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Stickman's 2015 - That's All She Wrote...

Hi All! It's been an incredibly busy winter dealing with one thing and another, and it's only about half over here. :rolleyes:  Still, it's time to get on the stick and put my seeds in the dirt in preparation for plant-out in another 12 weeks or so. I have a Manzano over-wintering inside that's going on its third year. It's next to a sliding glass door with a great southern exposure but the light it gets here this time of year is pretty paltry... I expect it'll start to perk up sometime in March. I have a couple of MoA Scotch Bonnets over-wintering at a friend's house because there wasn't space in front of the sliding glass door for them and my wife's indoor plants... the deal is that if they both survive the winter, we'll split the plants. If not, he'll keep the one that lives. That seems fair since he did all the work. ;)
 
The rest of the list is looking like this...

Pubiscens Varieties
Total bust this year... nothing that germinated survived.

Baccatum:
Ditto

Frutascens:
Tabasco
Hawaiian Bird chile
 
Chacoense:
Ditto

Chinense:
7-pot Yellow Turned out to be a red "Not"
MoA Scotch Bonnet
Beni Highlands... Also turned out to be a "Not"... maybe a Mako Akokrosade cross?
Ja Hab
Trinidad Perfume
Zavory

Annuum:
Cabe Rawit (mouse turd pepper, in Singapore where the seeds were collected they're called Cili Padi)
Red Thai
Biggie Chile Anaheim

Poblano Gigantia
Jalapeno Ciclon
Jalapeno Tormenta
Serrano Tampiqueno
Hungarian Hot Wax
Almapaprika
Ethiopian Brown Berbere
 
I'll also be planting a sweet Criolla de Cucina plants and about 20 sweet Kurtovska Kapijas. The Kapijas have the longest growing and ripening times of any Annuum I know, but they're big, meaty sweet peppers that average around a half a pound apiece... just the thing for making that eastern european condiment called Ajvar.
 
Too tired to say more now, but will pick up later... Cheers!
 
My 7 Pod Orange is the only plant out of 38 in a raised be that is not dark green and more pale, yours looks awesome! Mine already has a decent size pod on it, now to see if it grows true. 
 
Plants are looking good Rick. That 7pot is beautiful. Any interesting dinners lately? lol. I'm at work and didn't bring lunch. All that hard work is paying off.

Thanks for sharing.
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
My 7 Pod Orange is the only plant out of 38 in a raised be that is not dark green and more pale, yours looks awesome! Mine already has a decent size pod on it, now to see if it grows true. 
 
Good luck with that Chris. :)  I've only grown the Yellow 7s so far, so this will be an education.
 
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Plants are looking good Rick. That 7pot is beautiful. Any interesting dinners lately? lol. I'm at work and didn't bring lunch. All that hard work is paying off.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Cheers Chuck! Mostly I'm just making salads and stir-fries with veggies from the garden. It's really nice to just walk over to the garden and pick fresh produce to throw together with a couple of burgers or some feta cheese, cooked pasta and a can of cooked beans for a Greek salad.
 
romy6 said:
 

Looking stellar my friend .
 
Bout time you got some well deserved pepper weather  :party:
 
S'right brother! :party:  Things have finally warmed up enough, and we're getting decent rain without overdoing it... Schwing! :party:
 
 
ronniedeb said:
Looking great Rick! Can really see progress in recent weeks.
 
You too Ronan... you must have gotten a really early start to be getting ripe pods now!
 
 
maximumcapsicum said:
Great green garden Rick! The plasticulture techniques really seem to give you an edge. Did you do alma paprika this year?
 
Cheers Adam! I have one Almapaprika out of two that made it this year. It's still pretty runty, but should start picking up now... it's starting to blossom but I'm
picking them off until it gets a bit more size. I'll post pics of the Annuums later, but the Chinense varieties in the raised bed out back are the bright spot this year.
The Naga King put out its first blossom...
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Most of the MoA Bonnets are blossoming as well...
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The JA Habs, Bhut, and especially the Orange 7 are in full spate.
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The Red Rocoto clones that Devan sent haven't grown any, but they're still alive after a few days of dry, sunny, windy weather. I'll take that as a good sign.
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Cheers All!
 
Good to hear from you Rick. Plants looking good. My Chinese haven't started to blossom yet. Everything else is in full swing. I was starting to pick flowers, but I'm out of town and just going to let nature take its course.

Enjoy the rest of your week.
 
Thanks guys! :dance:
 
Tonight I thought I'd try making a very simple condiment from the Yucatan called xec (pronounced shek). It's a very common table condiment there and makes a great marinade for flash-grilled pork, skirt steak or pounded chicken breast called Poc Chuc. It's very similar to Portuguese Peri Peri sauce which is also citrusy and garlicky. A lot of you folks say you don't like the taste of Orange Habs, but I think you might like this if you gave it a chance. :)
 
4 Habanero chiles, charred on a grill or in a dry frying pan or comal
6 cloves of toasted or roasted garlic, peeled
2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup of bitter orange juice
 
Put all the ingredients in a blender or Molcajete and process into a fairly smooth mixture.
 
