
http://www.tmseeds.com/product/Chili-Pepper-Padron/Shop_Vegetable_and_Herb_Seed

If those $2/lb "Padrones" look like this, they are probably Shisitos. Note 3-4 inch length and light green color.
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_083-...

[Pius Avocado III]

The $2/lb Padrones cited below range 1/2"- 1 1/2," deep green.

[karoshi]

I had dozen from last years crop turn red, I let them dry out with the idea of making some chili flakes. Spoke with Dave at Happy Quail farms and he said that when he makes chili powder from red padrons he needs to wear a respirator and latex gloves. Kinda scared me. Still have them in jar. Maybe I could use them for seed next spring. I'm also curious what the scoville range is for Padrons. Also wonder what the deal is with the hotness variability. Any other peppers have such a wide range?

[wolfe]

Best I could get with a search was 5000 Scoville units so either Dave is a wuss or the books are wrong.;-)

[Robert Lauriston]

This seed catalog says some Padrons hit 25,000: http://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/cgi...

[wolfe]

My books were wrong and Dave is not a wuss.

[bbulkow]

I picked mine pretty big, like 3 inches, still green, and they were pleasantly hot but not inedible. They are not shizitos - dark. The thai hot peppers I grew last year are minced and preserved in the fridge - they are mind boggling. I made the mistake of touching an eye 20 minutes after dicing a few - OUCH - my padrons weren't at that stage, yet they were big.

[lrealml]

I saw them at many many stands at the San Carlos market and the San Mateo CSM market...
They are everywhere!

[wolfe]

Ecclesiastes 3
To everything there is a season,

[little big al]

"Turn,turn,turn" Pete Seeger, (For us secular humanists who may have heard it there first). There is a new vendor in front of FPFM, very old school and low key ( red checked table cloths, food in boxes, and not much selection) with some excellent padrones for $8.00 lb. One pound is a lot of padrones.

[Spatlese]

Picked up a pound from the Full Belly Farms stand at the Berkeley FM yesterday - $9/lb. Riverdog had them too, for $10/lb.

[wolfe]

Monterey Market $3.98.

[Pius Avocado III]

$2 a pound- 2 dollars!- at Green String Farm. Their bins were literally overflowing Saturday.

[little big al]

Today at FPFM $5 lb. @ Catalan Farms. Looks like the bottom is falling out of the Padron market.

[Paul H]

The week previous, the padrons at Catalan Family Farms were lumped in with the other peppers and were $3/lb. Catalan is picking them too big to really use them for tapas. If anyone stops by the Catalan stand next week, please encourage them to pick them smaller.

In other Ferry Plaza Farmers Market padron news, Happy Quail continues to sell them for $24/lb. for less than 1 lb., and $20/lb. for 1 lb. and greater. Tierra Vegetables has them for $15/lb. for less than a pound, and $10/lb for 1 lb and up. Finally, Capay Organics was selling 1-pint containers of padrons for $3, but I neglected to ask what they weighed.