2015 Pepper list

[jmsieglaff]

Originally Posted by Zeedman

Melrose, Pusztagold, and Parker Heirloom are all non-bell sweet peppers that I observed when I visited SSE last year, this will be my first year growing those.

Sounds like some interesting varieties. Visiting the SSE is a good idea. Did you get to taste the peppers at all? I'll have to look into those and consider them for next year.

Not sure of your uses, our uses for sweet peppers is almost entire eating fresh. I've been growing Yummy small sweet peppers (red orange yellow ones) for a few years. I'm very happy with their production and flavor. Most of what you see are F1 hybrids, but I've contacted Jung customer service and the ones I've gotten from them they say are OP. I saved seeds from the separate colors last year and will be growing them this year, so I'll be able to confirm if they are indeed OP.

[joseph]

AlittleSalt: Peppers have been a tough species for me... They are a warm loving crop that wants a long season, and it's so cold here... I see photos of pepper plants, in other gardens, in warm climates, that look like shrubbery. In my garden they max out about mid-calf. Most years I have been lucky to even get back as much seed as I put into the ground.

This year I had a great harvest. And I finally learned how to mature the seed more appropriately: (Thank you FusionPower and Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance!) And I saved the seed fruit-to-packet, and intend to plant it fruit-to-row. That method really helps with selection. So hopefully I'll be able to start sharing seed next growing season.

Landrace sweet peppers:


Drying peppers for seed:

[AlittleSalt]

Joseph, those peppers look really nice.

Growing peppers here does sound like an ideal crop, but in my neck of the woods, it means shading them too. Left alone to fend for themselves, pepper plants here will shrivel during the 100+ heat - look great at night, and repeat until they die soon after. Water helps, but Peppers are more tropical than anything else. Providing shade during the middle of the day will keep them happy and healthy. I had banana and Tabasco pepper plants 5+ foot tall last year.

Here, if you take care of them right - they produce over 160 days until frost.

[luigiwu]

Joseph, so you don't have to leave the peppers on the plant in order to get viable seeds? You can pick them and just hang them up?

[joseph]

luigiwu: My frost free season is so short, that I have to pick the peppers green just before the first fall frosts. Some of them are just starting to ripen at that time. Then I allow the seed to continue to mature for a couple of months using the energy stored in the fruit and the placenta. I've grow peppers this way for up to 6 generations, so it works OK for some family types.

One of my favorite varieties is Pimento. Alas, they are longer season than most, so the variety has petered out of my landrace. The seed just couldn't mature sufficiently under my conditions. A variety that I culled intentionally was Big Daddy. It grew gigantic fruits, but on small plants, so the fruits sat on the ground and rotted instead of maturing. California Wonder didn't survive for me. I've ended up with a high concentration of yellow peppers that ripen to red. The bell varieties suffer a lot from sunburned fruits and got culled for that reason. Wish my pepper vocabulary was better so that I could classify them by shape.

[Christa B.]

I really need to expand my pepper horizons.

This is what I have:
California Wonder
Anaheim
Beaver Dam Pepper

In addition to the varieties listed above, I am growing seeds that I saved from a store bought orange bell pepper and some seeds that I saved from store bought mini sweet peppers. I do realize there is a good chance that they are hybrids and the peppers that I grow might be very different from peppers that I harvested the seeds from. I am a little excited to see how they turn out though.

[peppero]

Originally Posted by drew51

Feher Ozon to me has always been for paprika, but you can use them any other way really. A sweet mild heat pepper. If I need fresh peppers I use my paprika peppers, but mostly grow for powder.

Thanks for your input Drew.

jon

[drew51]

Originally Posted by peppero

Thanks for your input Drew.

jon

I would like to find a pepper that is good for general use. Bells are too thick to dehydrate easily, and paprika can be too thin to be used fresh. Something about the thick peppers, maybe texture, feel etc that makes them desirable for fresh eating. So many paprika peppers around. I'm experimenting with many. Often growing bells, besides giving them away when you have too many, not much else you can do with them. Pickle I guess? Anyway what I want is a pepper I can use for fresh and cooked uses, and dehydrate the rest when not needed for other purposes. Still looking for that pepper. I still use paprika peppers like this, but looking to see what work's best. I have some I'm testing this year, and have some already for next year too.

[Dutch]

Chilhuacle Rojo is a thin walled pepper native to Oaxaca, Mexico. Dark red to mahogany in color, and shaped almost like a bell pepper. Use fresh strips to add just a touch of heat to salads, Stuff to make stuffed peppers, cook to make rich red sauces or use dried and ground into powder to make a mild seasoning or to add to seasoning blends.
This is not a general offer for seeds, but Drew if you would like to try some of these, PM me your address and I will put some seeds in the mail ponto!
Dutch

[swamper]

SWEET
Yummy f#
Chablis f#
Bulls Heart
Red Belgian*
Etuida*
Eros*
Cupid* f1
Lunchbox Red* f1
chocobelle f1
Sunset Red f2
North Star f1
Redstart f1

HOT A
Arledge
CvetaX
Mariachi f#
Havasu f1
Capperino* f1
Tam Jalapeno
Dancing spiritsX f#
Bonda annuumX f#
Hot Purple Strawberry*
Demon f#
PeppinoX


CHINENSE
Bonda brazilX f#
7 pot white
7 pot primo
Hot paper lanternX f#
Maya*
Pi 281429

BACCATUM
Aji Omnicolor

FRUTESCENS
Diente de Perro

*new for me

[Zeedman]

Originally Posted by drew51

I would like to find a pepper that is good for general use. Bells are too thick to dehydrate easily, and paprika can be too thin to be used fresh. Something about the thick peppers, maybe texture, feel etc that makes them desirable for fresh eating. So many paprika peppers around. I'm experimenting with many. Often growing bells, besides giving them away when you have too many, not much else you can do with them. Pickle I guess? Anyway what I want is a pepper I can use for fresh and cooked uses, and dehydrate the rest when not needed for other purposes. Still looking for that pepper. I still use paprika peppers like this, but looking to see what work's best. I have some I'm testing this year, and have some already for next year too.

