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Lemon Drops taste much better when ripe!

D

dragon49

I had earlier posted pics of green Lemon Drop's (aji lemon)(http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/17841-lemon-drop-pics-and-a-review/page__p__378944#entry378944) that I picked. Users mentioned that they were not ripe and will be yellow when ripe. I picked more unripe peppers and left them out. I was pleasantly surprised that the peppers started ripening (and yellowing) while sitting on a paper plate at room temperature. The ripening process is much, much slower, than tomatoes ripening off the vine, but it works.

I just ate a yellow lemon drop. It had plenty of heat, but much more citrus flavor than a green one. And, I now have some seeds that will be more viable. A warning to other northern growers: This requires a really long growing season >100 days, as I haven't gotten any to ripen on the plant
 
dragon49 said:
I had earlier posted pics of green Lemon Drop's (aji lemon)(http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/17841-lemon-drop-pics-and-a-review/page__p__378944#entry378944) that I picked. Users mentioned that they were not ripe and will be yellow when ripe. I picked more unripe peppers and left them out. I was pleasantly surprised that the peppers started ripening (and yellowing) while sitting on a paper plate at room temperature. The ripening process is much, much slower, than tomatoes ripening off the vine, but it works.

I just ate a yellow lemon drop. It had plenty of heat, but much more citrus flavor than a green one. And, I now have some seeds that will be more viable. A warning to other northern growers: This requires a really long growing season >100 days, as I haven't gotten any to ripen on the plant
Click to expand...
 
Oops, what did I do? Since you say it has a long growing
season. You know next year to start seeds indoor much sooner.
I starting germinating my Bhuts last December, right before
Christmas. Maybe you can start the Lemon Drop seed January
or February.
 
Starting early is a great idea! I just need some bigger pots. February 10th sounds like a great date to start. This is around 1 month earlier than I usually start my sprouts.

I also tried to clone a plant. I took 3 cuttings and placed them in water, each in a paper cup. Two look dead, but one is alive, as it is starting to grow small leaves at the top of the branch! No roots yet, so I can't put it in soil. It's been 2 weeks since I put the cuttings in water. Do I have to pot this when it roots, or can I leave it in water for a few months?
 
This is my second season with lemon drops. They are only turning ripe now. Last year I started them in mid March and they didn't start ripening until October; then we hit the frost date, and I ended up carrying all 35 of the pods indoors to ripen. (Interestingly, they DID all ripen after being cut down, but came out not quite as good, in some inexplicable way, as when they ripen on the plant). This year, I started them 3 weeks earlier, and that's making a large difference. For me, the lemon drop is similar to the costeno amarillo in terms of huge but very late yield. Actually, the lemon drop and the costeno have tracked together all season: same size, same pod count, same time from transplant to ripening, same miraculous lack of pest problems in a garden that has otherwise been decimated by stink bugs, etc.

I like the limons green, though; I have to note that. In their green stage, they seem to have hints of lime or something. When yellow, it's all lemon. But both are great! This is one of my must-have plants.

I do wonder what those pods are actually doing during the three months that they hang off the plant, green, not turning. I wonder why they need so long to do something that most other peppers do in 2/3 the time.
 
Yes, starting seeds early is the thing to do to have ripe peppers early in the summer...
Well, this year i began a little too early, it was in december. The plants were too advanced (even if they were growing slowly, lacking some light) when i was able to put them out at the end of april.
From what i've seen it was good for the chinenses, but beginning of january would be the same i think.
The baccatums were too big and the lemon drop had began to flower long before i put them out, so i guess beginning of february could be good.
Another good thing to get early pods is overwintering.

So, my lemon drop was sown in december, and i've began to harvest ripe pods on it at the end of june. ^^
It has never stop producing since. Always new flowers, new pods, only the frosts will stop it i think. :D
(well it's quite cold tolerant, in may we had low night temperatures (4-5°C) and it was still growing and flowering, unlike some other varieties)

I prefer them ripe even if some ppl prefer to eat baccatum unripe. Not too hot, they can be used everywhere.
 
I was wondering if others had the same experience with them taking so long. this was my first year growing them and I though it was just something to do with my poopy soil this year. I planted mine out in May and they didn't get fully ripe until last month. I tried one when it was just a hint of green and it was one of the most disgusting things I've eaten, but now that they're fully developed they are pretty dang good and I'll be growing them next year for sure, just not 8 of them. I'm going to make a sauce out of them with lots of lemons and sugar and see what it turns out like.
 
I planted my Lemon Drop seed February 4th, they popped on February 10th and I started picking a few ripe ones in early July, but didn't harvest any appreciable amount until July 24th, so from seed to good harvest took 170 days.
 
I had ripe lemon drops around middle July. This is the progress of my Lemon
Drop on June 11th. I think I started it beginning of March, not sure.


 
You'll find that plants will set pods sooner in a container.

Mine is in ground and looked like this June 7th. Just starting to bloom.
LemonDrop-1.jpg
 
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