Highalt's 2012 Grow Log

HillBilly Jeff · Sep 21, 2012

Congrats on a great harvest. Frost warnings tomorrow night here. So after a half day work tomorrow I gotta do some picking.

roper2008 · Sep 21, 2012

Peppers look so pretty bonnie. That's great your getting a good harvest before frost. We put a lot of work into
growing our peppers, don't we.

highalt · Sep 22, 2012

stickman said:
Most excellent pull Bonnie... that's gotta feel good after worrying about getting a harvest. Good on ya for getting ripe Habs finally. I wish I could have synched your harvest to the peach crop here this year... big juicy peaches with lots of flavor! Have a good weekend and a happy family celebration.

Yeah, I missed the peach season here too! I'll still make some Peach Habanero Jam, but it would have been nice to be able to use the local crop.

Bodeen said:
Congrats on a great harvest. Frost warnings tomorrow night here. So after a half day work tomorrow I gotta do some picking.

We have totally lucked out this year. The lowest we've gotten so far is 37, and the past week the lows have been in the mid to upper 40's, so I am loving the extra time for things to finish up on the plant, instead of in the house or garage! Gotta love an Indian summer!

roper2008 said:
Peppers look so pretty bonnie. That's great your getting a good harvest before frost. We put a lot of work into
growing our peppers, don't we.

Yes, we do!!! Not sure which is more work though, growing them or processing the harvest.

Today I got 5 trays of peppers in the dehydrator, and canned a batch of Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly. Actually, I didn't use any Jalapenos, just Serrano Huastecos, and Chile Hidalgos. It's hotter than the 1st batch, but still not near as hot as the Hot Lemon Jelly.

Check out this Melrose plant. Stupid thing only produced 4 pods all summer, and now it's blooming and podding up like crazy. There are dozens of blooms on it. Doesn't it know the end is near?

Now time to get dinner started. I'm thinking Taco Salad ...

HillBilly Jeff · Sep 22, 2012

My hot lemon jelly has a bunch of kick to it too. I didn't think it would be that hot lol. Calling for spotty frost here tonight. I hope the wind keeps up.

Haven't been able to find melrose for a couple years. Thats why the switch to the giant marconi.

Taco salad sounds yummy

highalt · Sep 23, 2012

It was, but no picks! :mope:

Thought of you tonight Jeff, with your gallons and gallons of salsa, when I finally had enough ripe tomatoes to make a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce. Had enough for tonight's dinner, and there was enough left over to freeze a quart for later.

I bought a bag of hickory chips, wasn't able to find any apple or cherry wood, and smoked a tray of Costeno Rojos this afternoon. Sorry the pics are blurry, but I was in a hurry to get them in the smoker, while the hubby was willing to help. The lowest temp he could get the wood to smoke was 225 degrees. I left them in there for around 90 minutes. The smell was not quite as strong as the mesquite, so I'm anxious to do a side by side comparison of the two powders.

They're in the dehydrator now. Tomorrow after work I'll be doing the grinding.

stickman · Sep 24, 2012

Looking good Bonnie! I hope the batch of Costenos comes out OK for you... if they're a sweet-hot variety it probably will be. Hickory smoke has a sour aftertaste. That's why they use it for Pork, which has a natural sweetness. Does Mesquite grow in your area? If so, it might be a good idea to cultivate a local source. If I remember correctly, Cottonwood is in the Birch/Alder family, you might try a little bit of that to see how it does. We use Alder to smoke fish, cheese and other things that don't want a lot of smoke flavor. Dried corncobs also have a mild smoke flavor. My Grandfather used to cure and smoke his own hams using corncobs as fuel.

romy6 · Sep 24, 2012

Looking tasty Bonnie. Can't wait to see how that new powder turns out. :fireball:

stickman · Sep 25, 2012

Hi Bonnie
Tried to send you a pm but it bounced. I think your mailbox must be full. Cheers!

RocketMan · Sep 25, 2012

You might also try Maple, Alder as Rick mentioned, Sasafras (mmmm Root Beer Pepper powder). You could even blend the Hickory with some Alder to get less of that Hickory harshness(sourness) and a slightly sweeter smoke.

Of course there's nothing like a good Cuban of Dominican for a really good smoke, oops, wrong thread

stickman · Sep 25, 2012

Actually, just about any hardwood will work. I wouldn't use green Oak though... it has a smell that reminds me of a cat's litter box. Seasoned oak is another story... I understand the Jack Daniels distillery is recycling old oak barrels through a chipper and selling them to home smokers.
Forget about anything that has needles instead of leaves unless you like the taste of turpentine...

highalt · Sep 25, 2012

Ooops! Sorry about that Rick. Just deleted a few messages, so it should go through now.

Thanks for the smoking suggestions. A friend of ours has a BBQ restaurant, and has mesquite brought in from Texas, so I have access to that, but those other woods are not really available around here. Most of what grows around here are evergreens (see Rick's turpentine reference) and Aspens. Oh, wait there are also Cottonwoods around here, so maybe I can locate some of that to try.

I ran by the garden on my way into work this morning, but gave away a few peppers at the office, so the harvest was a little bigger than what you see here.

Just one close up today, Sandia vs. Pequins

So what do you guys use those tiny little peppers for? They are good and hot, but seedy and I'm not sure how to use them.

Sanarda · Sep 25, 2012

Great things going on Bonnie. Everything looks great. Glad to see you getting harvests and yeaaaaaa on the habs

stickman · Sep 25, 2012

highalt said:
So what do you guys use those tiny little peppers for? They are good and hot, but seedy and I'm not sure how to use them.

