2016 is Ohjay's year of the habanero

mrgrowguy · Jun 10, 2016

Were you able to pick up any taste from the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion? I run a red variety and it has a slight smoked flavor to it. Very hard to pick up the flavor though because the heat is soo intense.

The largest piece I can eat without expecting compensation and suffering tremendously is about the size of a dime.

Makes incredible beef jerky! I dried a bunch and just threw 3 or 4 dried peppers into the jerky marinade and kept smashing the pepper to release as much juice as possible.

.

Ohjay · Jun 10, 2016

mrgrowguy said:
Were you able to pick up any taste from the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion? I run a red variety and it has a slight smoked flavor to it. Very hard to pick up the flavor though because the heat is soo intense.

The largest piece I can eat without expecting compensation and suffering tremendously is about the size of a dime.

Makes incredible beef jerky! I dried a bunch and just threw 3 or 4 dried peppers into the jerky marinade and kept smashing the pepper to release as much juice as possible.

.

Nice tip regarding jerky. Might have to try that

As for taste, no I didn't really pick up any real taste. Maybe a hint of smokiness and it didn't have that same freshness that non-brown peppers do.
I couldn't even eat a dime-sized piece so it's really hard to pick up flavors when the pieces are that small.

OCD Chilehead · Jun 11, 2016

Ohjay said:
As you might recall I have two Peach Ghost Jami plants... and the other one gave me a surprise the other day;

Not very peachy at all. I guess it's still an unstable cross and one of the parents showed up. To me it sort of looks like a Bhut, what do you guys reckon?
Speaking of the Jami, here's a slightly better shot of a peach pod:

While we're talking peach, Peach Congo:

So, yesterday it was time to taste a pepper and I decided to go for the Douglah Billy boy:

The kitchen was immediately filled with a chinense smell as I cut it open but it vanished quite quickly.
Since I only ate really small pieces it was hard to discern any sort of flavor. Freshness but that's it. According to other reviewers it shouldn't have much taste.
Heatwise it was a very pleasant smooth burn which was very tolerable despite the heat. By far the hottest pepper I had eaten to date but I could not say how hot it was.
The burn was mostly located at the bottom of the mouth and a bit more frontal than back of the throat.

Today I started with an Aji Melocoton:

By far the hottest Aji I've eaten. If I'm going to guess I would say between 30-50k scoville. Not a very pleasant burn, very prickly and stingy. Did not care for that burn at all unfortunately.
As for taste, there wasn't much to it either. Maybe a slight hint of sweet citrus fruit, like a lime. Perhaps it wasn't fully ripe yet. Gonna eat more of them and see if I can get some flavour of them.

About 90 minutes ago it was time to really step into the big leagues, Trinidad Moruga Scorpion:

As with the Melocoton, I think it wasn't quite fully ripe and developed yet. Going to leave the next pods on the plant longer.
And as with the Douglah I ate such small pieces that it was hard to discern flavor. Not quite the same freshness as other peppers and perhaps a slight hint of smokiness.
Heat... oh the heat!
I ate three small pieces, each larger than the one before. First two was fine, it was hot, way hotter than the Douglah but manageable.
The third piece was insane. I don't know how else to describe it. The heat kept building and building and building. When it finally peaked it dropped off pretty quickly, and then the stomach took over. I almost felt nauseous as the small pieces reached my stomach.
Then came the endorphin rush, holy moly. Never experienced a rush like that with any pepper, not even the Douglah gave me that kind of rush, and it lasted what seemed like 20ish minutes. Crazy!
What about the burn then? It was smooth but with a slight hint of pricklyness, just barely manageable. I felt the heat was located mostly towards the back of the mouth but it did fill my enitre mouth(at least that's how it seemed).
Heat, no idea. Could've been 1 million scoville, could've been 2 million. All I know is that it's by far the hottest pepper I've eaten and that last piece nearly drove me to the yoghurt but I persevered (yay me!).

Nice looking pod's. Glad you got to sample some. That bottom pic, gave me phantom cap cramp. I've had some bad experiences with them brown pod's.

karoo · Jun 11, 2016

Good pics and taste test.
Pod porn with descriptive subtitles.

Ohjay · Jun 17, 2016

More pod porn incoming now :fireball:

Going to do some plant photos today so there'll be a plant update tomorrow probably. Anyway, pods it is!