Drew, are you looking for a sweet pepper, or one with a little heat? Beaver Dam is almost as thick-walled as a bell, mild enough (in our climate) to use on sandwiches, and has a short DTM. When cooked, most of the heat disappears, leaving behind a strong pepper flavor. I've cut the peppers into strips, and they dehydrated easily.

You might also want to try Tennessee Cheese. It is a round pimento-type, with exceptional thick walls, but very low moisture content. I like to add it to canned salsa, because it doesn't turn to mush when chopped, and holds its shape during cooking. The flavor is what I would describe as 'smoky'... not sweet, but not quite hot either (don't rub your eyes after cutting it, though). If you are interested in trying either of these, PM your address.

[Caspian Pink]

My list is short, only the following:

Corno Di Toro Rosso
Carmen F1
King of the North
Altria

Fresno
Early Jalapeno
Nacho Mucho
Peter Pepper
Tabasco

[drew51]

Short but nice. Everybody's lists look good!

[greenthumbomaha]

Hey everyone -
Don't do as I did, paprika peppers have no place in chili imho!!!
They make good salad peppers. I've grown Alma Paprika and Feher Ozon. Late but very good yields on both. Hopefully I'll get more mileage when I attempt to use them in something other than chili. Hope to expand my repertoire beyond bell and marconi next year.

- Lisa

[drew51]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Hey everyone -
Don't do as I did, paprika peppers have no place in chili imho!!!
They make good salad peppers. I've grown Alma Paprika and Feher Ozon. Late but very good yields on both. Hopefully I'll get more mileage when I attempt to use them in something other than chili. Hope to expand my repertoire beyond bell and marconi next year.

- Lisa

This one is great in chili! It's got lot's of kick!

Leutschauer Paprika Pepper - A lovely drying pepper that comes from
Matrafured, Hungary. It has been grown there since the 1800s when it was
brought from Leutschau (Slovakia). The medium-hot paprikas have great
flavor, are terrific for drying, and make a delicious spicy powder.

I like to use the New mexico peppers and ripen till red and make my own chili powder with them.

Chile Powder
Assemble the following ingredients:

For mildness and flavor:
4 Ancho chiles (dried poblanos)
3 Dried New Mexico chiles
For heat:
3 to 5 Dried Chiles de Arbol or Cayenne
For flavor:
2 tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground oregano (Mexican oregano, if you can get it)
Preheat your oven to 300F.

Remove stems and seeds from all the chiles. Cut each chile in half with scissors and flatten the pieces. Incidentally, good dried chiles will still have some moisture in them and be fairly pliable. Don't use dried chiles that are so dry and fragile that they shatter when touched. Chile ristras and wreaths are wonderful decorative accents, but the chiles dry out and lose their flavor.
Put the chiles in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove the pan and check the chiles (they cool almost immediately). The smaller chiles will be toasted first, so remove them and set aside. Bake the larger pieces another 4 minutes and check again. The poblanos will be done last, but as portions of them toast, break them off and set aside returning the pan to the oven if necessary.
When all chiles are toasted and crispy, break each piece into two or three pieces and place in a blender. Pulse briefly until you have powder.
Toast the cumin seeds by placing them in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir the seeds constantly being very careful not to let them scorch. When they are a few shades darker than the untoasted seeds, they are ready. Grind the toasted seeds with a mortar and pestle or with a rolling pin between two sheets of waxed paper.
Add the ground cumin, garlic powder and oregano to the ground chiles in the blender. Pulse a few more times to thoroughly mix the powder, and you're through. You should have about 1 cup of chili powder, depending upon the size of your chiles.
You have created your own custom blend of chili powder. If you compare what you have just made with the store-bought variety, you will find it to be much darker in color with a deeper, richer aroma and taste. Naturally, you will want to test your creation, and an excellent recipe for doing so is the Brazos River Chili in Grandma's Cookbook, or any good recipe that relies heavily on chili powder.
Store your chili powder in a small, airtight container. This recipe makes very good chili powder, but is by no means written in stone. The chiles and other ingredients can be varied according to your taste. To add the smoky heat of chipoltes (smoked jalapeos), for instance, substitute a chipolte for one of the chiles de arbol. Or better yet, toast some chipoltes and make a pure chipolte powder from them. A teaspoon of chipolte powder is the rough equivalent of one chipolte chile.
Store your chili powder in a small, airtight container like a glass jar with a lid that can be tightened. If you make more chili powder than you will be using in the immediate future, triple bag it in plastic bags and put it in the freezer.
With this knowledge, you are limited only by your imagination and your taste.

I use paprika mostly for eastern European dishes, not tex mex stuff, I agree paprika in general is not meant for these dishes.
The new Mexican chili's are though, and I love growing them too.