I think I'd powder them... much easier to handle that way. Don't bother scooping out the seeds, just dry them and grind 'em up!

highalt · Sep 28, 2012

Whew, glad this week is over! Love my new job, but the rest of my life has been stressful and hectic lately.

So I was really excited to find some pepper love in my mailbox today. :dance:

Not just one care package, but two! The first was from Rick (Stickman)

Haven't tasted it yet, but the smell was heavenly!

The second was a box from Shane (STC3248). May need a little help identifying some of them.

Plus, some of his highly sought after powders.

Okay, she wasn't part of the care package, but she was trying so hard to get in the picture, that I had to include her.

Thank you so much guys!!! I really needed a pick-me-up today, and this did the trick!

So it looks like it's time to fill that dehydrator up again! I definitely want to save a few for fresh eating though.

stickman · Sep 28, 2012

You're welcome Bonnie, hope you like it.

Shane's quite the guy, eh? Half of his plants are Hors de Combat, and he's still sending out care packages.

highalt · Sep 28, 2012

Not the best picture, but here was tonight's dinner, a little southern fried fish, sweet potato fries, and black-eyed peas, with a generous sprinkling of Rick's Chile Powder Blend, along with one of Shane's Manzano pods.

Very tasty!

Rick, I posted the powder review on your glog.

After the first bite of the Manzano, I said to the kids, "That's not too hot." My daughter replied, "It's going to get stronger, Mom." Haha! She was right, it did build some, but mostly it was my lips that burned. They are very juicy! I like the flavor of the Manzano, and will be growing this one next year for sure.

I'll probably do a year end review of all the varieties I grew this year, but an observation I made so far is that pretty much all of the ones I really like this year are either baccatums, or annuums, and I haven't really found any chinense varieties that I'm crazy about. I'm just not a fan of that chinense smell and flavor.

If I don't have time to check in again for a couple of days, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

stc3248 · Sep 29, 2012

I am replying to your response over here...

highalt said:
Thank you for the quick and detailed response, Shane! It all makes sense now.

I tried a Manzano with dinner tonight and really enjoyed it! They are pretty juicy, and my lips were burning pretty good for a few minutes. The shape and texture reminds me of an Alma Paprika, except hotter of course.

Think I'll try a Scotch Bonnet next ...

From your pictures earlier in the season, I thought the Goat's Weed pods were longer, maybe closer to 3". Are these smaller than the ones harvested earlier in the season? Looking forward to tasting those, as they are on my tentative growlist for next year.

Do you usually just dry the Tepins whole? The Pequins I'm growing are even smaller than those, and there's like a bazillion on the plant. Not sure what in the world to do with those tiny little things, other than dry them.

I really appreciate the selection you sent me. It should help me narrow down my growlist for next year. Thanks for your generosity!

The Manzanos are my hands down favorite pod...I love the pequins and tepins a bunch too, but the Manzanos are just so unique in flavor that they stand apart. You will have a very hard time pushing them through to production without a VERY early start. They like the altitude and dry cool conditions, but have a very long wait to maturity. They grow very quickly and think you might be able to push them to production by keeping them root-bound in a smallish (maybe 2#) container. You would obviously suffer production wise, but given room for roots them and the Bishop's Crowns will grow and not produce most of the season.

If you are not a fan of the chinense flavor (I'm not either) you probably won't enjoy most (any) of them raw. I LOVE the powders they produce and they make killer sauces too. The Scotch Bonnets are no exception. They are sweet, meaty and juicy but share that same chinense flavor they all have.

The Goat's Weed plant is one that is throwing out smaller pods now than it did earlier due to the infection, but the pods don't get a whole lot bigger even when well. They make up for it in numbers...I've pulled thousands (no exaggeration) off just one plant. The plant is about 5' tall and stunning, as beautiful as any ornamental out there. The growth structure will be similar to the Chile De Arbols but the pods are upturned and a bit smaller. Very seedy and HOT for an Annuum. Hotter than a cayenne or De Arbol for sure.

I had a few Pequin types plus the Tepins I sent. I dry them whole usually just by throwing them in a bowl by the window.

Have fun with them! Hope you enjoy!
Shane

highalt · Sep 29, 2012

So are all the super hots chinense?

TODAY'S UPDATE

I had just enough time before the soccer game today to run by the garden. I keep expecting things to start winding down, but I pulled another really nice harvest today. :dance:

What do we have here? Yep, first ripe Chocolate Habenero. (not one the big, scary brain looking pods, but I'm still afraid :rofl:

)

Came home after the game, and harvested a few here at the house too.

Well, I better get busy figuring out what to do with all of these!!!

highalt · Sep 30, 2012

Probably should start a cooking log for the winter months, like Rick did, but for now here is a foodie pick for you.

White Chicken Chili

As I am adding the seasonings, my husband says, "Go easy on the heat." I replied, "What, you don't trust me?" :rofl:

I was nice and only added some Aji Chinchi Amarillos and a little Aji Yellow powder. I'll be adding some of Shane's powder to my bowl though!

gnslngr · Sep 30, 2012

Hi Bonnie, the invisible man returns! The "not much of a hurricane" made for an extremely busy few weeks home, that and some internet issues(shut down a wireless router, and went straight into the cat 5 input with the modem...and that changes your IP adress, and they then think you have more than 1 machine hooked up-what a mess, and good luck getting a human being at a cable company anymore!)relegated me to i-phone access only for a while.whew-almost started to rant!Anyhow...
Great to see the season was really rockin for you at the end!I ended up with a Peach Hab, and though they aren't that hot, they are great "eaters".Next year I will be doing more low/mediums as well.
Are the C Amarillos different from Aji Amarillos?

I was smart this time I went out and picked up some dinner first, so when the jelly and chili popped up ,I was ready..LOL.
Have a good one-
Dave