First up is Habanero Paper Lantern:

This one was a bit strange to be honest. Quite a fresh taste but no interesting flavour notes. There was a slight hint of your ordinary red bell pepper.
In terms of heat it was in the lower end of the Hab range. Smooth heat but with some sting to it. Mostly located in my lower mouth.
Going to have to sample more to see if the one I ate wasn't ripe enough. There should be more flavour I believe.

Next up Habanero Gambia Orange:

Big pepper, thick-walled.
Very intriguing taste, don't really know how to describe it but the word mellow comes to mind. No sign of that freshness most peppers have. There was a note of what I felt was honeydew. I think this would make a very intriguing pepper for sauce if you use the right ingredients.
As for heat I would say it was somewhere in the middle of the Hab range. Very smooth heat with a hint of sting. Mostly lower mouth.

Now the first peach variety, Peach Congo(pics turned out more orange than peach though:

Since it's around supers in term of heat I only ate very small pieces which made it hard to discern any particular tastes. I did note a hint of something sweet, almost some sort of candy flavour. As I ate it bubblegum was the thing that came to mind.
Very smooth pleasant heat but very hot. Above Habs and maybe near the Douglah Billyboy, so around 800k to 1 million scoville probably.
Intriguing pepper and I'm excited to try my Peach habs to see if I can discern more flavour notes in the taste when it's not quite as hot.

Speaking of peach varieties, it's time for what we all have been waiting for. I know I have...
I give you, Peach Ghost Jami!

As I cut it open it had a very fresh aroma but not a hint of that familiar chinense smell.
Extremely thick-walled pepper and the amount of placenta was just ridiculous. Not sure how visible it is but there were small pools of capsaicin in it.
Since I was expecting a superhot I only ate minuscule pieces but I managed to taste a slight fresh grassy note together with sweetness and that same candy-like note as I did with the Peach Congo.
I'm really undecided about the heat though. After eating the first piece I instantly felt it was hotter than the Moruga I tried. But the second and third pieces I ate made me change my mind slightly. It's definitely way above 1 million but the heat was so smooth and pleasant(for being a superhot) that I can't really say what sort of heat it actually has.
Anyway, as I said the heat was very smooth, butter smooth even and located mostly in the lower front of my mouth. Heat built slowly but it picked up the pace as it built.
I didn't really experience the endorphin rush that I did with the Moruga, there was a hint of it but nothing close to the Moruga. Another indication it might not have been as hot as I first perceived.

To show what a pansy I am... :rolleyes:

Here's an image of the second piece I ate:

The first one was of the same size(slightly bigger than a rice grain) and the cut-out is of those two pieces. The third piece I ate was the size of the cut-out.

As I mentioned at the beginning, there will be plant photos and a plant update in the coming days.
Also I think I've built up enough courage now to try the Reaper so that will be done sometime this weekend. Should be very interesting

dragonsfire · Jun 17, 2016

Great looking Fruit!

Ohjay · Jun 19, 2016

Plant update then.
I decided to throw away one of my reaper plants because it still wasn't setting any fruit and to be honest, I really don't need more than what the other plant is giving me in terms of Reapers.
There's still a few plants that are refusing to flower and/or set fruit and I think we're getting to the point where they won't at all this season which is a bummer since three of them made me excited: Habanero White Giant, SB MoA, SB7J.
We'll see what happens, maybe I'll let them do their thing and hope for the best, but I could use the space they would free up.

Anyway here's window #1 with plants:

Lots of color, very little space.

The Antillais Caribbean has some beautiful pods:

Peach habs are starting to ripen:

The not peach ghost jami has really gnarly pods and a lot of bleed at the calyx. A couple of the pods are bit orange, so I think that's another sign that the Peach Ghost Jami isn't 100% stable.

Paper lantern also has some orangey pods strangely enough. We'll see if they end up red in the end:

And it that last photo you could see some CGN21566 in the background. Here's more of them:

Window #2 is just as cramped as the first one. The two rightmost plants are Habanero White Giant and Habanero Mustard, neither have set a flower yet.

