No, not the band. The sweet, hot, lucious fruit. I am growing them on my balcony again this year - jalepenos, banana peppers, and those tiny ones less than 1" long. I was going to get some habaneros too but I thought 16 pepper plants for two people was a bit excessive - best leave it at twelve. Last year I had overwhelming success growing them (the plants smell amazing) but man, are they ever hot ! I threw a bunch out because I couldn’t keep up. One or two per meal was not a quick enough rate.
So please: what can you do to preserve their loveliness? I plan to pickle some in vinegar for a spicy condiment (mmmmm). I’d love a recipe for hot sauce (there’s a Trinidadian roti place near me that makes the most divine hot sauce, they used to sell it in bottles but they couldn’t keep up with the demand) if anyone has one. Also welcome recipes for chipotle sauce. Or instructions for drying.
I may set up a Hot Pepper stand in front of my house, or something.
cowgirl, here’s a link to my Salsa 101 post in Volume I of the recipe thread. Let me know if that helps you at all. I’ll be happy to dig you up some pickling recipes if you need them.
I’ve made pepper vinegar that turned out pretty nicely. My recipe is barely worthy of the name, it’s so vague. A co-worker gave me some peppers, the smallish skinny red ones. I heated some white vinegar, maybe two cups, then steeped a good, big handful of the peppers in it for about an hour as it cooled. Then I slapped the whole thing in a mason jar and tucked it in the fridge. Good for giving anything calling for vinegar a little kick.
Drying should be easy peasy. On a screen, just an old window screen if you have one. I’ve also threaded peppers into a string using plain needle and thread. A paper sack is what most of the people I’ve known used. Just put a couple of handfuls of peppers into a bag, leave it in a dry dark place. Check every couple of days if you have moist summers. The attic or garage are good hot, dry places for this. No matter the method, leave lots of space around each pepper so you don’t get mold forming.
I do know one woman who froze her peppers. She just put them into a processor to make them into a puree, then made ice cubes. When they were solid, she kept them in a big bag. Seemed to work just fine for her.
Would those of you with success please share your growing tips? For four years running, all of my pepper plants (mainly jalepeno and bell) have been tiny, shrivelled fruitless things, while everything else grows great gang-busters.
i grew them one year and as soon as one of the lil guys was ripe, i plucked it and popped it into the eager mouth of my teen, who exploded out of the chair and after spitting furiously into the sink, tried to douse the inferno raging somewhere around his tonsils with all the liquid beverages in the refrigerator. i was hovering between horror and utter fascination - i was NOT expecting them to be so hellishly hot!
i harvested a half-pint jar of the demons and dried them on a screen. they dry very nicely and stay brilliant red. i still have a handful somewhere in the pantry muahahahahahahahahaaaa
peppers need a long growing season and plenty of water. they’re cursed with plagues like blossom drop and powdery mildew, mites, tarnish bugs, slugs and other thugs. don’t give up! gardening is a learning experience. :smack:
i’ve learned that i can throw a trowel quite a distance in a fit of rage.
BadBaby - cool ! I wouldn’t have thought to cook it first. And hopefully the evil Toronto humidity will allow me to dry them. I’m excited about decorating my patio with strings of peppers !
Zenster, there’s lots of good advice there. I can’t wait to start roasting, I’m sure many peppers will be sacrificed to the learning experience ! Do you know a good recipe for hot sauce to be used as a seasoning - like BadBaby’s recipe, with more flavouring?
Bill: I grow them in containers on my sunny balcony. In containers (as opposed to a garden) I think they’re much less succeptible to diseases and pests. Last year for the first part of the season I had lots of big leaves and pretty flowers, but didn’t get any fruit until I pulled half of the plants out - they were too crowded. Once I pulled, though, I couldn’t keep up with them ! Great gangbusters, indeed.
Also there’s an ornamental kind (that you can still eat), that I mentioned in the OP. In Brazil people grew them as house plants - they’re small and pretty and produce mucho fruit. They look like the chiltepins Nycteris mentioned but the leaves appear to be different - they’re long and skinny and pointy. They grow wild in Mexico and S America so they would probably do well in a pot in any sunny spot.
The last thing you probably need is another pepper plant, but next season you might want to try planting some of these , they’re called “cachucha”, and they taste somewhat like habaneros but with very little heat. I put them on everything, whole on stews, sauces, roasts, and so on. And raw, sliced on anything else, rice, salads, hot dishes.
