Cookaholics Bulletin Board

The last two days I probably harvested enough peppers to last me the entire year, yet this is just a start! Yesterday I uncovered my protected (from pepper maggots) area, and all I had time to pick were the jalapeños, lombaks, and a few Hanoi markets. Still about 80% of the peppers out there to be picked, as well as many green ones and flowers for later harvests. I found a new Indian variety - Phuljadi - that is incredibly hot for a non-habanero, around 100-120k SUs. It is also great in flavor, green or red, so this is a keeper. Too early to see if the kashmeri will do well as far as taste (just started ripening), but they are huge plants, loaded with peppers. Here is my pepper album, with the photos from the beginning of the season.

You are definitely living up to your handle....and I so wished I lived near you.

Amazing Dave and I agree with Ilene - you certainly do live up to your handle!

And question for you - how do I know when to pick my Thai Chili Peppers? They are very small, less than the size of my pinky, but they have turned red. I don't know the specific name other than Thai as I bought the plants in a nursery and that's how they were labeled.

Thanks

Nance

Dave,

What are those "starfish" peppers? That's the first time I've seen those.

As you know, I will always happily swap you a bottle of wine for some dried peppers. Especially the milder ones.

Thai peppers vary greatly, in size and heat. Many varieties are very small plants, and the peppers are only 1 1/4-1 1/2" long, and only 1/4" thick. Once peppers begin to ripen, they have more or less stopped growing, so that is when you should pick them. I try to pick them when half ripe, to trigger the plants to flower more.


I got those in a free seed packet, when I ordered some others, so I tried one. It was the slowest to germinate (I had actually given up on them!), but the plant is one of the largest. The peppers are a plain, green pepper flavor (definitely not a habanero variety, despite the shape), with almost no heat whatsoever (though there is no sign of ripening, so time will tell). I'll keep you updated. It looks like a thin-walled pepper, so it should dry well, when they ripen.

Thanks as always Dave! Looks like I'm going to be picking lots of peppers this weekend - woohoo!
Nance

Dave, your peppers are gorgous! I have pepper envy.

Laurie

Dave
They really are beautiful!

Do you ever dill or pickle some of the milder peppers When I was a kid, I had a great aunt who would Dill Banana peppers. They were so good.

Two more large harvests since that first post. A new variety, that may be of interest to those here into Indian cooking, is the kashmeri pepper, which is just now starting to get ripe. Too early to see how it will dry and grind, but I assume that, like all other peppers I have grown, the powder will be much better than the store-bought. The full sized green peppers are a little sour, and not at all hot, and the ripe reds are much better - sweet and tasty, but not too hot -1k, if that.