Essegi 2017: at bare minimum

Essegi · Jun 11, 2017

So weather is hot now. Plants are happy, except backyard CAP363 on afternoon... I fear they will be on severe difficulty soon since temps aren't at they maximum. Front yard CAP363 is growing slower since from 4-5 pm is in shade (and it was the biggest guy of the bunch) but looks better.

7pod primo orange:

Some color! Sure it have still to grow but i suspect it isn't an huge plant. Avenir were smaller at start but now they're getting bigger than this one.

Avenir are setting some really good pods!

Serrano are setting many pods and are growing nicely, those will be good producers i believe.

Backyard CAP363

Front CAP363, that still looks good with some margin.

Vitillo apricot! That year they taste better than last one!

Reale d'Imola, late producer, if others are better than last year i hope those too that were already excellent!

Some figs that year are seriously big.

And that week no hike, yesterday i was weak, probably i've eaten something that would have been better not to... I bought all the stuff to make chili since i promised for the chief, i even found black beans...
Well, to pass that boring weekend, since today i am ok i cooked that strange chili:

No tomato, no beans, no sweet peppers, twice onion, twice garlic and more wine. A small 7 pod primo orange.
Definetly different from usual chili, still good!

Devv said:
Thanks for the recipe!

Below is the original recipe, and what we make below that. Mary used store bought seasoning in her recipe. We improvised some

Tbanks you too! One day i'll take my time and i'll try to replicate that one!

PaulG · Jun 11, 2017

That looks pretty darn good, Giancarlo!

Essegi · Jun 18, 2017

Thanks, Paul!

Now i have another ripe CAP363:

I'll wait 1 - 2 weeks.
The other one still has a yellow spot and green on the rest.

Serrano are nice:

Here the last Rocoto, it's growing.

Zuzqua

Very small harvest:

Zuzqua and Primo Orange.
I already picked some Primo Orange.
Primo Orange is good, not very hot but seems still above habanero level.
Zuzqua isn't hot and is very sweet. NIce!

Yesterday and today i went to the mighty Cima D'Asta, it's a granite massif that is unusual.

There's a beautiful lake that is pretty high (2473m) and still partly frozen.

Near the lake there's Ottone Brentari shelter.

i can tell you that food exceeded my expectations, it was excellent.

On north face there's some more snow.

The peak is quite high, 2847m, and there's a nice sight on Doliomites.

PaulG · Jun 19, 2017

Your peppers look great, Giancarlo.
My Serranos are just starting to flower,
they are way smaller than your plants!

Keep those beautiful scenics coming,
my friend!

OCD Chilehead · Jun 19, 2017

Great pics of the outdoors.

Plants and peppers looking most excellent.

I had to look up Monte Pasubio http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2014/05/monte-pasubio-and-road-of-heroes.html?m=1

A lot of history in those mountains. I can't even imagine what it was like. Those memorial shelves makes one think.

Essegi · Jun 21, 2017

Small harvest:

Add a fig and another apricot.

Zuzqua and CAP363
I picked CAP363 since it seemed ripe on yellow part... And it was indeed! Texture more or less like a ripe apricot and didn't taste grass. That's an excellent pepper!

Primo Orange.
There are on both plants like that.
It looks much more dangerous than first pods.

PaulG said:
Your peppers look great, Giancarlo.
My Serranos are just starting to flower,
they are way smaller than your plants!

Keep those beautiful scenics coming,
my friend!

Thanks Paul!
I'm not sure that they're on the best spot. I've the impression that they don't like extreme heat... Less than chinense or other annuums. Today they were a bit suffering, they are on the hottest place and next days should be even hotter... It could reach 37°C.
The good new is that backyard CAP363 are holding... I water them a bit every evening and morning, seems fine so far.
We need rain btw.

OCD Chilehead said:
Great pics of the outdoors.

Plants and peppers looking most excellent.

I had to look up Monte Pasubio http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2014/05/monte-pasubio-and-road-of-heroes.html?m=1

A lot of history in those mountains. I can't even imagine what it was like. Those memorial shelves makes one think.

Thanks!
From Pasubio to Grappa has been a key place for war. Today is awesome for hiking and climbing even if they aren't huge mountains.

Devv · Jun 21, 2017

Peppers and fruits are coming in nicely

And as always I'm loving the scenic shots.