Many different colors here. Top left are Habanero Manzano, then Choc Habs and finally Peach Congo:

Window #3 is also completely full of plants, I really need to scale down next year.
Pods from left to right are: Aji Melocoton, Habanero Gambia Orange, Habanero Roatan Pumpkin, Habanero Pastel:

The Roatan pods are huge, can't wait to try one:

The Pastel is intriguing as well and the color is definitely interesting. I only have two pods on the plant though, and only one ripe:

Then there's the plants under light #1:

Both plants are loaded with awesome pods.

For some reason I forgot to take a group shot of the plants under light #2 but did take individual photos.
Here's the Habanero Luciferino, extremely productive:

The Douglah Billyboy has started to set new pods. I think I counted 4 new and it's still flowering. I hope it gives more than the 5 it gave me in the first wave:

As mentioned in an earlier update, the Habanero Mili has beautiful pods as well:

Had a hard time getting a good photo of the Habanero Cappuccino so this one will have to do:

Those pods are ripe but they did have a lovely cappuccino-like color before becoming that deep burgundy color.

It's getting about time to harvest a lot of peppers I think. so the plants can work on some pods. With a bit of luck I might even get three waves of pods. :dance:

Malarky · Jun 20, 2016

those habanero mili's look beautiful! I hope you give them a photo/taste treatment like those above

D3monic · Jun 20, 2016

Not sure on the genetics of the jami but the red ones look to have some bubblegum 7 to them based on those caxyls

Ohjay · Jun 20, 2016

Malarky said:
those habanero mili's look beautiful! I hope you give them a photo/taste treatment like those above

I plan on doing both proper pod photos and taste reviews of all pods so keep your eyes peeled for that Mili update sometime in the future

D3monic said:
Not sure on the genetics of the jami but the red ones look to have some bubblegum 7 to them based on those caxyls

Thanks D3monic!
I was thinking Bhut but Bubblegum 7 seems quite valid too. You're definitely more knowledgeable than me concerning pepper species so I wouldn't be surprised if you were right.
The only thing I know about the Jami is that it was cultivated by a guy named Jami that lives somewhere in the US. Not much to go on...

Genetikx · Jun 20, 2016

Maybe not the most deadly looking pod but gambia orange intrigues me quite a bit based on those thick walls and taste profile you described. Really digging your habs

willow · Jun 22, 2016

Great photos...Inspired me to get myself a decent camera for the upcoming crop, show these beautiful peppers as they should be seen. Thanks for the share.

jcw10tc · Jun 22, 2016

Great grow log, can't believe I didn't see this sooner. I have always really like habanero's also. Have grown quite a few the last few seasons and have a good handful this year. While not sure, I think a few of these originated with me last fall. I suspect a few from comptine may have been sent by me. Its nice to see what my seeds produce if this is the case. The yellow hand grenade was something unintended. I got seeds for Chocolate Hand Grenade and had 2 plants. One produced yellow pods, many of which looked like Yellow Butch T, the other plant was similar shaped but longer and much bigger overall and red. Both were great peppers. Happy to see these turned out relatively close to the parent. The shapes did vary for me quite a bit as well, but most had pretty significant stinger bottoms. The Antillais Caribbean has to be one of the nicest looking pods I have ever grown. Such a glossy smooth red. Not sure if you tried them yet, but I found them to be much milder than I expected them to be but they were great tasting. Made and incredible mild smoked powder. Those Peach Ghosts you have look great. I have 5 plants of those going this year, 3 different strains but all similarly gnarly. I have the Peach Ghost Jami, the Select Strain from PepperLover and seeds form pods I got from Wicked Mike. Not sure of his original source but they looked very similar and were very hot. I think they are hotter than the red bhuts myself. One of my favorites. Also those cappuccino habs are really great as well. Another favorite. I grew Purple Habanero last year and when ripe looked about the same color to me, but I am colorblind so who knows, but was similar to the cappuccino, only bigger and meatier. Hoping the purple turns out the same again it quickly rose to near the top of my favorite habaneros.

Here is the habaneros or habanero types I have growing this year. If you see any you want to try next year, look me up this fall and I will send you some seeds if they turn out. Most of them are new to me, and some are ones that I have grow before and really liked.

