Curry peppers 2022

I have seeds ready for 2022. Will start by reviewing varieties from past seasons, then discuss what I am growing in 2022.

2019:
Orange Habanero: delicious. Will grow again at some point.
Shishito: Nice peppers, but will not grow again.


2020:
Trinidad pimento: excellent pepper, will try to keep my freezer permanently stocked with this variety
Trinidad perfume: Nice pepper, will probably grow periodically in the future.
Red foodarama scotch bonnet: I enjoyed this pepper, but I preferred both of two red varieties I grew in 2021, will not grow again. Of note, taste had minimal resemblance to the foodarama yellow.
Foodarama yellow scotch bonnet: Nice scotch bonnet with classic Jamaican scotch bonnet flavor that you would get in a Walkerswood product. Consistent disk like shapes.
Lemon Drop: Beautiful peppers, but did not like the flavor much. Will not grow again.

2021: total of 15 pepper plants
Bahamian Goat (2 plants) - Really enjoyed this variety. Beautiful pods with interesting shape, color, and pearly white interior. Productive plants. Nice flavor with lots of both fruity and floral character. Made excellent jerk seasoning. Will definitely grow again. I enjoyed to fully ripe pods, but the green pods were not my favorite.
Congo yellow (2 plants): Most productive variety for me this year. Nice large pods. Excellent taste both green and fully ripe. Nice floral taste, pairs very well with Trini dishes.
Congo red: (2 plants) Good productivity, but less productive than the yellow for me this year. Pods had a tendency to turn soft before fully ripening. Taste was very similar to the congo yellow, and excellent both green and fully ripe. The yellow pods were longer, while the red pods wider. Both had nice large pods. Will probably grow the congo yellow in the future, while I explore additional red varieties.
Red antillais: (Two plants) Average productivity. Nice beautiful pods. Has relatively minimal floral flavor. I tend to prefer aromatic peppers, but I found the flavor of this to be very good, and useful for the times that I am not looking for the strong floral flavor. Of this year's varieties, the antillais pepper was nicest in my hot chocolates. Ok green, but prefer ripe with this variety.
Foodarama yellow scotch bonnet: (One Plant) Much better productivity than last season. Ended up an average producer compared to other varieties. Nice flavor, works well for Jerk seasoning. Good both green and fully ripe. Nothing wrong with this variety, but I will try probably try growing the MOA and TFM varieties in the future to see how they compare.
Jamaican Hot Chocolate Habanero: (One Plant) I enjoyed the color of these. High heat, otherwise flavor was average to me, and did not really stand out.
Grenada seasoning pepper: (two plants) Good seasoning pepper with nice habanero flavor. Average productivity. Prefer to use these fully ripe rather than green. For cooking, I slightly prefer the Trinidad pimento and Trinidad perfume seasoning peppers over these. Might grow again.
Venezuelan Tiger: (One Plant) Nice beautiful plants. Average productivity. Large pods with lots of purple sun-tan coloring when green. Pods lack chinense taste. Fruity, somewhat sweet, nice tasting pods - similar to a bell pepper. Pods taste good both green and fully ripe. Really nice plants, but probably will not grow again.
Aji Cachucha (One Plant) and Aji Cachucha purple splotch (One Plant): Purple splotch was more productive and was a better looking plant. Both types have nice fun pod shapes. Both lack chinense flavor. Both were better fully ripe rather than green. Will not grow either variety again

2022:
Refining Fire Chiles Order: will grow two plants of each
1. sugar rush stripey
2. aji fantasy
3. thunder mountain longhorn
4. fish pepper
5. congo black habanero
6. Trinidad pimento
7. Aji dulce

Refining Fire Chiles Free samples: will start two of each variety, but only grow one of each
1. Black scorpion tongue
2. Aji Colorado
3. Wiri Wiri
4. Yellow Siam

Rareseeds.com order:
West Indies Red Habanero, will grow two plants

That makes 20 plants. I am tempted to grow some of my old seeds from 2021, congo peppers, red antallais, and goat, but it is nice to save some excitement for 2023, and 20 plants should be more peppers than I can consume, with plenty to give away to friends.

 

[spicy.curry]

Thunder Mountain Longhorn is a little disappointing to me so far. Plant is growing weak vine like branches. Not sure if I did something wrong with the plant, or maybe that is just a trait of this variety. I removed a pod that had grown down to the soil and was staring to rot. I may remove most of the pods until the plant grows a bit taller and more upright.

https://imgur.com/IGGNLgH

 

[PaulG]

All plants present and accounted for, SC!
the Fish is totally awesome. Good work,
my man!

 

[spicy.curry]

https://imgur.com/nHoXyXR

Black scorpion tongue has been slowly ripening for the last few days. Interesting colors, the pod was brown at one point, orange now, and I am expecting it to turn red soon.

