vendor Why seeds and no peppers?

[OzDragon]

Surely there's an answer to this: why is it so hard to find peppers for sale while there's seeds galore?

I love the bhut jolokia and would love to try some of the other peppers that are discussed but GEEZ! I'm in an apartment in Chicago. Not much farming is going to happen in my livingroom. (Rattlesnake meat is easier to acquire than scotch bonnet peppers.)

What's the background on this? Does anyone know of a reputable source for whole fresh peppers?

 

[Matt50680]

So, pepper seeds out weigh fresh peppers 50 to 1. If not more. Keep in mind, those 200+ seed sellers on ebay? Maybe 10, and that's stretching it, are selling legit seeds. You buy some bhut seeds? have fun watching your "bhut seeds" grow red habaneros.. It's an open market on ebay, if your slightly shady, you wanna make money, have slight knowledge on the new superhots that are popular in the chilehead pepper growing community.. You'll advertise your selling some bhut jolokias that are actually red habaneros.. the sellers thought process goes like this.. when your plant starts producing and you see a red pepper, they think you'll believe its a bhut jolokia ( that's what you bought right? they are thinking you have no education in shapes, heat, size, etc) And even if you do know what your growing, and you know it's not a Bhut jolokia, too bad, you won't be getting a refund. Ebay is literally.. the last place you should be buying seeds, trust me.

I sell seeds on Ebay from time to time, I am not out to screw anyone, I sell legit seeds from pods I grow. I keep my seeds seperated and true. I know there are some sellers out there that will list 20-30 auctions for the same item to monopolize the market, pisses me off. If you want true seeds, let me know, I have tons. My seeds are all OP but I grow my plants from the previous year's harvest and always get the real deal. I dont charge anything for my seeds to forum members (free with a PM on THP).

 

[PIC 1]

We have specialty produce wholesaler's in the Fulton/Randolph st. market areas here in Chicago.
There's wide varities of Thai chili thru Caribbean type peppers. Sold by the case, and most are still "green" or partically ripe. Most resturants aren't picky, since certain peppers are seasonal and not always on hand.

Greg

 

[OzDragon]

We have specialty produce wholesaler's in the Fulton/Randolph st. market areas here in Chicago.
There's wide varities of Thai chili thru Caribbean type peppers. Sold by the case, and most are still "green" or partically ripe. Most resturants aren't picky, since certain peppers are seasonal and not always on hand.

Greg

WOAH! I didn't know this. thanks for the alert. I went up on Devon Ave hoping that the Indian/Pakistani places would have more peppers but that didn't reveal anything I hadn't seen before.

Do you know of some specific places in the Fulton area?

 

[willard3]

Chiles are really easy to grow.
Many people in the US who have trouble growing chiles have never grown anything from seed to fruit.
Chiles want to live and are actually hard to kill once they have germinated.
Chiles are not really part of US cuisine and are eaten by a small percentage of the population. It's easier to find different chiles if you can find the Mejican barrio where you live.....one of the good results of unfettered immigration. You're not likely to find a good chile selection in most US markets.

 

[Indiana_Jesse]

Chiles are really easy to grow.
Many people in the US who have trouble growing chiles have never grown anything from seed to fruit.
Chiles want to live and are actually hard to kill once they have germinated.
Chiles are not really part of US cuisine and are eaten by a small percentage of the population. It's easier to find different chiles if you can find the Mejican barrio where you live.....one of the good results of unfettered immigration. You're not likely to find a good chile selection in most US markets.

Yes, I definitely recommend checking out local Mexican grocers! I just found some Scotch bonnets, green(fresh) de arbol, and ripe jalapenos at one of mine. A few weeks ago they had Manzanos. They always have the staples (Jals, serranos, poblanos, chilaca, guero, and habaneros). Unfortunately the jalapenos and serranos are usually the same you see in the regular grocer (Huge with minimal heat). They have almost all of the standard dried/smoked chiles too (guajillo, ancho, japones, de arbol, morita, chipotle, puya, pasilla(real), piquin, chiltepin, mulato, and cascabel).

I'm sure if you look hard enough you will be surprised on what you can find in Chicago, even little Lafayette, Indiana surprises me sometimes, but it is easier to find things in a small town I suppose.

 

[OzDragon]

Reason you can't find them on the shelf:
Verrrrry few people know what they are ( of the few % of people that have even heard of a bhut jolokia heard of them because of guiness), most are not willing to pay the price just to try them (prices are a premium b/c there's 1 scotchbonnet grower to every 500 orange habanero growers, 1 bhut grower to every 50000 jalapeno growers, etc) most people stick with chiles they know.

Most of all though. For 99% of the general public, an Orange Habanero is blow your head off TOO hot. From a produce guy, there's really not much of a market for them at all. I'd like to order a 5lb case of scotch bonnets.. But, I'd throw 4.7lbs of them away in 5 days. if not more. Sad, but true. Hell, now that I think about it, Even though we carry the chiles I listed above, other than jalapenos, we lose money on every one of them. we sell at best, 1/6 of every case we buy of plain ol' orange habs.

