HabaneroHead - 2013 - New Hope

Devv · Aug 4, 2013

Nice update!

Glad to see some of those babies starting to ripen!

Come on the rest!

HabaneroHead · Aug 17, 2013

stickman said:
Alright! Nagas and Coloring peppers are ripening! Everything else looks great Balázs... I think you're gonna have a great harvest in 2-3 weeks. Cheers!

Hi Rick,

Well, two weeks later I have some ripe pods, though even the green ones are kick-ass!

Last week we managed to eat an unripe Bhut and a ripe Naga. I have to say, we were nuts...eating a 1/3 of a pod without food is more than challenging. But we survived, so I can share my experience with you all!

Devv said:
Nice update!

Glad to see some of those babies starting to ripen!

Come on the rest!

Thank you! Well, like Rick said it is about 2-3 weeks, no after two weeks I see some ripe pods on the plants. (I will post pics later on, now we are in the process of making canned tomatoe puree)
The bad thing is that even if we have like 33 Celsius daytime temps, the nighttime temps are falling back to 10-11 Celsius, which is quite cold for the plants. As per my experience they are similar to the cucumber, they grow and ripen mostly during the night, and for that they need some heat.

HabaneroHead · Aug 17, 2013

Hello Everyone!

It's been two weeks since I posted any pics, so it is about time now.
Summer had kicked in, we had temps above 35 Celsius for 3 weeks in a row.
My peppers started to ripen, slowly, but still.
We continued the 'Burning Mondays' series with my colleagues, and managed to eat an unripe Naga Morich, Bhut, and a ripe Naga. Last year, as I remember, the Naga was stronger than the Bhut, and my father loved it...probably it was the reason why he started to call it on the 'Little F*cker' nickname. :fireball:

This time the Bhut was at least 3 times worse than even the ripe Naga, like Rick said before it felt like somebody was trying to do some inkwork on my tongue. It was not only burning in our mouth and throat, but it caused a serious stomach discomfort. It was a real burn. Remember when you were tasting the food too early, and you burned your tongue? Yep, since then I have the same feeling, like this little Bhut made something nasty with the surface of my tongue. Scary, but heck...I love it! :fireball:

The plants in the ground were growing, and ripening ome pods. I have 11 pods already harvested by my parents, and some more left on the plants, what I am going to harvest tomorrow, before I leave.
I recognized that there is a lot of pod shape variations among the plants, and even within the plants, you are going to see them on the pics. Since the seeds I was saving were not isolated, I am not really surprised, but it is interesting to see, that many pods are reminding me the Scorpion. :drooling:

Warming up, Folks, with group shots:

Red Habanero plants and pods, these beauties are loaded!

Naga Morich - same plant, different pod shapes

Balázs

dogshow · Aug 17, 2013

Great to see your grow Balazs - Thanks for sharing

stickman · Aug 17, 2013

Beautiful pods and plants Balázs! I hope you're able to get a good harvest in before frost... Solidarity brother... things are beginning to cool down here too, Good on ya for canning up sauces for the winter. I've got to process about half a bushel of peaches to make my spicy peach-serrano chile jam, and a hot sauce with tomatoes, blueberries, onion, garlic, maple syrup and my Chocolate Habanero and Douglah pods.
Cheers!

WalkGood · Aug 17, 2013

Szaniszló beautiful looking pictures, plants and pods mon ... enjoying the read, keep up da great work and have a wonderful weekend!

Devv · Aug 17, 2013

Looks very nice Balázs! Habs are loaded!

I too am hoping for the weather to hold out for you so you can have a really nice harvest.

I hear you about the tongue burn, to me it felt like I had eaten pizza that was too hot, lasted a few days...

HabaneroHead · Aug 17, 2013

dogshow said:
Great to see your grow Balazs - Thanks for sharing

Hi MIke,
Thanks for stopping by, and the kind words!

stickman said:
Beautiful pods and plants Balázs! I hope you're able to get a good harvest in before frost... Solidarity brother... things are beginning to cool down here too, Good on ya for canning up sauces for the winter. I've got to process about half a bushel of peaches to make my spicy peach-serrano chile jam, and a hot sauce with tomatoes, blueberries, onion, garlic, maple syrup and my Chocolate Habanero and Douglah pods.
Cheers!