We too are seeing the 37° temps here. It's really hard to grow peppers when it's that hot outside. I really worked on getting nice deep roots going early. I plant in small trenches so I can flood them when the weather gets hot. We will see this kind of weather here until mid September. Does it stay this hot that long where you are?

Essegi · Jun 22, 2017

Thanks, Scott.
Now it's a bit too hot fo June. Sometimes we have a peak in mid June but usually, of course July and August are hotter on average. Septeber is still hot but less unbearable. 37° isn't usual and above is rare, it stays a bit colder. We'll see that weekend if it goes that high, for sure at least 35.

tsurrie · Jun 22, 2017

Beautiful pics as always Giancarlo. Nice harvest, seems like the weather is on your side. Keep it going.

Essegi · Jul 2, 2017

Thanks!
Luckily there has been snow and temps now are bit lower, rocotos look much better.

Small post hike harvest:

2 cap 363 and a tomato.

Here with some goat cheese:

I also tasted a mini avenir pod. It wasn't fully ripe and maybe a bit bitter but it was hotter than expected... More than mini 7pod primo orange. Btw growing primo orange look much more scary.

Today hike was one of a kind, on one ot the wildest places of north east italy. It's pretty unkonwn even among veteran hikers, maybe just because it's near some better known mountains and it's not particularly high (2468m) but it's a wild and lone place and the start is pretty low (825m) so the ascension is quite demanding.
We weren't certain to be on the right place after the scree so we didn't reach the peak, also weather wasn't much promising and the beginning of last part was very steep and even more demanding than the scree, also dolostone is particularly bad if wet. I just think that we were on the right place, to be redone next year by the way.
The name is Sasso di Bosconero (that means to Stone of Blackwood).
The first part was some steep trail on woods till a nice shelter.
Then began the scree that became steeper and steeper as going on...

A sight from start of scree:

Here a middle trait:

Near the end looking down:

This has been hard to climb. The good side is that it has been great to descend.

We then tried to circumnavigate the mountain but at some point we weren't certain to be on the right track so we just turned back.

Even if we weren't on the peak the sight was nice:

moruga welder · Jul 3, 2017

Sweet pics ! All looks Great from here , :party:

Essegi · Jul 9, 2017

Thanks!

Plants are now close to deploy some ripe pods.

CAP363:

They look still good. Much better than Locato last year. Of course they aren't big producers but sometimes i can eat a pod of those.

Avenir!
What i like about that pepper is heat factor. To me it seems that it's hotter than an habanero but less than supers, so the heat is here but bearable.

Some Serrano are taking color... Soon i must harvest and cook with cheese and bacon.

Festival of tagliata:

I'm not an huge fan of festivals, but (as i said i don't remember if on last blog or somewhere else) that one is good... Pasta are the famous bigoli with duck, so good...

Yesterday also i hiked to a missing peak, Cima Portule.
It's maybe the most central of all Asiago mountains and one of the highest.

Here a view from the top:

On backgound Lagorai and Cima d'Asta, then the east part of Asiago mountains. There's a nice geologic diversity, phorphyry with Lagorai, granite with Cima d'Asta and sedimentary with Asiago.
Peak is cima Trentin, Cima 12 that is the highest is hidden on his back then Ortigara and Caldiera. That has been place of one of the most brutal battles of WW1.

So i had the chance to buy some really good butter and some excellent Asiago in the Larici Di Sotto cottage.

Butter, of course is better than super market one.
Asiago, well, is awesome. Where i live there are a ton of Asiago from various producers... This one tastes stronger and better. Also, is for sure some of the truest Asiago that can be found.

I said that butter is good, so i've eaten some with bread and jam.
So today i picked another ripe Avenir

Just that good butter and Avenir (and grated Grana Padano).
So good!

OCD Chilehead · Jul 9, 2017

The plants are looking mighty. Great shot of the terrain, as usual. So envious.

Food pics look great as well. Yum! And again envious. LOL! I would eat all that butter in a day with fresh bread.

Essegi · Jul 12, 2017

Ha ha thanks, i can say i halved the butter in no time!

Today my first true haul:

53 Serrano, 6 semi ripe Avenir, 1 CAP 363

Here the Serrano with a pepper similar to Poblano, i don't remember the name (the plant is mine but growing at a friend's place). A random Beni Higlands on top right.

Filled with Philadelphia and bacon spiced Cheddar cheese, wrapped with smoked bacon.

Baked fpr 20 mins at 200°C.
My first time with that,
That stuff is awesome, we needed much more of that!

