Thai Chili

[AlittleSalt]

When I first started growing Thai Chili peppers this year - I didn't do much of any research. I planted them in a bed to be ornamental. I thought I'll give them away - after all, they're too hot to eat...blah blah...I get so stuck in false beliefs, but I am willing to admit that I was wrong.

It turns out that they are a beautiful plant well worthy of calling ornamental. They are hot (50,000-100,000 Scoville). Then it hit me one day, if I give them away - that means someone else is eating them. So I went to the grocery store and bought some Ramen noodles just to try cooking with the Thai Chili peppers. I figured Ramen costs 17 cents - so why not experiment? I wish I had tried this years ago. I now cook Ramen with 5 cut up Thai Chili peppers seeds and all. I don't know what happens to the heat when peppers are cooked, but I really like how they flavor Ramen noodles.

Thai Chili is a beautiful plant that grows low to the ground. It starts producing flowers and peppers very early here in Texas, and they are doing better in the 100+F days than all the others. To me, they look like mini Tabasco pepper plants, and they grow pretty, edible, ground cover plants.

I'm thinking about growing them in a raised bed next spring/summer planted thickly along with onions and good salsa type tomatoes. I'll call it, "The Salsa Garden"

That's my 2 cents on Thai Chili. Here's a picture of them in full sun growing in the Texas August heat. It is so bright outside that I couldn't see the viewfinder on the camera - so the picture is a little off center.