Hope that helps.
Good luck asking around!
Brandon

The very first grocery store I went to resulted in a pleasant surprise. The produce manager initially said he couldn't get the bhuts and said he'd check on the scotch bonnets. But the more I talked with him, turns out he was mainly concerned about the mark-up on the bhuts but just mildly concerned about finding them. So, I offered, "let's at least find out what the cost would be for a case."

With the scotch bonnets, he's willing to order some, let me buy what I need and he'll put the rest out for he public.

He asked me to check in with him again Thursday. And I'll let y'all know how it goes.

 

[BigCedar]

The very first grocery store I went to resulted in a pleasant surprise. The produce manager initially said he couldn't get the bhuts and said he'd check on the scotch bonnets. But the more I talked with him, turns out he was mainly concerned about the mark-up on the bhuts but just mildly concerned about finding them. So, I offered, "let's at least find out what the cost would be for a case."

With the scotch bonnets, he's willing to order some, let me buy what I need and he'll put the rest out for he public.

He asked me to check in with him again Thursday. And I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Never hurts to ask my friend!
Told ya about the mark up haha, us produce guys like chiles.. just don't like our numbers going backwards over em

Glad it worked for you, I encourage any other members to try the ask about it technique if your looking

Keep us posted!

Brandon

 

[OzDragon]

Never hurts to ask my friend!
Told ya about the mark up haha, us produce guys like chiles.. just don't like our numbers going backwards over em

Glad it worked for you, I encourage any other members to try the ask about it technique if your looking

Keep us posted!

Brandon

I did ask another store a month ago but I see I didn't ask in the right way. I must have sounded like a guy who might want 3 peppers and the store gets stuck with 4.9lbs of product no one else wants. Today went a whole different direction.

 

[BigCedar]

I did ask another store a month ago but I see I didn't ask in the right way. I must have sounded like a guy who might want 3 peppers and the store gets stuck with 4.9lbs of product no one else wants. Today went a whole different direction.

Ha! glad I could help glad man It's like anything really though, we get people asking for turnip greens and they cost 3 to 4 dollars a bunch(here in wWA anyway), Id love to keep them in stock, but how many people are gonna buy a 4 dollar bunch of greens ya kno? But if you tell me you'll buy a case.. were in business! If you say your interested in buying a case, you WILL get there attention.

Btw, buying a case.. yeah, you wont use them all before they go bad.. I tried freezing my peppers this year, I prefer it so much more than drying.. when you let it defrost for a minute, then chop it up, its so much easier to chop up than dried or fresh. You get the same flavor and heat. So my point is, yeah your buying more peppers than you need but hell, just freeze what you don't and you have peppers for months!

 

[OzDragon]

Quick update.


Whole Foods said they can get the scotch bonnets, and they'll order when I'm ready. They didn't say if I'd have to buy the whole case, or not. The bhut jolokia, however, are only available dried.

Still waiting to hear from the other 2 sources.

 

[Joe Bissett]

Surely there's an answer to this: why is it so hard to find peppers for sale while there's seeds galore?

I love the bhut jolokia and would love to try some of the other peppers that are discussed but GEEZ! I'm in an apartment in Chicago. Not much farming is going to happen in my livingroom. (Rattlesnake meat is easier to acquire than scotch bonnet peppers.)

What's the background on this? Does anyone know of a reputable source for whole fresh peppers?

Hi OzDragon. I just joined the forum. I am a 73 year old former hobbyist, and I grow and ship actual peppers. I'm a REALLY small operation, having planted only 1,200 plants last year. I am all natural - no chemicals at all. The few folks who have tried my peppers have never expressed dissatisfaction. My selection is limited to varieties that I can obtain in volume from our local growers in San Antonio. We had a hard freeze last night, which finished off my plants, but we brought in about 20 pounds of Cayenne last evening, so I saved some. Other than that, I am finished until spring. Here's my website: http://www.hot-peppers.com/

 

[AlabamaJack]

The very first grocery store I went to resulted in a pleasant surprise. The produce manager initially said he couldn't get the bhuts and said he'd check on the scotch bonnets. But the more I talked with him, turns out he was mainly concerned about the mark-up on the bhuts but just mildly concerned about finding them. So, I offered, "let's at least find out what the cost would be for a case."

With the scotch bonnets, he's willing to order some, let me buy what I need and he'll put the rest out for he public.

He asked me to check in with him again Thursday. And I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Warning Will Rogers...If it were me, and I'm just sayin'...I would want a picture or him to point to a picture or representation of the pods...at least describe the pod to you....take a pepper book that has these varieties and tell him that is what you are looking for....

reason ? Central Market here in Fort Worth will buy pods...mostly from scandinavia I believe and I have seen Caribbean Reds advertised as Bhut Jolokia...

What I'm sayin' is that you might not get what you think you will....

 

[The Hot Pepper]

This section is for reviewing vendors.