Picked another nice little harvest yesterday and today, and shipped off some in care packages. I started thinking about next year, since the temps have started to cool off here (we're down in the 50F's at night), so here is some "thinking out loud."
While I enjoyed having a large variety this year, since it was my first year growing a lot of pepper plants, I think I would rather have fewer varieties next year, but more of the same plants. Also, I have plenty of dried hot pods - probably enough to cook with for 3 years at this point - so I think I'll do fewer hot varieties next year. I really enjoyed snacking on the milder pods (read that as plowing through them), but also, I really enjoy sharing them. (Most of the people I know here won't touch the really hot pods, so it's hard to share them.) So with that in mind, here are my thoughts on a preliminary grow list for next year:
- Cayenne LTR: A good staple. I use a TON of cayenne in my cooking, frequently even when using other varieties, so this one kind of just goes without saying. I'll try to overwinter the ones I have now, plus up the number of these. As a side note, the purple cayennes were too small and FULL of seeds for my liking, so I probably won't do those again.
- Jalapeno/TAM Jalapeno: These were overwintered from last year, and have been good producers. I'll try to overwinter them again, but this time not cut them back so far.
- Purple Jalapeno: Loved the flavor of these. They're much smaller than a regular jalapeno, and also rather seedy, but the flavor made up for those factors.
- Aji Habanero: Also really enjoyed the flavor of these, and good gosh, they were just too fun to snack on while I was picking pods. I only had one of these this year, but would definitely want more next year. They take a while to ripen, and I never had a whole lot ripen at the same time, which is part of why these were pretty much relegated to snacking. Still - such tasty snacking!
- Datil Sweet: I did not grow these, but ordered some fresh pods from CCN and really liked the flavor. I only ate two fresh, though, as all the pods arrived a bit beyond peak condition, so I ended up candying the rest. Note that although this pod is labelled as "sweet" by CCN, it still has a mild heat to it, and actually some of the pods had more heat than the trinidad perfumes. I would not exactly put this in the same heat category as, say, a bell pepper.
- Trinidad Perfume: I had 2 of these this year, and will try to overwinter them, plus up the count next year. These are also excellent candied, and it was really fun to share them.
- Red and Yellow Rocotos (Mazano and Canario): I liked the flavor of these when I had the opportunity to try a few pods last year, and have 3 plants growing this year. These plants have been very prolific bloomers, but have produced only a few pods so far - the first one is even just now starting to ripen (a canario.) I am curious to see if they start setting more pods now that the temps have cooled down. I will try to overwinter these, but will only add to their numbers if they start setting more pods soon - no use keeping a non-producing plant.
- Bonda Ma Jacques: I got some seeds for these a bit late, so did not germinate any this year, but definitely want to give them a try.
I will also try one or two varieties I have not yet tried, and will make up my mind regarding which ones later. On another note, I figured out the top pic on page 7 is probably an Aji Limon, or possibly just a Limon. I am thinking just a Limon, as the ChileMan database indicates the Aji Limon pods grow horizontally, and you can see above that mine aren't doing that. None have ripened so far, so the jury is out as to whether I will grow them again next year.
Edit: Oh yes, almost forgot. I had intended to grow some poblanos this year, and further intended to pick some up at the local nursery. For whatever reason, though, no one had them in stock until after I figured I had enough plants. Will definitely keep these on the list for next year.
Edit again: Well, silly me - forgot some. I also plan on overwintering the douglahs, and possibly increasing their count, too. Plus I want to add some Nagas. Like I said, "fewer" hot varieties - not "none"! LOL