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Late season pepper observations

Its been interesting. The flavor and heat of some did change with the cooler nights and days. We also had a few 80F days after a few nights of mid 40Fs. A few plants had a large increase in ripe peppers during that time. Mainly the lemon drops and Anaheim. The cooler temps greatly slowed the serrano ripening though and the size is smaller too. It had very little effect at all on the cowhorn and Lombardo.
 
The biggest surprise was the heat level  and sweetness of the lemon drops seems to have increased with the last 3 times ive picked them. Heat and flavor increased a little with the Anaheim too. They are actually kinda tasty now. My orange habs are noticeably milder and so are the serranos. Oddly the hab is still producing new blooms and pods but most of the plant does not look that great.
 
My lemon drop in the pot has very few peppers left on it. The one in the ground still has many pods. Mostly green but still getting several ripe ones each day. Looks like im gunna have a mess of green pickled Ajis before much longer. I think i will pickle them with the rest of the green serranos and green cowhorns. That should give me enough for a 2 quart jar and add some heat back to the serranos which are now pretty mild.
 
Lastnite got back into the 40s and today has a predicted high of 78F. Im gunna wait till later in the day to go out and pick some more or maybe wait till tomorrow. Those lemon drops sure turn fast once they have the smallest amount of yellow with the large temp swings.
 
 
 
 
 
Have noticed the same on sweetness but not heat.  My mouth cant really tell after a certain point.  There is a wine, maybe frost or ice wine, where they pick the grapes after the first frost.  Have read it makes the wine sweeter.  Maybe the same reaction as peppers?
 
Beerenausleseis wines are made from late harvest grapes. Water content is reduced so they are sweeter. Grapes picked for trockenbeerenauslese are even drier and sweeter. They are basically raisins dried naturally on the vine.
 
In the case of my lemon drop i think its just simple age as far as the heat goes. Some of those peppers have been on the plant since June. The very tip of the pepper has almost no heat and very sweet. As you eat your way upto the stem end it gets pretty spicy even before you hit the placenta and seeds.
 
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