Orange Saint Thomas Hots

AJ Drew

AJ Drew

Friend moved from KY to Caribbean.  She is now in Africa for on mission teaching bee keeping.  Amazing woman.  I could not do the things she does.  . She just sent me some seeds that she called 'Saint Thomas Orange Hots'.  She says they are not overly hot.  I am excited but can not find the pepper online by that name.  I can find lots of references to hot sauces styled after a traditional St. Thomas recipe, but no pictures of the peppers.  Anyone have a clue?

Now for the punch line.  The stationary used to mail this to me is from Africa.  It is a place called "The Chilli Hideaway" spelled that way but with a picture of a chili pepper.  Under the name of the place, it reads 'the hottest place to chill in Uganda'.
 
Hand written letter on stationary is so very cool.  Tiny little zip lock bag.  Seeds cut n dried after buying peppers at market.  It all feels so very... I dont know the word...
 
ribbedturtleneck said:
A word that comes to mind is provenance. Like when an antique has a documented history, it is valued higher because it takes on a personality over and above the object itself.
Click to expand...
 
 
Provenance! I wish more people understood that word and respected it.
 
I vacationed on St. John about four years ago. I made a point of finding a local produce grower and getting some peppers. She was growing both red and orange peppers, neither of them too hot. I dried seeds and brought them back. I've grown them a couple of times, and they remind me of the vacation. I deliberately put the seeds loose in my carry on bag (figured I could claim I didn't know they were there if by any chance they got found). I had a clean handkerchief in the bag with them. When I used the handkerchief it had my nose burning!
 
Kentishman, excellent.  It sounds like maybe the same pepper but who knows.  Do you have any photos?
 
ribbedturtleneck & hogleg, on provenance and pepper seeds I am thinking the only real pedigree come from places like CARDI and CPI.  Or in the case of things like the Carolina Reaper from Puckerbutt, Primo from Premo (forget his real name), Butch T from Mr. Taylor.  But I want to add something else to the mix since I was asking about a pepper connected to a very specific location.

Am thinking dna is important, but I am willing to bet that a pepper grown on Saint Thomas will taste much different than the same dna grown elsewhere.  In fine wines, the location of the vineyard, its soil, its climate, even its bugs are just as important as its vine.  I forget the name of the business, but someone sells pears mail order.  They cost an absolute fortune.  Evidently it is just the right pear variety grown in just the right soil.  I remember something someone at Hippie Seed said about their Butch Ts being extra special hot due to the run off from a worm farm.  Mmmmm, worm juice.  I think what I grow is more flavorful due to the aged barn scrapings I blend in when I flip rows.  Mmmmmm, poop.

Thing is, I am not talking about a fine wine or even a new pepper.  From what I understand, this thing is in all the markets and might be one of the peppers used in the traditional Saint Thomas hot sauce.  Absolutely nothing new or special there.  Just some seeds a friend sent me from where she lives.  Happens all the time, love my pen pals.  Think it is cool but think the stationary is even cooler.
 
Did you know they no loner teach cursive in my children's school?  What the hell?  I thought pen pals from other countries were part of grade school.  Was when I was that age.


 
 
If you want to see those St Thomas come to life, prepare a jerked rub with them and grill some chicken with indirect heat with the lid on for some smoke. That pepper has an amazing taste when Introduced with smoke. It does tend to mellow out heat wise during cooking however. My neighbor was from St Thomas and grew these in his backyard.
 
CelticFarmer, so it is a thing then?  That is, my friend is not putting me on.  Saint Thomas has a pepper by its name?  Have any picutres?  I would hate to wait six months to see what this looks like.
 
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