Why You Shouldn't Wash Jalapeños Right Away

Jalapeños are nature's little spicy gifts to the kitchen. The heat they can bring to food can take a dish to the next level, deepening the flavor, and enhancing the layers that wash over the taste buds. However, cooking with jalapeños needs to be done just right to get the best out of them, and ensure they don't spoil before you add the glorious spiciness to your dish. That includes knowing when to wash them — which, incidentally, should be just before you use them. 

The flesh inside the jalapeño doesn't like excessive moisture and can discolor, lose its firmness and some of its spiciness — and, if washed too far in advance, start to grow mold and go bad. The skin is quite resilient, so if you wash the outside of your jalapeños and dry off the moisture, they'll be a-okay. Yet, beware of moisture creeping up the stem and sneaking inside the jalapeño fruit — the stem is quite absorbent, so if not dried off properly, it will carry moisture up into the fruit — which is its job, but not desirable if you want to keep your jalapeños crisp and fresh. 

Some jalapeños may have a bit of a waxy surface that doesn't seem to come off in your average rinse. This may require a bit of a scrub to ensure you get any soil residue and bacteria off the outside of your chiles. The best tool to use is a potato scrubber or similar alternative, which is gentle but firm on your produce.

If you need to have your jalapeños washed and ready to go for a little later in the day, proper storage is very important. Keep your little hot sticks refrigerated in an air-tight container or zip-lock bag with the air squeezed out. Or, pop them into a container or bag that allows air to circulate, so the moisture can make its way out and not saturate your jalapeños.

Placing something at room temperature into a cold environment like your fridge can cause condensation to occur in the air around your jalapeños, which can infiltrate your chiles and leave them in less-than-pristine cooking condition. This can present as moldy spots on your jalapeños, discoloration, or the skin looking saggy and missing the firmness that you'd expect from a member of the chile family.

With that said, don't mistake corking on your jalapeños for them being past their use-by date. Corking appears as striations, lines, or stretch marks down the length of your jalapeño. This occurs naturally when the fruit undergoes a growth spurt and the skin needs to expand quickly to make space for the growing chile. Your chile is still perfectly fresh and crisp to use to spice up those lovely jalapeño recipes.