Hi Rick,
Thank you, my friend, I hope, too. Hopefull I still have at least 6 weeks left from the season. Peach-serrano chile jam, wow that sound delicious! :drooling:

(just like the other one

Today we were making tomato paste at home, (I will post pics tomorrow) and when my Mom was pouring it into bottles, I saved 1 liter from the finished one, blended with 2 head of garlic and 10 Naga-Bhuts, added salt, sugar, black pepper, vinegar, and put them into small jars. I got very intense garlic-pepper sauce, which was even a challenge to taste to check the flavours when I was preparing it.
Today I had a chat with my brother who is spending the summer at my parents, and one of his daily task is to water the plants every day. I got so pissed off...I was asking him if today he was watering my plants via the hose buried into the ground...and he told me he was never doing it...I said sh1t...I was explaining him before why it is important...he used a thin excuse, that he was watering them from the top. :crazy:

Since the plants are filled up with soil at the base to support them, I do not think that watering even reached the rootzone... And we had temps above 35 Celsius for weeks! 8 liter water for the 26 plants would have been enough every day....but no...that is too easy... Anyways, this is a good example why I do not really let even my fiance'e to water my plants. Only that is sure what I do on my own!

WalkGood said:
Szaniszló beautiful looking pictures, plants and pods mon ... enjoying the read, keep up da great work and have a wonderful weekend!

Hi Ramon,
You can call me Balázs, my friend! (though my family name is Szaniszló, it can be a first name too)
Thanks for stopping by, and the kind words. Have a lovely weekend!

Devv said:
Looks very nice Balázs! Habs are loaded!

I too am hoping for the weather to hold out for you so you can have a really nice harvest.

I hear you about the tongue burn, to me it felt like I had eaten pizza that was too hot, lasted a few days...

Hi Scott,
Thanks for the kind words.
Indeed, I had the same feeling, my taste buds have been damaged for a couple of days. I felt this immediately after I ate that piece, firstly when I drank some milk after it. It tasted weird... Interesting experience. Can't wait to have more! :mouthonfire:

Thought to share some more pics I took today

Trinidad Scorpion CARDI Yellow
My favourite pepper, good taste, good burn, big, meaty pods. The plants did not grow that big this year, but they are loaded. Interesting to see the pod variations

This week's harvest. My Mom was picking them, and put them in the fridge. I made a killer tomato-garlic sauce from them

First dwarf Chimayo pod

Gochus on the edge of ripening

Rick, are these Serranos? My parents were not making labels to the plants, so now it is about to find out what they are I have 2.5 plants from this variety, and its leaf is really different from the other Annuums and Chinense plants

Devv · Aug 17, 2013

Very nice Balázs!

Can't say enough about how good a job you have this year.

stickman · Aug 18, 2013

Hi Balázs,
The photo's a little blurry, so detail is hard to make out... the leaves and pods look right... are the ends of the branches near the leaves hairy? That's a Serrano trait. It's all looking great guy... keep up the good work!

HabaneroHead · Aug 18, 2013

Devv said:
Very nice Balázs!

Can't say enough about how good a job you have this year.

Thanks again, Scott! It is a nice compliment from a master grower!

stickman said:
Hi Balázs,
The photo's a little blurry, so detail is hard to make out... the leaves and pods look right... are the ends of the branches near the leaves hairy? That's a Serrano trait. It's all looking great guy... keep up the good work!

Hi Ric,
Yes, they are hairy. So I have 3 serrano plant! :-) Unfortunately my parents did not really put any labelling down, so it is now a guessing game :-)
Sad thing is that it seems the Kapija peppers will not really produce any pods, due to the blossom end rot... I tried to fix them with some calcium nitrate, but I guess it is just a waste of time and fertilizer... Other varieties are showing the same signs, too. Never had this issue before, I guess the soil just got tired. I need to find something for soil amendment next year...

Balázs

stickman · Aug 18, 2013

Glad to help with the Serrano ID, but blossom end rot sucks. Do you have someplace you can take a soil sample for testing? I think it would be a good idea to do that so you only add what the plants need, and not what they don't. In the long run it'll save you time and money.

HabaneroHead · Aug 18, 2013

stickman said:
Glad to help with the Serrano ID, but blossom end rot sucks. Do you have someplace you can take a soil sample for testing? I think it would be a good idea to do that so you only add what the plants need, and not what they don't. In the long run it'll save you time and money.

It is a good idea. Last year I was reading about it, but I was rather checking the price of the equipment, than searching a company which does the testing. A good tester is more than 1000 USD, which is quite expensive. You gave me a good idea, my friend, thanks for that. It would definately worth to try it out.

