It was around this time of the year, 20 years ago, when I went to the Trenton Farmer's Market and picked up some beautiful yellow scotch bonnets. I saved seeds, grew them out the next year, reviewed them on GardenWeb, and distributed seeds as Scotch Bonnet, TFM. It became like the telephone game with TFM eventually becoming "trueform" and a few other possibilities in some circles. Here's the review I did on them back in 2005 (the first season I grew them out) on the GardenWeb hot pepper forum:
"Scotch Bonnet, Yellow, TFM-the TFM in the name comes from the fact that I got these at the Trenton Farm Market in Trenton, NJ. I got these before I had met AB and believed these to be the true morphology. I am going to grow these side by side with AB's next year to see how they compare with heat, growth habit and flavor, as they seem very similar. I am wondering if he and I have variations of the same plant. My plant was stunted during transplant and ended up tall but rather bushy, with large pods that have high but not exceptional heat and awesome flavor. Very fruity and have a quality about them I have not seen in other chinenses, it's almost as if the balance of nutty, fruity and smoky is so exact it morphs and fights for position on your taste buds. I'm glad I stumbled across these and will grow them out to distribute seed next year. Pendant pods with scotch bonnet morphology ripen to yellow. Very long season (I'd say 140-150 days) The bite of the heat almost seems like there is another form of capsaicin in there beside the one that is normally in chinenses. My prize seed."
Last week I took a ride up to Trenton Farmer's Market to get some vegetables, and came across some peppers labeled as Red Scotch Bonnets. I've seen a variety of fruit labeled as scotch bonnets but not all of them have those fruity, sweet qualities that make them special. This turned out to be a really, really nice pod. Thin-walled but fruity, sweet, and hot but not extreme. They are large chinenses, especially relative to Caribbean red habaneros or Red Scotch Bonnets (as exemplified by the red scotch bonnets from tomatogrowers.com). I am saving seed from these and will grow them out next year to see how they do. In the meantime, here are some pics. Especially now that I'm more experienced, I'm really careful about renaming what may be an existing pepper, this might be an Antillais Caribbean or something similar grown under optimal conditions, although my Antillais Caribbeans are very healthy, are not this large, and more wrinkled. Therefore, I haven't named it yet, but I'm thinking about something along the lines of SB Red TFM UNK (UNK = unknown). I'll think that one through and will update everyone in the future! Here are pics of these beauties. I made a pepper jelly with them and people loved it.
"Scotch Bonnet, Yellow, TFM-the TFM in the name comes from the fact that I got these at the Trenton Farm Market in Trenton, NJ. I got these before I had met AB and believed these to be the true morphology. I am going to grow these side by side with AB's next year to see how they compare with heat, growth habit and flavor, as they seem very similar. I am wondering if he and I have variations of the same plant. My plant was stunted during transplant and ended up tall but rather bushy, with large pods that have high but not exceptional heat and awesome flavor. Very fruity and have a quality about them I have not seen in other chinenses, it's almost as if the balance of nutty, fruity and smoky is so exact it morphs and fights for position on your taste buds. I'm glad I stumbled across these and will grow them out to distribute seed next year. Pendant pods with scotch bonnet morphology ripen to yellow. Very long season (I'd say 140-150 days) The bite of the heat almost seems like there is another form of capsaicin in there beside the one that is normally in chinenses. My prize seed."
Last week I took a ride up to Trenton Farmer's Market to get some vegetables, and came across some peppers labeled as Red Scotch Bonnets. I've seen a variety of fruit labeled as scotch bonnets but not all of them have those fruity, sweet qualities that make them special. This turned out to be a really, really nice pod. Thin-walled but fruity, sweet, and hot but not extreme. They are large chinenses, especially relative to Caribbean red habaneros or Red Scotch Bonnets (as exemplified by the red scotch bonnets from tomatogrowers.com). I am saving seed from these and will grow them out next year to see how they do. In the meantime, here are some pics. Especially now that I'm more experienced, I'm really careful about renaming what may be an existing pepper, this might be an Antillais Caribbean or something similar grown under optimal conditions, although my Antillais Caribbeans are very healthy, are not this large, and more wrinkled. Therefore, I haven't named it yet, but I'm thinking about something along the lines of SB Red TFM UNK (UNK = unknown). I'll think that one through and will update everyone in the future! Here are pics of these beauties. I made a pepper jelly with them and people loved it.
