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Heading to Trinidad, anything to score?

mas_fuego said:
At the end of the month I am going to be spending a few days in Trinidad about an hour south of Port of Spain.

If I find chillis in the local markets, can I bring them home to the US? Anything I should look for? Any other advice?
 
I am so envious!
 
 
kentishman said:
A few years ago I visited the USVI for a week's vacation. On the first day there I visited a produce stand to find local peppers. I deseeded them immediately so they would dry out before I went home. For the journey home, I dropped the seeds loose in a pocket in my backpack. Covered them with other items including a handkerchief. Figured if there were any questions I'd say I didn't know how long they'd been in there. Must have dropped out of a seed pack way back when. All went well until I used the handkerchief: immediate burning and sneezing, etc.
 

Everywhere I travel seeds always seem to end up in my shoes, my pockets, all sorts of places. I'm just such an avid pepper eater those seeds drop all over the place like I'm a starved child eating corn off the cob as fast as possible!. Heh heh.
 
Any of the landrace varieties of Scotch Bonnet.  Try before you commit.  There are some good ones, there.
 
All of the 7 Pot varieties are basically available here - and honestly, once  you get that hot, subtleties of flavor aren't exactly that important. (not like you're gonna have to have a native grown variety over a domestically grown variety, just based on difference in taste)
 
The best way to find out about peppers, is to make a friend, and from there, start a network of "friends of friends".  Lots of peppers in the islands are strains that have been grown for generations, and will never be commercially available. (hidden gems)
 
 
mas_fuego said:
At the end of the month I am going to be spending a few days in Trinidad about an hour south of Port of Spain.

If I find chillis in the local markets, can I bring them home to the US? Anything I should look for? Any other advice?
 

I would love to hear how your trip is going. Drop a letter in the mail after you find some yummy peppers so I can catch up on all of your wonderful adventures. I will send you a reply to your address back in the States with any contents. Let me know if that suites you, just need to swap addresses.
 
mas_fuego said:
At the end of the month I am going to be spending a few days in Trinidad about an hour south of Port of Spain.

If I find chillis in the local markets, can I bring them home to the US? Anything I should look for? Any other advice?
It's been a while since I've been here but I came across this post. Right now there's a farmer next to me that has peppers. There's two actually, but I don't talk to the other one. Hope you enjoy the trip though. Oh, I'm from Trinidad :)
 
I went to Trinidad and did not have independent mobility. I was in the interior kind of mountainous region. The main thing you should know is the food is amazing. 
 
I was only really able to come across two peppers. The main one they cooked with they called pimiento. It is the Trinidad Pimiento, not the cherry pepper. Here is the plant I got a ripe on off of.
 

 
Here is what they look like on the roadside stands.
 

 
I didn't taste it because I had no access to milk and didn't want to burn myself with no remedy. Though almost every dish I ate at the house had this in it and i LOVED it!
 
the only other pepper (other than a bell) I could find is what they call "Hot Pepper." Every roadside stand I stopped at called it hot pepper. The folks I was staying with said it is also called a Congo Pepper. I don't know if that is true.
 
Here is what it looks like.
 

 
This was a hotter pepper. It burned my skin after cracking it open and had a much more caspian smell.
 

 
yadda yadda yadda
 
I am back home and have the seeds drying. We will see if I can get anything to grow this week.
 
 
Nice! Did you eat any doubles from street vendors? 
 
mas_fuego said:
 
I had the best spicy double. The food was so good, and I am not a foodie at all. Had hot, homemade roti with every meal
mmmmm roti, had one for lunch today, wasn't from Trinidad but the girl who made it was.
 
twenty said:
mmmmm roti, had one for lunch today, wasn't from Trinidad but the girl who made it was.
 
Roti are so good - especially the aloo paratha - but damn they'll make you fat...  LOL
.
I cut a 3/8" thick tawa a few years back with a plasma cutter, just for making roti.  We grow some calaloo and lentils (or pigeon peas) every once in awhile, for making daal saag.  OK, I know it's not quite the way you make it, but it's good, nonetheless.
.
This year will be bitter melon in the garden...
 
solid7 said:
 
Roti are so good - especially the aloo paratha - but damn they'll make you fat...  LOL
.
I cut a 3/8" thick tawa a few years back with a plasma cutter, just for making roti.  We grow some calaloo and lentils (or pigeon peas) every once in awhile, for making daal saag.  OK, I know it's not quite the way you make it, but it's good, nonetheless.
.
This year will be bitter melon in the garden...
That's funny. They asked if I like the pigeon Peas and I said they taste like spicy curry lentils.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 
mas_fuego said:
That's funny. They asked if I like the pigeon Peas and I said they taste like spicy curry lentils.
 
 
Alot of those Trinidad crops will grow great in your native sand down there.
.
I don't plant the Bhaji Calaloo - I grow the Jamaican version.  Pigeon peas aren't as nice for me as real lentils, but they DO grow in sand, so worthwhile...
.
Have you ever had Sorrel Wine?
 
Hawaiianero said:
 
Yup, we got rats who jumped ships back in the 1800's and some brainiac decided to import mongoose not long after to control the rats. Of course rats are nocturnal animals and mongoose sleep all night so we got double screwed on that one. The mongoose then proceeded to wipe out quite a few indigenous bird species. Thank God another brainiacs idea of importing snakes to kill the mongoose got nixed :crazy:
 
Our latest invasion is in the form of Coqui Frogs. Cute little peeping sounds at first but since there are no natural predators for them here, a couple turn into a couple hundred in a matter of months and the numbers explode exponentially after that. The sound is an almost painful volume with a tone just under what it takes to break glass. Maybe an exaggeration but not by much :halo: 
 
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread but back to the OP, probably got coqui's there too, they're small little guys and can hitch hike on your shoes or clothes easily. Don't bring any home.
sounds like that simpsons episode where bart adopts the Bolivian Tree lizard and they have to import snakes to eat the lizards and gorillas to eat the snakes etc...
 
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