Ripening Rocoto

what do you do with a rocoto pepper after it is ripe? Is it for cooking or just eat it fresh off the plant. I here these babies pack some heat is there anyone else growing these this year? One last question, should I let it ripen on or off the plant?






Dale

I can't remember where, but I read that the Rocoto pepper affects some people differently, that it tastes hotter to some people. I don't know if that's true or not, but the only one I have ever eaten just about burned a hole in my tongue. It had been made into a popper, and my sister accidentally mixed it with some very mild poppers. Luckily I picked it up and not my mother.

The heat built slowly,and my face kept getting redder and redder. I was sweating and tearing up and started biting bread and drinking milk.

My sister swears it was an accident, but she's the one who turned the car headlights on me when I crept over to the edge of the woods to pee in the really hoity-toity section of Hilton Head Island. Not that I'd been drinking or anything.

I read a great article on rocotos recently. Appearently, the best thing to do it to leave it on the plant until you are ready to eat it (make sure it's ripe). Their best flavor is when you use them immediatly after picking them. Also, be sure to remove the seeds because they are extremely hard and it will be like eating small rocks.

As far as what you can do with them...

"You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, rocoto-kabobs, rocoto creole, rocoto gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple rocoto, lemon rocoto, coconut rocoto, pepper rocoto, rocoto soup, rocoto stew, rocoto salad, rocoto and potatoes, rocoto burger, rocoto sandwich. That- that's about it. "

I too am growing these. Haven't gotten one to pollinate yet....but the plants are getting around 2.5 feet and the flowers are everwhere.

I'm interested in this too-I have a couple red manzana growing, and pods are now present. Red Manzanas are cousins to the rocoto, so I would guess the info for both is the same.




Scott

Acutally, as I was recently educated, Manzanos' are the same thing as Rocotos.