Jalapeño pepper (Capsicum annuum) is one of the most typical ingredients of Mexican cuisine. This chili pepper is consumed at the rate of 7–9 kg per year, per capita. It is mostly consumed fresh but also in different forms such as pickled, dried and smoked. Jalapeño varieties differ in size and heat. Typically, a grower passes through a jalapeño field many times, picking the unripe, green jalapeños for market. Jalapeños are green for most of the season but in the fall, which is the end of the growing season, they naturally ripen and turn bright red. In Mexico and the United States there is a growing market for ripe red jalapeños (the last stage of maturation). They are kept on the bush as long as possible. When they are deep red and have lost much of their moisture, they are picked to be made into smoked jalapeños.
Smoking is a common technique of food preservation that provides a distinctive aroma and flavor, and is traditionally carried out in a field open-oven. The smoking process can affect structural, chemical and nutritional properties of food. Furthermore, the type of wood used in the smoking process has an impact on the resulting smoked food. The smoking of jalapeños dates back centuries and was mainly used by the Aztecs who are thought to have preserved the chilis by smoking them, a process they also used on meats. The process of smoked jalapeño production involves the use of firewood to dry and smoke the red jalapeño for a period of six days in an open-smoker installation. The temperature is maintained between 65 and 75 °C, using mainly pecan (Carya illinoinensis) firewood.
Traditionally, the peppers are moved to a closed smoking chamber and spread on metal grills, but in recent years producers have begun using large gas dryers. Wood is put in a firebox, and the smoke enters the sealed chamber. Every few hours the jalapeños are stirred to mix in the smoke. They are smoked for several days, until most of the moisture is removed. The moisture within the red jalapeño peppers slightly decreases from 88% to 81% during the first three days, but by the end of the drying process, the moisture level reaches a final value of 6%. In the end, the smoked jalapeños are dried and shriveled like prunes or raisins. The underlying heat of the jalapeños combines with the taste of smoke, forming a flavor distinctive to smoked jalapeño peppers. Typically, ten pounds of jalapeños make one pound of smoked jalapeños after being thoroughly dried. In recent years, some commercial producers have begun using large gas dryers and artificial smoke flavoring, which expedites the drying process but produces a less flavorful smoked jalapeño.