I promised some pics about the tomato canning,which usually makes the stove very dirty, so here they are. Total yield was 39 glasses of 3 dl bottles, and 5 piece of 7 dl. We were stirring it for 5 hours. It was a nice fun. :-)

Thanks for wathcing,

Balázs

stickman · Aug 18, 2013

That's a lot of sauce for two people Balázs, how many is it intended for? I've been making my tomato crop into salsa this year instead of spaghetti sauce, and hot-pack canning the salsa... also making jams with the fruit available in season. I roasted, peeled and froze about two thirds of my Kapia peppers and ended up with a bit over a kilo and a half. When I add the rest of my crop and a roughly equal amount from my Mother's garden, I should end up with about 4 kilos to make Ajvar with.

WalkGood · Aug 24, 2013

Balázs I’m loving the red Habs, CARDI Scorps and all the pods, beautiful colors & update mon ^_^

Lovin dat mater sauce, great yield ...

HabaneroHead · Aug 29, 2013

stickman said:
That's a lot of sauce for two people Balázs, how many is it intended for? I've been making my tomato crop into salsa this year instead of spaghetti sauce, and hot-pack canning the salsa... also making jams with the fruit available in season. I roasted, peeled and froze about two thirds of my Kapia peppers and ended up with a bit over a kilo and a half. When I add the rest of my crop and a roughly equal amount from my Mother's garden, I should end up with about 4 kilos to make Ajvar with.

Hi Rick,
Yes, indeed, it is a lot...but it is still just a small part of the whole :-) We are using tomato in many recipes, we even make tomato soup from it. Canning spaghetti sauce is a great idea, I might try it out in the future. That Kapia yield is great, and Ajvar is really good with Kapijas.

WalkGood said:
Balázs I’m loving the red Habs, CARDI Scorps and all the pods, beautiful colors & update mon ^_^

Lovin dat mater sauce, great yield ...

Hi Ramon, thanks for the kind words! Making sauces is a fun :-) My Mom was washing the toms the night before the canning day, and even if we started early, it takes time to make it dense, and boil out all the excess water from it. I was stirring it with my brother for 5 hours....

Thought would be a good idea to share the biggest pod I had this season so far.(grams)

Cheers!

Balázs

Devv · Aug 29, 2013

Nice pod Balázs!

Tomatoes look great! My wife chooses to cook the water out when she uses them, actually she starts by pouring the excess liquid out before use....but still we have a lot come out when we use them. I learned something here!

I have a question about the bottles you can with, mainly because we use the standard Ball or Kerr jars with the rubber seal lids and rings. Do you ever have any problems with them? I've never seen them used before. I know my Grandmother used to use the reusable ones with glass top and rubber seal that had the fold over wire metal clamp back in the day...best way I know to describe them..

HabaneroHead · Sep 2, 2013

Devv said:
Nice pod Balázs!

Tomatoes look great! My wife chooses to cook the water out when she uses them, actually she starts by pouring the excess liquid out before use....but still we have a lot come out when we use them. I learned something here!

I have a question about the bottles you can with, mainly because we use the standard Ball or Kerr jars with the rubber seal lids and rings. Do you ever have any problems with them? I've never seen them used before. I know my Grandmother used to use the reusable ones with glass top and rubber seal that had the fold over wire metal clamp back in the day...best way I know to describe them..

Thanks, Scott. You can see many examples, but my family prefers to have dense puree instead having a tomato drink :-)
The bottles we are using for canning are all used, the small ones were originally holding 3 dl mineral water. (it is good to have a friend at a pub) The rest was for some fruit syrup, and spirits (vodka etc). We have never had any issue with them, they are just perfect. If they do not let the air in, they are good, they just have to be clean We have been using this type in the last 30 years or so. Sometimes the cap brakes etc, that is the reason why we have to change them in every 3-4 years, but since the coke bottles have just perfect caps for this bottles, we will always have some spare to change.

WalkGood · Sep 2, 2013

22.8 grams wow, nice job ... Are you going to make a yellow sauce with them?

Devv · Sep 2, 2013

HabaneroHead said:
Thanks, Scott. You can see many examples, but my family prefers to have dense puree instead having a tomato drink :-)
The bottles we are using for canning are all used, the small ones were originally holding 3 dl mineral water. (it is good to have a friend at a pub) The rest was for some fruit syrup, and spirits (vodka etc). We have never had any issue with them, they are just perfect. If they do not let the air in, they are good, they just have to be clean We have been using this type in the last 30 years or so. Sometimes the cap brakes etc, that is the reason why we have to change them in every 3-4 years, but since the coke bottles have just perfect caps for this bottles, we will always have some spare to change.

Oh, when she makes sauce they drained and then are cooked for two days. So we end up the same, just prepare them differently as we can them....