BrianS Hot Pepper/Gardening Thread (with pics)

[BrianS]

Hi Y'all,
I love growing tomatoes but I admit that hot peppers are my real passion.
Here are some of my pickled peppers from last year's garden



Me trying to get enough nerve to munch this orange habanero!

[BrianS]

Here are a few pics of the garden I grew this Summer
This is Peruvian corn known as maz morado. Its a black corn used in making a drink and a pudding like stuff. The stalks are much taller than me, in fact they reached around 20ft!!!!!!

This is one of the pumpkins before it turned ripe

Cucumbers!

These are potatoes.

[newatthiskat]

Nice Garden BrianS. Enjoyed your pics. I grew peppers the first time this past year. Sure did not look as nice as yours.
Kat

[Zana]

Brian,
I'm curious as to what kind of brine did you pickle your peppers in? Was it "sweet" or "dill" or something else entirely? I do mine up in the same brine that I do my dill pickles with(...you can search the recipe in case you're interested under "Armenian style dill pickles"). I believe that the quart jar that I took to the Buffalo Niagara WNY Tomatofest disappeared before everybody left. I spotted a few brave souls scarfing them down...even had to "elbow" a few aside so I could sample a couple from that batch. LOL Good eating. And love the pics. I wish I had the space to grow as many veggies that you do.

[BrianS]

Zana,
The brine I use for peppers is very simple. I just use 1 pt vinegar to 3 pts water and about a tablespoon or 2 of canning salt. I bring it to a boil then pour the brine over the peppers which are already in the jars then I turn the jars upside down after putting the flats and rings on.

[BrianS]

Originally Posted by newatthiskat

Nice Garden BrianS. Enjoyed your pics. I grew peppers the first time this past year. Sure did not look as nice as yours.
Kat

What types did you grow, Kat?

[newatthiskat]

I should start by saying I am a wuss with hot spicy foods . I just grew jalapeno, Hot banana, Sarrano. I am very allergic to habanaros. I don't really venture out much. I found out about the habanaro thing while at work. I am a whimp with hot stuff or I could have died. All my coworkers were laughing because they thought I was reacting to the heat of this new salsa. Good thing I am a nurse and had access to emergency medication because they darn near made me stop breathing . My husband and daughter are very excited because I am going to try my hand at making homemade salsa for them this comming up season. They are more along the lines of medium heat. I actually think I am going to grow that Fooled you hybrid and take it to work and take big bites just to mess with coworkers. But knowing them they will try to throw me down and inject me with Benadryl
Kat

[velikipop]

Brian,

Man those look fabulous. I tried pickling some last year with limited success. I'll try your recipe for sure. Zana, I'm sorry I missed your Armenian pickle recipe...looks great.

Kat, as for eating hot peppers, it takes a while to get used to the heat, but you will. To get a better sample of the flavour of some of the real hot ones try them on a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Always have some milk handy just in case the pepper is way out there hot.

I tried my first Naga Morrich raw this year and there is absolutely nothing as hot as that. The heat creeps up on you and keeps building for about five minutes, but the endorphin kick that follows is wonderful.

Alex

[Zana]

Alex,
Next time you're in Hamilton, let me know and I'll try to drop you some jars....of pickled cukes, eggplant, mixed (Tourshi) or hot peppers.
Zana

[velikipop]

Zana,

That is an offer I cannot refuse. Thanks.

Alex

[BrianS]

Originally Posted by velikipop

I tried my first Naga Morrich raw this year and there is absolutely nothing as hot as that. The heat creeps up on you and keeps building for about five minutes, but the endorphin kick that follows is wonderful.

Alex

Hi Alex,
I have some of those seeds coming my way now and also some Bhut Jolokia seeds which are as hot if not hotter than Naga according to what others have told me. I have never tried either but I am going for the gusto next year LOL

[velikipop]

Brian,

I grew both last year. The Naga took a while but then produced an enormous amount of medium sized and very hot peppers. I would say that it had at least 150 peppers on it. The Bhut, on the other hand, has been a challange. Two years in a row it did not produce anything, though last year at least I got some flowers. It is one tough plant to grow. Good luck, your growing conditions are probably better than mine.

Alex

[BrianS]

Alex, How are you overwintering your plants?

[velikipop]

Brian,

I have them in a corrugated plastic shed attached to a garage. I also covered them with burlap for extra protection. I'm not sure if they will survive because we are in the midst of prolonged deep freeze. The Bhut gave up the ghost aleady. some of the others a lot tougher like the Lemon Drop and a rare species of Chaconense. I also have a Cambuci and Peruvian purple in the garage and they both look fine.

Alex

[BrianS]

Alex,
I have never overwintered a pepper before believe it or not so could you take a picture and show me how you cut them back? Now that I have some really good seeds for this year I want to overwinter a few of my varieties.