Devv · Jul 12, 2017

Well it sure does seem life is good in Italy Giancarlo! And you're enjoying it to it's fullest, Bravo!

The scenery, the food and the garden, most definitely taking notes on the food! If I had those mountains near me, I would be just like you, hiking in them every chance I could.

Keep it going

stickman · Jul 16, 2017

There's certainly no moss on you Giancarlo! Glad to see you're making the most of the summer hiking season to get around and see as much as you can! Except for Paneer, I haven't tried my hand at cheesemaking, but I've been churning butter for a client every Friday, and I'd be willing to bet it's as good as what you pictured from Asiago... love the pasta with butter, chile and Parmagiana! I'm gonna have to try that too! Nice to see everything doing well in your garden... I was told my Pubiscens plant was an Aji Oro, but I think it looks more like your CAP 353. Is it a juicy, mild-flavored pepper with very little heat? Cheers!

Essegi · Jul 17, 2017

Thanks Scott and Rick!

stickman said:
There's certainly no moss on you Giancarlo! Glad to see you're making the most of the summer hiking season to get around and see as much as you can! Except for Paneer, I haven't tried my hand at cheesemaking, but I've been churning butter for a client every Friday, and I'd be willing to bet it's as good as what you pictured from Asiago... love the pasta with butter, chile and Parmagiana! I'm gonna have to try that too! Nice to see everything doing well in your garden... I was told my Pubiscens plant was an Aji Oro, but I think it looks more like your CAP 353. Is it a juicy, mild-flavored pepper with very little heat? Cheers!

I didn't even knew existance about Paneer, i'll check it out. CAP 363 is juicy indeed, maybe i'd say with little heat instead of very little.

Many, but not all, 7 Pod Primo Orange have a nice tail:

Some Serrano are ripening:

I must redo those with cheese and bacon in oven soon.

Here Manzano repotted a couple of weeks ago:

Also i grilled that:

Serrano and oven are better for that...
By the way i'm thiking about growing again Ferenc Tender that should be great for that and an awesome versatile sweet pepper.

Yesterday i had the honour to go with 2 GAV (alpiinistic vicentino group) friends Bedin bivouac bringing the new italian Flag (that i carried) and new biovac book.
Someone say that this is the most beutiful biovac of all dolomites:

I forgot to take shot of the flag.
There are 9 beds but we were told that 15 people and a dog slept inside that night!
This is located in Prima Pala di San Lucano, Pale di San Lucano group. It's not a famous group so it's still quite untouched, it's not high but to get here the start is low so a bit of training is required.
Probably it's the less known group among some legendary mountains and that means that the sight is incredible. The path leading on is not so opened but sometimes you get some awesome sight:

Here Marmolada, queen of Dolomites in all her might, highest mountain of that alpine section. Punta Penia is 3343. Maybe next year...

Then:

Famous Pale di San Martino. I'm going to the peak (Vezzana, 3192m) that weekend, hoping weather will be fine...

Here at biouvac:

Mount Agner.

And here facing other direction:

That sight was probably the best i've seen with a perfect weather. The mountain near is the mighty Civetta from south. On background some other famous mountains like Tofane.
Then we went in the peak near on the left and it was fun with some small climbing, called Le Cime.
Landscape was nearly perfect, there was a near peak a bit higher that covered Marmolada. So i'm going to that peak (Cime D'Ambrosogn) to check if landscape is even better, sooner or later.

Also yesterday it was the day of Transcivetta that was near, a trail race that go through Civetta, and there has been a new record 2h’01’22”. How people can run 23km of trail with some good drop (1950+/870-) and hiking path in that time is beyond me.

FreeportBum · Jul 17, 2017

Amazing scenery my friend! Everything looks great, and I can see you have been eating well!

Cheers

stickman · Jul 17, 2017

Wow! What rugged mountains! It gives me new respect for Hannibal crossing this unfamiliar terrain with his army.

Essegi · Jul 19, 2017

Thanks FB and Rick!
Hannibal crossed west side of the alps and here is east. Still an impressive feat ideed.

Small update:

Another Serrano crop. I've given this to a colleague for various reasons... But i did want to eat those!

Here some plants i gave to some relatives. I gave them well grown and they did a good job:

7pod primo orange.I told them to harvest.

Avenir. Pods are quite big.

Also a no longer pup:

Now she's a lady.