Harvest Time

Loading up the dehydrator for it's first run of the year.

The second is my normal table collection of condiments--with my recent addition--which I am increasingly enjoying. The bowl to the left is my homemade ground peppers, a combination of primarily habaneros (about 75%), and equal amounts of Thai green chilis and cayenne peppers. Ghost peppers and sea salt can be read, the one to the right of that is African Bird Peppers----very hot and excellent flavor, and of course on the right a black pepper mill--- with tremendous output. If you like black pepper spring for one of these "Unicorn Magnums" ---you will thank me :pimpgrin:

Did you grow the peppers?

No---I'm afraid my vegetable gardening is a thing of the past. I used to grow very hot habaneros, I would select the seeds from the "best of crop" for the next years planting.

Since then I have relied mostly on a large Asian Market about 20 miles away---but now for the past two years I have been getting them from my Amish Green Grocer. A crop I would never have expected but very happy to find. My wife is going to stop today and make another "buy". I just spoke to her and told her to get all the habaneros they have (up to 10 pints) plus a good selection of the rest of the offerings.

Amish (and) Old Order Mennonites have a very bland diet (and thus palate). Thus I did not expect this. They began with cherry and jalapeños peppers and now progressed upward. Trust an Amish man to respond to any perceived market opportunity.

They also raise poblanos and hot Hungarian peppers.

Eric is probably too reticent to ask, but I bet he would give you an address to send a sample of the hot stuff. As for me, I trust your comments.

I'd be happy to do that :pimpgrin:

As an update, I spoke to my wife who is almost home and she made a 10 pint score on the habaneros----what a gal:bowdown:

It just occurred to me----they feed produce that is past prime to the pigs----I have to wonder what the pigs might think of the hot peppers :flip::flip:

I can tell you unequivocally that Guernsey bulls do not take kindly to hot stuff---our friend Billy would be most impressed by the "bull roar" that follows a little trip on the hot side:rolleyes2::march:

one of my Aussies has taken a liking to my Habaneros...who knew

I just loaded the dehydrator up for another run---nine pints of habaneros and a qt. of cayenne :pimpgrin:

That gives me one pint of fresh habaneros to enjoy with my eggs :cool:

I might have to make another buy next week :peace:

...and my latest Amazon scores from this thread have now shown up:

So much to try---so little time :hatoff:

I got to wondering what kind of peppers were used to make the ubiquitous “cracked red pepper” found in every pizza joint and which is used at the table to spice up many dishes and is increasing called for in recipes. What I found was that cayenne peppers dried then crushed is most often the predominate pepper used, but often a variety of other peppers are added. The articles I accessed went on to say the vast majority of drying was artificially done in large dryers, but some specialty brands dried the peppers naturally in the sun, which was said to produce flavor beyond just heat.

I did not know that.

The Koreans were (are) big into cayenne peppers. They dried them on big rice straw mats in the sun. Flying over small towns and country side in the fall was striking, the overall background color was drab brown (on the west side of the peninsula there were no trees) and in the midst of that drabness were these patches of bright red.

They then ground them into a powder which they would use as a powder in their cooking--including kimchi making and use as a condiment at the table. The condiment was the powder mixed with water to make a paste, not unlike ketchup, which they added to most everything.

That was my first experience with the hotter side. At home we did eat cherry peppers---but only on occasion. My first experience with the Korean's red hot paste was memorable---and painful. What kept bringing me back is a bit of a mystery to me--but I'm glad I did.

Back to the habaneros. I am getting (in a mix) red, green, yellow, orange and brown habaneros. If you look at the original post in this thread you can see a couple of the brown peppers in the tray.

In the mix that I got last year there were also the brown colored ones. Today at breakfast, I was curious about both the heat and flavor of these unusual (to me) brown peppers. So, I pulled one out of the fresh ones still on hand and made it with my eggs. I could tell shortly after putting it in the pan that I had a treat on the way---the fumes were acrid to inhale. It wasn't long until my wife--in a different room began coughing--I knew enough to keep my mouth shut and the fan on :whyme:

The flavor was different than the more common habaneros and I have to say a degree or two hotter. I'm a fan.

Eric, have you ever had any chocolate habaneros?