I don't have access to bitter orange juice, but I make an acceptable substitute by mixing equal parts of grapefruit juice, orange juice, lime juice and white vinegar.  My wife isn't as fond of the hot stuff as I am, so I scraped out the seeds and membranes after toasting the chiles.
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stickman said:
Thanks guys! :dance:
 
Tonight I thought I'd try making a very simple condiment from the Yucatan called xec (pronounced shek). It's a very common table condiment there and makes a great marinade for flash-grilled pork, skirt steak or pounded chicken breast called Poc Chuc. It's very similar to Portuguese Peri Peri sauce which is also citrusy and garlicky. A lot of you folks say you don't like the taste of Orange Habs, but I think you might like this if you gave it a chance. :)
 
4 Habanero chiles, charred on a grill or in a dry frying pan or comal
6 cloves of toasted or roasted garlic, peeled
2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup of bitter orange juice
 
Put all the ingredients in a blender or Molcajete and process into a fairly smooth mixture.
 
I don't have access to bitter orange juice, but I make an acceptable substitute by mixing equal parts of grapefruit juice, orange juice, lime juice and white vinegar.  My wife isn't as fond of the hot stuff as I am, so I scraped out the seeds and membranes after toasting the chiles.
I've never tried that method, roasting first.
I always go with sweating onion first. :)
Now that i have fresh pods i should try (also your recipe from some pages back), also i've much garlic that is rotting so i should really use it. I don't dig bitter orange juice but i can change that for me.:p
 
Jeff H said:
Marinate looks good. What do you plan to put it on?
 
Essegi said:
I've never tried that method, roasting first.
I always go with sweating onion first. :)
Now that i have fresh pods i should try (also your recipe from some pages back), also i've much garlic that is rotting so i should really use it. I don't dig bitter orange juice but i can change that for me. :P
 
Thanks for the interest guys, I hope you do make this, it's really worth it! :drooling:  Last night I butterflied and pounded some boneless pork ribs until they were about 2mm thick, slathered it with the Xec and grilled it 4 minutes on a side. Throw in some new potatoes baked on the grill and steamed fresh asparagus and we loved it!
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Still too small to show, but it looks like the chiles are finally beginning to set pods... Jalapenos, Serranos, Manzanos and the Orange 7. Hopefully the rest won't be far behind.
 
Here's a few pics of the Annuums in the community garden. The last few days of sun and rain have boosted them up and they're starting to look decent.
 
Leutshauer Paprika
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Poblano
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Ethiopian Brown
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Prik Kee Nu
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Pritamin Hungarian Pimiento
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Tabasco
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Red Thai Hybrid
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You'll be glad to know that at least one of the Red Rocoto clones is putting out new leaves Devan.
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More pics later... I've gotta get ready for work. Cheers all!
 
     Plants are really taking to their new homes. Lookin' good! I'll definitely try that xec on some butterflied pork chops seared on CI outside. I have a metric shit ton of fire roasted habs and superhots to use up before my plants start producing! Thanks for posting your modified recipe. I have no idea where to get bitter orange juice.
 
Hybrid Mode 01 said:
     Plants are really taking to their new homes. Lookin' good! I'll definitely try that xec on some butterflied pork chops seared on CI outside. I have a metric shit ton of fire roasted habs and superhots to use up before my plants start producing! Thanks for posting your modified recipe. I have no idea where to get bitter orange juice.
 
Glad you can use the recipe Carl. :)  I'm surprised you didn't dry any of those pods to make powder last year... I always cherry-wood smoke mine before drying and grinding.
 
Some more pics from the community garden...
 
Jalapeno Ciclon... this is the beefiest of the Jals. It's not gonna  blossom as soon as the others but it's gonna be a beast for production when it does.
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This is about average for the Kapijas... some are a little larger, some a little smaller but all are getting really strong stems and forking.
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"Biggie Chile" Anaheims just set pods, and seeing dropped skirts on the plastic this morning means it's ready to start production! :dance:
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Red Marconi
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Yellow Marconi
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Red Squash Pepper (Hungarian Pimiento?)
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The runty Almapaprika... it's running to catch up...
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Trinidad Perfume
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Fatali
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MoA Bonnets are beginning to catch up to the rest of the Chinense varieties...
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Thanks for the pics. The Prik Kee Nu looks like it's bushing out well. MOA looks good to. I don't remember seeing the Bahamian Goat pepper this year. Are you growing it?
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Thanks for the pics. The Prik Kee Nu looks like it's bushing out well. MOA looks good to. I don't remember seeing the Bahamian Goat pepper this year. Are you growing it?
 
I tried to get a couple going Chuck, but they both died on me early on. No problem though... I have 6 MoA Bonnet plants that are kickin' it. :D
 
 
meatfreak said:
 

Plants look great, Rick. They are really catching up now :D I'm glad you like the Ciclon as much as I did!
 
S'right brother! They make extra-large poppers and have more than the usual Jal heat besides. :)  What we didn't eat fresh, I made into great-tasting crunchy pickled rings.
 
stickman said:
 
Glad you can use the recipe Carl. :)  I'm surprised you didn't dry any of those pods to make powder last year... I always cherry-wood smoke mine before drying and grinding.
 
 
 
 
     Oh, I dried scads last year. Trust me, my mouth has been on fire consistently since last July.  :drooling: I just need to start selling pods or do more giveaways so my chest freezer doesn't fill up and leave me no room for my berry picking bounty! Or I could just grow more sweet varieties like my wife always tells me to do.
     Either way, I think I am going to try my hand at smoking pods this season. A few generous members here have turned me on to that flavor and now I think I'm addicted. Cherry wood you say... :think:
 
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