Pepper harvest comparison pics.

[ddsack]

We've had our first big drop in temps, guess fall is really here to stay, which isn't surprising, since it will soon be mid-September. Time to gather in the peppers for slicing and packing in freezer bags. I used to chop some, but have found that I prefer them in long slices for stir fry use. I find if I whack the frozen ziplock bag on the counter, the slices separate out, and I can take out only what I need. I love a combination of colors.



Here is a pic with the labels of sweet peppers I grew this summer. Hope you can read the labels, I decided it was easier to sort and photograph peppers with pre-made labels since it takes me a while to get around to downloading them. I can't believe how many pictures of red tomatoes I have that I can no longer id because I was sure at the time I would remember them for a couple of days ... yeah, right.



I got a chance to grow both the Giant Marconi hybrid and the Red Marconi (thanks to Jeanne for seeds) I really love the Giant M, but the Red M comes in about 2-3 weeks earlier, so both are worth growing for me.



Other interesting peppers were Ivolga from Andrey,



And Elephant's Ear (Slonovo Uvo?) from Velikipop.



Here they are compared to Jimmy Nardello:



The really big guys were Big Early Hybrid, Chinese Giant and King Arthur.



And I always grow old favorites Gypsy Hybrid, which is THE early pepper for me ...



and Spanish Spice (not spicy) which is also pretty early and I grow it as a substitute for Corno de Toro, which I have an impossible time germinating.




I only have a few hot peppers, and I limit myself to just a few varieties that seem to do well for me. Most of them seem to be hybrids, which is fine by me since I don't have the time to get into bagging or saving pepper seed. But I am in awe of many of you on this forum that grow dozens of varieties.





I don't hear much about yellow jalapenos, but one of my favorites is Santa Fe Grande, which is a heavy bearer, and always earlier than the greens for me.



Another super bearer that sometimes seems like it has more peppers than leaves is Garden Salsa:



In all, it was a pretty good year for peppers, though some of the plants in my front clay soil were slow to get going and stayed smaller than I expected. Not sure why, because conditions were pretty similar to last year in all respects.

[Full Moon]

Wow! Fantastic pictures. Nice selection you got there. I'm curious about the taste of Elephant's Ears and Ivolga can you tell me a little about them.

Thanks for the tips about the freezing method. I do alot of stirfrying as well so will definatly give that a try.

Can't wait for our season to start down here.
Cheers

[Andrey_BY]

Great pictures! Ivolga is one of a few Siberian sweet peppers in my collection. How was the taste of it for you?

[ddsack]

Ivolga was good when young as a frying pepper, and then nice as a salad pepper when it matured to a pale lime green and then to yellow/orange color. I was surprised at how thick the walls were for a small pepper.



Elephants Ear was great, especially when red it was very sweet, every bit as good as large bell pepper. Also had thick juicy walls. I like the flattened shape too.



Both peppers were keepers!

[Lomatia]

Great pics ddsack. I think it's good to get comparisons and sections so we can see the flesh thickness.

[Andrey_BY]

Yes, very informative pics!

[velikipop]

DD,

Very nice pics, glad you like the Slonovo Uvo. I have a few more seeds from southeastern Europe that I can send for you to try.

Alex

[Earl]

Very nice pictures!

I smoked some Jalapenos today. Will finish them off in food dryer and grind them to use in cooking.

[velikipop]

Hi Earl,

What did you use to smoke the jalapenos in and for how long? I bought a Nesco food dryer and would like to try drying my chilis.

Alex

[ddsack]

Alex - I am very interested in a few more of your suggestions. The Elephant's Ear was SO good. I will PM you for more info!

Glad you all liked the pictures, it's sometimes hard to get a feel for the relative sizes of the varieties. I'd like to see more cross section shots too, that show the thickness of the walls, and how about some split down the middle lengthwise so you can see the size of the seed cavity?

Earl - great idea about the smoking. I had a charcoal smoker that I got for Christmas eons ago and never used. Hope it's still out behind the shed and my husband has not hauled it away to the dump! What kind of wood chips do you use?

[kellemk]

ddsack, Your pictures were wonderful! and very informative! I grow a lot of the same varieties you have pictured plus others. Would love to find out more about Ivolga and Elephant's Ears. I really like sweet thick walled peppers and these look great!

Mary
and look great

[obispo45]

As a fellow Minnesotan who just loves everything pepper just wanted to congratulate you on what was undoubtedly a fine harvest and the equally as impressive pics8).

I second, and third...well actually forth the motion that Ivolga just looks fantastic!! I've grown a decent number of non-bell shaped sweet ones the last few seasons. Not too many this year though. Went heavier on the bell shaped ones this time around. Next year I'm pretty sure I'm going reduce the overall number of my chile varieties(you know how early statements such as this wind up turning out...LOL!!) to make additional room for more sweet stuff.

You have inspired me BTW. Next season think I'll finally get my rear in gear in make labels such as yours for some of my photos. Got to run and cover up a few pepper plants, we allegedly could be flirting with frost tonight...but more than likely Fri nite instead.

[barkeater]

Those yellow jalapenos are gorgeous. Are they as hot as the Early Jalapenos? I'd like to try them if they are. Hot peppers rarely get a chance to ripen here, so a yellow jal would be a nice addition.

[ddsack]

Bark - I think my yellow jalapenos are pretty close to the same hotness of the greens. I'm not one that insists on super hot peppers, the serranos are about as hot as I need. If I think my salsa lacks bite, I'll chop up another pepper or two rather than seeking a hotter variety. For some reason the yellows seem to tolerate early and late season cold a little better for me. I picked everything worth picking a couple of weeks ago when frost was threatened (was very light and didn't hold for long.) The pepper plants all survived and now I see a new bunch of little Jaloro yellows that are getting almost to picking size. I usually get my peppers from Tomato Growers Supply.

For all that were interested in Ivolga -- I got mine as a bonus seed from Andrey along with some tomato seeds, so you'll have to apply to him! I was not able to bag any plants this year, I grow quite close in raised beds. I am only now starting to get interested in pepper seed saving. The Elephant's Ears that were so sweet were from Velikipop. I don't really have any more information about either of these pepper varieties, other than what shows up in the photos. Have not Googled to see if they show up as available in North American. I believe they are Russian/Belarussian and Eastern European types.

Obispo - I am going to print up name labels next winter/spring when I get cabin fever after seed starting time. Then the next step is to figure out how to store them in some kind of slot system in a folder. My quickie shoe box lid was a real pain to find anything, the peppers and tomato slips all kept sliding together.

Dee