Aji Chombo
Antillais 14.5
Avenir
Bonda Ma Jacques
Bulo-Bulo
Habanero Antillais Carribbean
Habanero Bolivian Bumpy Yellow
Habanero Cappuccino
Habanero Dominican Huge
Habanero El Remo
Habanero Gambia Orange
Habanero Giant White
Habanero Hugre Red Dominican
Habanero Purple
Habanero Red Belize Market
Habanero Red Dominica
Habanero Red Savina
Habanero St. Martin
Habanero Tazmanian
Habanero Ugandian
Habanero Vietnam
Habanero West Inidian Yellow
Huacho Amarillo
Jabba The Hutt
Kathumby Yellow
Macapa
Morado
Petenero
PI281317
Scorpanero
Swiss Chocolate
Trinidad Morovas

Here's what many of my Yellow Hand Grenades looked like last year.

Ohjay · Jun 23, 2016

Genetikx said:
Maybe not the most deadly looking pod but gambia orange intrigues me quite a bit based on those thick walls and taste profile you described. Really digging your habs

I'll make sure to take a couple more photos and do one more taste test the next time I harvest some pods just so you can see a bit more from them.

If you send me a PM with your address then I'll send some seeds your way later this year if you want.

willow said:
Great photos...Inspired me to get myself a decent camera for the upcoming crop, show these beautiful peppers as they should be seen. Thanks for the share.

Thanks!
A decent camera goes a long way to take better photos

jcw10tc, Yep I'm fairly sure several of the varieties gotten from Comptine are from seeds you sent her. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Lots of interesting habs there. Thanks for the offer and I might ask for a couple of varieties once the season ends.

I tried growing Purple Hab last year but never got any peppers from it, a real shame because I was very intrigued by it and this season I couldn't source any seeds.

Ohjay · Jun 24, 2016

Sorry for the crappy mobile photo but this is yesterdays harvest(~130 peppers, ~770 grams):

From top left row:
Habanero Orange Devil, Habanero Paper Lantern, Habanero Hand Grenade (Yellow), Carolina Reaper
Habanero Manzano, Habanero Roatan Pumpkin, Habanero Gambia Orange
Peach Congo, Peach Ghost Jami, Habanero Mili
Chocolate Habanero, Habanero Luciferino, Peach Habanero

And on the sheet on the right we have from the top:
Douglah Billyboy, CGN21566
Habanero Cappuccino, Habanero Antillais Caribbean
Habanero Pastel, Aji Melocoton

Still have a few ripening peppers(~20) left on the plants but I didn't feel they were ripe enough for picking yet.
Several of the plants are working hard on the second wave of pods now. Looks to be a very nice season for me :dance:

Comptine · Jun 26, 2016

jcw10tc said:
I suspect a few from comptine may have been sent by me.

You're completely right. I hope you don't mind. You sent me a lot of extra seeds so I decided to share them with Ohjay.

And Ohjay, the pictures are great! The peppers look so pretty once they start to turn colour. Looking forward to the reviews on all of them, especially the reaper XD

jcw10tc · Jun 26, 2016

Comptine said:
You're completely right. I hope you don't mind. You sent me a lot of extra seeds so I decided to share them with Ohjay.

And Ohjay, the pictures are great! The peppers look so pretty once they start to turn colour. Looking forward to the reviews on all of them, especially the reaper XD

Its great that you shared. Was happy to see them in a good home. And such an interesting grow that they are part of. Seeing those nice plants in what looks like relatively small containers has given me a notion to try and start a few peppers late summer / early fall and do something similar on a smaller scale 2 or 3 plants maybe. And Ohjay, keep up the good work, that last harvest was great. Those pods look just perfect.

Malarky · Jul 27, 2016

bump!

Ohjay · Jan 27, 2017

Hi all,

Sorry for going MIA so abruptly last season but a lot of things got way too hectic and I had to start prioritizing where to use my limited spare time and browsing forums(among other things) took a big hit.

But to recap last season, I'd say it was a great success. I stopped weighing the peppers after a while but I'm sure it was well over 2kg worth of goodness. The Peach Ghost Jami was extremely productive.
Now my freezer is full of peppers and I haven't had time to do anything with them but hopefully I'll get around to making some sauces within a couple of weeks.
My season was cut short though because I traveled a lot and couldn't care enough for the plants. So I discarded them in late September and if it wasn't for all the travel I could've probably kept them till late November.

There were a few plants which never gave any peppers and I don't know why. Most likely due to the wrong growing conditions like too much, or too little, light. Too hot or not hot enough.
I might try to grow a couple of them again this upcoming season(see my upcoming 2017 glog).