I just finished some experiments with blanching, peeling, tasting Aji Amarillo in side by side comparisons with the raw peppers. This is what I found; all started with fresh Aji:
Blanched, peeled
It took 10 minutes in a covered saucepan to get whole Aji to loosen skins. I avoided halving the peppers prior to boiling, figuring it would dilute too much flavor. This is one method a Peruvian lady uses, the mother of a neighbor.
Pros:
•Makes a smoother product without the skin
•Very easy to halve, then scrape out the core and seeds
•Color is still good.
•Flavor good, but very much changed
Cons:
•Adds time and the peppers are a pain to peel, especially ones which are not straight or wrinkled
•The fresh, citirc flavor associated with this pepper vanishes. The flavor has more of a roasted, cooked pepper taste with a more vegetal note.
I tried boiling times from 3–10 minutes. Shorter cook times resulted in better flavor but skin tightly-held and near impossible to peel.
The takeaway for me is it’s much easier to just core, de-seed the raw peppers and use them. I don’t mind the minor texture of the skin and the flavor of the raw peppers is better, more characteristic of the variety. Cooking renders the flavor much more similar to other types of peppers, which is OK for certain recipes, but for Huancaina sauce, I strongly prefer the raw peppers. Maybe that’s. why Gaston Acurio’s recipes above do not include cooking, peeling. To fully appreciate the flavor and how different it is compared to other peppers, use them raw. It’s also way easier!
One of my goals is to freeze dry raw, fresh Aji (cored, de-seeded). Since it freezes so well, it should freeze dry beautifully. Once freeze dried, I can powder the brittle peppers and reduce the skin to dust, if desired, to create a product which will be smooth upon rehydrating. This should make an instant Aji paste with the flavor of fresh Aji. Sealed with oxygen absorbers, it should retain quality at room temperature for 10+ years. It’ll be awhile before there are enough peppers to warrant a freeze drier load. Until then, it’s uncertain.
