Amir's 2014 rookie year

randyp · Aug 3, 2014

A new way to eat my morning eggs.Thanks Holy,you are going to get run over with pods.

HolyP · Aug 9, 2014

Just a couple of shots of a nice harvest,
I'm passed the point of giving away to anyone who has just mentioned interest. I really need to come up with ideas of what to do with them.

Islander · Aug 9, 2014

Dried, smoked, powdered is a good way to use alot of those pods

HolyP · Sep 1, 2014

time for an update, overall plants are doing great. Knock on wood i have had zero fatalities on my hot peppers. had some lose leaves, only to rebound so I am happy.
An overall shot of the plot (I spaced them a little more. Far more convinient to water and handle in general)

Fatalii

Bhut Jolokia

Great color on a scotch bonnet brown

Butch T, pods are small, but plant is packed

And my reapers

For processing/drying i have tried hanging (noted to self that one should always wear gloves when pancturing alot of peppers or suffer severe hand burn)

I also tried leaving them on mosquito nets (old unused :liar

: window screens)

An overall shot of my drying operation

randyp · Sep 1, 2014

Looks great Holy.Hope your family and friends enjoy the fruits of your labor.

dani8538 · Sep 4, 2014

All looks awesome
For drying its much better to cut them half

HolyP · Sep 21, 2014

dani8538 said:
All looks awesome
For drying its much better to cut them half

Thanks, and I'll try your advice.
I'm sad to say that everything i have tried drying so far has gone bad...
laying them on nets indoor: spoiled
running a fishing line through them indoors: spoiled
running a fishing line through them and tying them outside: spoiled.

Laying them on mosquito nets outside in direct sun: sun burned...

Kinda sux that most of this year's harvest has gone bad on me, i finally broke today and ordered an excalibur so hopefully i'll be able to dry the last pull and salvage something this year.

This is probably my last big pull, there are still some green fruit on the plants and flowers and the weather is still nice so i may still get some more. Very curious to see how the plants will survive the winter as i don't have any plans on overwintering indoors.

I started preparing the peppers to be dried, started with the Trinidad Scorpion, then moved to the Fatalii and then started the reapers.
cut them in half, and deseed (kept the seeds).
I was wearing those cheap latex gloves.
now i'm not sure if in the process i've poked holes through the gloves, or they were crap to begin with but i've spent the better part of the night with burning hands, and even now nearly 24 hours later i have a burning sensation in my hands.

Some more pictures...

This is my oldest admiring a Butch T. (I think he simply liked the name Trinidad Scorpion)

And my youngest playing hide and sick in the pepper plot

Jalapenos stuffed with Feta (came out great)

And some short ribs and rib eye after about 3 hours. Jalapenos had a great flavor sitting in low heat for so long, almost smoked flavor.

RoninCat · Sep 21, 2014

Peekaboo! ^~^

Mmmmmmmm them jalapeños look mighty tempting!

dani8538 · Sep 22, 2014

The jalapenos-feta looks good!
Can you tell the process?

For drying, cut in half, put in a oven on turbo mode 50c for 16-24h

Hawaiianero · Sep 22, 2014

I like to do what I call roasting the peppers in the oven. Slice them in half as suggested earlier, lay out on a foil covered cookie sheet. Put in oven at 160-180 deg. F. and leave them there until they are crispy. Take them straight to the spice grinder while still warm and grind them into fine powder. Pour the powder into a mason jar. When that is done, put jar in oven for a few minutes (it should be off and just cooling down) This helps to keep any lingering moisture out of the jar. When ready, put new lid on jar and set on the counter until it's cool. Once it's cool, you have a decent seal that will hold for at least 2 or 3 months until you figure out what to do with your powder.

Added: I recently got banned from my kitchen due to a lapse of timekeeping and sufficiently fumigated my house with some heavy-duty Habanero/Bhut smoke. :rofl:

My next batch will be in my propane smoker out in the back yard. Hopefully I'll have pics of it.

HolyP · Sep 23, 2014

dani8538 said:
The jalapenos-feta looks good!
Can you tell the process?

For drying, cut in half, put in a oven on turbo mode 50c for 16-24h

Process was simple, sliced the top of the pepper, cleaned out the inside with a zucchini corer.
Stuffed it with Feta using a pastry syringe (you can use a spoon, it works just as good)
placed in a jar and topped with olive oil.
Give it a couple of days/weeks to come together, it's great.

As for drying, thanks for the advice, but after ruining nearly all my peppers i finally broke and ordered an Excalibur.
Within a couple of hours of recieving it, i got it rolling

I've got yellow brain on the bottom, Butch-T in the middle, and Fatalii on top.

Oh, and i was also banned from the kitchen due to accesive smell, and the dehydrator was honorobly placed outside.
I guess i'll be doing my grinding outside as well if i want to maintain my relationship with my loving wife

HolyP · Sep 26, 2014

A three minute run through the garden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLsez_Xara8

tsurrie · Sep 26, 2014

wow man, very nice garden and nice healthy looking peppers... a little wilted from the sun .. but at least you have sun over there

good job

Hawaiianero · Sep 26, 2014

Awesome job dude! You should be very proud of your efforts :clap:

John1234 · Sep 26, 2014

I call BS, you were clearly walking, and not very quickly at that.

randyp · Sep 27, 2014

Looks great,glad ya got a dryer for the pods.It will pay for itself.