Jalapeno Leaves

[amruiz]

Yo Hounds!
Has anyone ever cooked or used jalapeno leaves? I feel like there should be a use for those guys but I can't find anything.

[joonjoon]

One of my favorite banchan that my mom makes are made with pepper leaves. Blanch, then sautee with sesame oil, seed, and salt. Maybe a little pepper. It's awesome!

[ellabee]

This is when botanical names come in handy. As paulj notes, chefj's iinfo applies to some plants in the true pepper familly, Piperaceae. Jalapenos are a variety of Capsicum annuum, in the often-posonous-leafed and sometimes-poisonous-fruited nightshade family, Solanaceae.

Anyone know of recipes using the leaves of Capsicum plants? I'm always ready to learn, and to be surprised...

[hannaone]

The recipe from my site that chefj linked to uses chili leaves, as does the Phillipine dish Tinola. In Japan chili leaves are cooked as greens. Another use in Korea is gochunip (pepper leaf) kimchi.

[chefj]

both Piperaceae and Capsicum annuum leaves are edible. It was merely the photo that was used that caused the confusion ( on my part) with that third link.

[ellabee]

The leaves of at least some plants in the Solanaceae, the family to which peppers belong, are toxic: eggplants, potatoes, and tomatoes. I would assume that the leaves of pepper plants are also, unless proven otherwise.

One hint that it's so is the lack of recipes involving the leaves from chile plants, despite the peppers themselves having been used for millennia. But I'm not an authority on Mexican or Latin American cooking, so would be interested if anyone knows of a dish that does use pepper leaves.

[chefj]

A recipe for Filipino soup Tinola http://recipe.philippinecentral.com/tinola.html
From a chowhound regular http://www.hannaone.com/Recipe/gochunip_namul.html seasoned Pepper leaves
A site listing a number of culinary uses http://www.homeandgardenideas.com/gar...

[paulj]

That homeandgardenideas link does not help. It mentions various Asian 'black pepper' related plants (Piperaceae family), not plants of the Capsicum genus.

[chefj]

Right you are.
The photo miss led me.

[chefj]

They are edible and used in many places especially Korea, Philippines, China and Japan . Their flavor is slightly bitter but no more that most greens. They do add a peppery heat but no where near as much as the fruits

[Nanzi]

Sounds intriguing. Have you tasted them? Are they hot & spicy? Are they safe to eat?