 

[spicy.curry]

I have the potted peppers on a south facing patio this year. Last year I had them on a deck in full sun.

On the patio they get some later afternoon shade.

Growth has been different in this location. The plants slowly leaned toward the south, and eventually collapsed a bit and ended up growing sideways instead of vertically. Now side branches are filling in the space, as the side branches are growing vertically.

Maybe I should have rotated the plants periodically. I suspect they will end up doing well regardless.

https://imgur.com/YP6BL7s

 

[spicy.curry]

Black Scorpion tongue has a nice flavor, like a sweet bell pepper, but with heat. Exceeded my expectations for an ornamental variety.

Potted plants continue to grow well. Plants in ground continue with relatively slow growth. I am going to try fertilizing more aggressively.

https://imgur.com/7j0GivG

 

[spicy.curry]

Black scorpion tongue.

The plants that initially grew sideways towards the south, they have filled in nicely with vertical branches coming from the original now horizontal trunk. Maybe my efforts with staking last year were unnecessary.

https://imgur.com/HFinuIH

https://imgur.com/nfTnRw0

 

[spicy.curry]

West Indies red habanero continues to be a vigorous plant. Nice taste and aroma.

https://imgur.com/CoZBBMf

 

[spicy.curry]

https://imgur.com/wsy9rLG

Potted plants are continuing to do well, although it has been a disappointing week for my garden overall.

Landscape company, who I hired to maintain the yard this year, but asked them to stay out of my food garden area, they removed 3 of my in ground pepper plants, removed my in ground basil, and left chemical pellets along the entire area. I am going to call my in ground gardening this year a failure, and spend no more effort watering or fertilizing what remains.

I decided not to grow tomatoes this year due to animals eating most of them last year. Was just going to grow peppers and herbs that I thought the animals would ignore. Last week, a ground hog ate all of my parsley, leaf fennel, and basil from my pots and grow bags.

 

[PaulG]

Time for a new landscape maintenance company

Like you don’t have enough problems with the
critters!

 

[spicy.curry]

https://imgur.com/cnfwXfe

 

[MarcV]

That's a nice harvest!

 

[spicy.curry]

Sugar rush stripey, first batch of pods starting to ripen. Can just barely see the stripes starting to come in.

https://imgur.com/XqJYqye

https://imgur.com/KPGcvtB

 

[spicy.curry]

https://imgur.com/9C4VEHE

 

[PaulG]

That is one awesome pepper, SC.
Great candidate for ‘Pod of the Month’

 

[Tinkerbelle]

Wow pretty pepper - I am so going to grow those next year

 

[Downriver]

Nice pod @spicy.curry! I hope mine look that good. Did you taste it yet?

 

[PaulG]

Nice pod @spicy.curry! I hope mine look that good. Did you taste it yet?

It would be great if it tastes like the
'standard' Sugar Rush Peach!

 

[spicy.curry]

Before this season, the only baccatum I had grown was lemon drop, and I was one of those who tasted an unpleasant soapy flavor in that variety.

I was not planning on growing any baccatums again, until last year when I tasted sugar rush peach from my brother in-law's garden, and I enjoyed it enough to give baccatum peppers another try.

I have had the chance to eat 5 or 6 sugar rush stripey pods now. I am not growing the peach variety, so I can't taste them side by side, but from my memory, the sugar rush stripey pepper tastes very similar to the sugar rush peach.

I have also eaten several aji fantasy pods this week. For fresh eating, I slightly prefer the aji fantasy over the sugar rush stripey. Flavor is very similar, but I just enjoy the aji fantasy flavor a bit more. The low heat of the aji fantasy is nice for fresh eating, and the shape makes it easy and quick to separate from the seeds. I like to cut them into 4 vertical pieces, leaving the seeds attached to the stem. Each piece has a very mild and pleasant burn. It has the same beautiful color as the lemon drop pepper.

In contrast, I slice the sugar rush horizontally, into small rings. The majority of the slices are heatless, but then there are few slices near the stem which are very hot.

I will need to experiment with cooking with both varieties, but so far I have not found baccatum peppers particularly useful for cooking. In small amounts, the mild flavor seems to be lost in a dish, and I just notice the heat. When I do notice the flavor in a dish, I have not found the flavor complimentary to the other foods. I haven't found any recipes yet where I would rather use a baccatum pepper rather than an annum or chinense pepper. Maybe I need to try making some peruvian dishes?

Earlier this week, I tried some sugar rush stripey slices in my bowl of gumbo, and the flavors didn't work together.

 

[spicy.curry]

Aji fantasy

https://imgur.com/pAqGl90

 

[PaulG]

Hey, @spicy.curry, if you get a chance grow
some Sugar Rush Cream go for it. Absolutely
the sweetest pepper I have ever tasted.