Green variety thoughts.

AJ Drew

AJ Drew

Going to use Early Jalapeno as an example because I have some experience with it.  Towards the end of the season when frost is right around the corner, mine will throw some red pods when I leave them on the plant well past when I should.  So I wonder if the things we generally consider to be green chili are ones that take a long ass time to ripen into red or those whose red phase only comes out when conditions are so close to the ones tht kill them.

Thoughts?
 
Yep. Jalapeno, serrano, green bell pepper, green Thai chiles, and so on are just sold unripe.
Oh, and yeah, I've noticed pods ripen faster at the end of the season. Pods must be ripe (or close to it) to produce viable seeds, so I think it's a survival thing probably triggered by cool temps or stress to hurry up and reproduce. That's really the end goal of most living things, to reproduce.
 
I agree that plants start to produce more ripe peppers more quickly toward the end of the season, but I think this might be due to the fact that they are more mature and just starting to hit their prime right about the time the frost hits....   Because given the right conditions peppers are perrenials, they would continue to grow into trees if the frost didnt kill them.  Sadly our grow season in the north is too short for us to get the most out of the plants.
 
Thinking temperature has a great deal to do with it also.  Yes, genetics, but genetics that cause the chlorophyll to die off at certain temperatures.  Am thinking that when the chlorophyll (green stuff) dies off the color underneath them comes out.  So maybe the things we think of as reds are things whose chlorophyll dies off at a higher temperature than those things we consider to be greens. 

Does that make any sense or am I barking up the wrong tree?
 
There's only a handful of peppers that actually stay "greenish". It's considered a genetical defect (chlorophyl), it's very rare. All the annuums like jalapeno, thai green curry etc will eventually ripened to a different color. I only know two types of chinenses that remain greenish. I believe meatfreak sells one of them at tasty-peppers.nl but I'm not sure.
 
Most chilies loose the chlorophyl when ripening. However there is a recesive trait that causes the pod to keep the chlorophyl. This is part of the colouring of brown pods. The other source of colour in brown pods is the normal red colour. Green + red = brown. 
 
There are different variations of colours with this trait e.g. mustard, caramel, and, yes, green ! The green is a combination of the chlorophyl retaining trait and a ripe colour of white or yellow.
 
But remember, for most varieties you just have to wait a bit longer ... patience is a virtue !
 
ajdrew said:
Thinking temperature has a great deal to do with it also.  Yes, genetics, but genetics that cause the chlorophyll to die off at certain temperatures.  Am thinking that when the chlorophyll (green stuff) dies off the color underneath them comes out.  So maybe the things we think of as reds are things whose chlorophyll dies off at a higher temperature than those things we consider to be greens. 

Does that make any sense or am I barking up the wrong tree?
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There are mutants that stay green.  And as pointed out they are both chinense.
 
Chili generally ripens to shades of red, orange, yellow or brown and in one instance, purple.  Green is green - unripe.  I use most of my annuum in an unripe state - I prefer the flavour.  They are not green but unripe.  Geddit?  Green chili is not a cultivar but just an unripe chili.
 
RobStar, thinking the word 'ripe' depends on the pepper and opinion.  Can't imagine someone buying green bell and saying they are not ripe for being green.  But I get what you are saying.  If you want to save seeds from a California Wonder you have to wait till the thing is good and red or the seeds wont be mature.

You are right on that green has a different flavor.
 
Pfeffer said:
There's only a handful of peppers that actually stay "greenish". It's considered a genetical defect (chlorophyl), it's very rare. All the annuums like jalapeno, thai green curry etc will eventually ripened to a different color. I only know two types of chinenses that remain greenish. I believe meatfreak sells one of them at tasty-peppers.nl but I'm not sure.
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The number is growing daily it seems,probably close to or more than a dozen now. I have grown 4 of them,and they are all chinense like you stated. I notice that if left on the plant long enough,they will get a khaki or mustard color.
 
ajdrew said:
thinking the word 'ripe' depends on the pepper and opinion.
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Ripe is ripe. It's has nothing to do with opinion.

Just because most people use Jalapenos when still green, doesn't make them ripe.
 
muskymojo said:
Ripe is ripe. It's has nothing to do with opinion.

Just because most people use Jalapenos when still green, doesn't make them ripe.
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Actually, it kind of depends on which dictionary definition you want to go with. Some speak of fruit maturity, which would force us to look at the word maturity.  Others say it is clearly an opinion with words like 'best'.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ripe?s=t





 
 
Muskymojo, you don't have to take my word for a thing.  I provided a link to an online dictionary.  Your use seems to hinge on seed viability.  Someone else might use it to mean best taste.  Its all a fluid / casual.  Is why I provided a link which includes your definition and others.
 
ajdrew said:
RobStar, thinking the word 'ripe' depends on the pepper and opinion.  Can't imagine someone buying green bell and saying they are not ripe for being green.  But I get what you are saying.  If you want to save seeds from a California Wonder you have to wait till the thing is good and red or the seeds wont be mature.

You are right on that green has a different flavor.
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They aren't ripe.  They are ripe when they are red/orange/yellow.  It is used in it's unripe state because of the different flavour it possesses at that stage.  Nobody buys it to take home to ripen like they do with other fruits.  Other fruits are also used in an unripe/green state - papaya and mangoes for example.  And then the dish calls for green mangoes (mango atchar for example) or green papaya (som tam). 
 
There is a difference between marketable/market acceptance and ripe.
 
"They are ripe when they are red/orange/yellow. "
 
I am currently germinating the 'Green Habanero'. It ripens to an olive green ^_^ Forget which vendor I ordered the seeds from
 
Vendor info:
 
"We selected this variety from a cross of Habanero Herold St Barths with a brown Habanero. This is the only known very hot Capsicum chinense variety with pods that remain green upon maturing. Stable after several generations with a very good taste."
 
There is also 'The Green Hornet' and '7 Pot Evergreen' which ripens to a greenish color that I know of.
 
I was referring to the jalapeno and bell pepper that was referred to by ajdrew.
 
Colour is very subjective.  Green is blue and yellow mixed - on the spectrum.  In varying proportions of blue or yellow you will end up with different shades of green. Once you add another colour to the mix you no longer have green.  Mustard is not green.  Khaki is not green.  You might want it to be to say that you have a green thing but it isn't.  No harm done.  Just wishful thinking.
 
The subjectivity of color has less flexibility when viewed through the eyes of a color sampling tool in say Photoshop. Not sure what the average samples of the 'Green Habanero', 'Green Hornet', or the '7 Pot Evergreen' would be, but I'm fairly confident green will be a part of those hexadecimal color value descriptions. Either way here is a video of the Fire Breathing Idiot doing a review on the 7 Pot Evergreen.
Looks green to me.
 
Here is the 'Green Habanero'
 
Regardless of the mustard or khaki elements I'm pretty certain green would be apart of these values as well.
 
Anyhoot :)
 
green_habanero.jpg
 
I have only just purchased some Green Scorpions and XL Green Habs... I already have Mustard growing... I love the ide of pushing green boundaries as there  is so many places for it to go...  
 
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