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Padron Peppers - anyone grown them?

Wow! Didn't know there were so many Padron fans on here. They are truly magical and I'm really excited about growing them this year.

The way I've had them was seared at very high heat for probably ~60 seconds in saute pan with ollive oil. They were hit with a generous sprinkling of finishing salt, and that was it. Completely amazing and like one poster above said "great with beer!!"

Very happy to hear that lots of people are starting to grow them. To me it is one of those foods that everyone should experience at least once (preferably weekly)
 
hello :)

im a south spainish chiligrower.. ive been growing padron peppers for various years. last year i got hold of plants of padron pepper that were ALL hot. not the typical popular selection that is almost not hot.

the fact is the original padron peppers were very hot - but the spanish population does not like too hot food - and the growers have been selecting on weaker phenotypes. still i gotto say the popular variety is very tasty, and a very productive plant.

now i should say i dont know where the seeds of the really hot padron comes from - but i did keep a lot of seeds of it. next year i will plant of them again to see if the heat level has continued in the offspring.

 
chilifaninspain said:
hello :)

im a south spainish chiligrower.. ive been growing padron peppers for various years. last year i got hold of plants of padron pepper that were ALL hot. not the typical popular selection that is almost not hot.

the fact is the original padron peppers were very hot - but the spanish population does not like too hot food - and the growers have been selecting on weaker phenotypes. still i gotto say the popular variety is very tasty, and a very productive plant.

now i should say i dont know where the seeds of the really hot padron comes from - but i did keep a lot of seeds of it. next year i will plant of them again to see if the heat level has continued in the offspring.

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Bienvenido!

Thanks for the input. Would love to hear more about what you're growing in Spain and about peppers used in traditional Spanish cooking!
 
there is a LOT of regional sweet pepper and spice varieties. pimiento de bola, pimiento blanco, ñora and such all are old school varieties thats been around since columbus got back :) well almost atleast. the spaniards use a lot of "pimenton" that is paprika powder. each region has their own cultivars and both sweet and hot varieties can be found of pimenton.

pimiento de padron is also a typical spanish breed of chili, thats been mostly selected on more low heat and flavour, rather than pungency. i found last year plantlets of really hot pimiento de padrons of unknown origin, and i kep 1000's of seeds of it in fear of not getting to see it again.

an other nice spanish pepper is the pimiento de piqiullo.

guindilla de navarra is a HOT pepper thats typical also. its tradicionally eaten pickled green, but if let to mature they get huge, orange yellow pods with heat similar or more than cayenne.

anyway - im no expert - spain is a big country with hundreds of regions of cultivation of peppers.

im not even sure if there is any work done on collecting the info about what is/has been sued tradicionally. most energy of the agronomists here working on chilis today afaik is spent on meaty and tasty f1 hybrids of sweet peppers, beeingon of the biggest export items of spain.

at the moment im growing:

trinidad scorpion morouga blend
zanahoria triangulo
aji norteño
aji crystal
aji bubba
incaberry
brazilian starfish
jalapeño hercules
jalapeño piñata
gambia red
morouga yellow
red rocoto manzano
guindilla de navarra
devils tounge
datil
jamaican long chocolate habanero


im sure i forgot something in the list. about half of the kinds i grow this year are over wintered from last year.
 
chilifaninspain said:
there is a LOT of regional sweet pepper and spice varieties. pimiento de bola, pimiento blanco, ñora and such all are old school varieties thats been around since columbus got back :) well almost atleast. the spaniards use a lot of "pimenton" that is paprika powder. each region has their own cultivars and both sweet and hot varieties can be found of pimenton.
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Thanks for sharing, chilifan...I love hearing about chile culture in other countries. Also, welcome to THP, and good luck with your grow this year!

If you can spare some of the piquant Padron seeds, I may have some seeds that would interest you...
 
ill look into it. i livea bit far from a post office - so it will take some time before i can get to sort it out.

the guindilla de navarra i didnt keep seeds off - but i do have a bunch of dried pods. i dry the pods in an oven on low heat setting - so with luck the seeds might be viable still. i should check the germination on those before anything..
 
Would be cool to get a cross-Atlantic seed train going. Lord knows how many times we could cross before someone in customs somewhere wanted to prove they're worth the pay. :D
 
Eephus Man said:
Would be cool to get a cross-Atlantic seed train going. Lord knows how many times we could cross before someone in customs somewhere wanted to prove they're worth the pay. :D
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Quite possible. We have a couple things going in our favor.
1. These are not illegal seeds. Big plus there. If a package gets seized for phytosanitary reasons, it isn't a big deal and no one gets in trouble
2. These are not invasive species. See above for not getting in trouble over it
3. They are not irradiating mail at this time. This would kill the seeds.

Best way to do it is EMS or DHL, the latter being less expensive. The safest way to mail seeds long distances is to put them inside 4-6mm double wall polycarbonate like this: http://www.dreamsautofibreglass.com/full-images/polycarbonate-sheet-815025.jpg

Just plug the ends with "squished up" paper towel or napkins, then tape the ends with electrical tape. Presto! A crush-proof, self-contained thin unit that slips inside one of those 8.5" X 11" overseas document envelopes. Using the padded envelope belies the contents of the package and just list it as a "birthday cards" or "gift" to avoid any VAT or other confusions.

Works every time!

Getting an international seed swap going would be AWESOME!!!
 
Well I am certainly in on that. Would be nice to get a wishlist of sorts going for each country the package will eventually be arriving at.

Lemme stew on this and see if I feel like starting it up. If someone beats me to it, please invite me! :D
 
Eephus Man said:
Well I am certainly in on that. Would be nice to get a wishlist of sorts going for each country the package will eventually be arriving at.

Lemme stew on this and see if I feel like starting it up. If someone beats me to it, please invite me! :D
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Want to start an international seed thread to see how many participants we could get?
 
I am currently growing 8 Padron chile plants in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Out of all of my chiles they were the first to germinate and grow.

However, the Tabasco and Jalapeno plants are already fruiting while the Padron's seem to be just chilin there. (They look pretty healthy as well)

I have used Black Gold for Peppers Fertilizer on all of my chiles and they seem to love it.

Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

I will take photos and post them tomorrow.
 
Welcome to THP, fellow Louisiana chilehead! It seems to me that Lafayette must be just about ideal for growing chiles...

Are your Padrons still growing, and you are concerned that they've not set fruit yet? They may just be late bloomers, but if they've stopped growing...

I've never grown the Padron, but from time to time I do have plants that just stop growing, for various reasons. The things that spring to mind for me are: 1) They need some nitrogen—Fish emulsion is great for a quick "bump." 2) The soil is sour—Transfer them to a different pot or in-ground location. 3) They're not getting enough sunlight—Move the plants. 4) The location they're in is too hot—I've had this problem with European chiles like the Espelette, and thick-fleshed sweet peppers like the California Wonder. The bell types do better when it cools off, in October. Others, like the Espelette, may be hopeless. 5) It may be too humid in Louisiana to grow the Padron easily—Here in DeSoto Parish, I've had very little success growing Espelette or New Mexico chile. I believe it's probably because those varieties strongly prefer an arid climate....However, Beth Boyd at Peppermania in Houston, seems to be able to bring just about any chile to fruition, and Houston is one of the hottest and most humid places in the world...Maybe we should ask her.

The photos will be helpful.

Gary
 
windchicken said:
2) The soil is sour—Transfer them to a different pot or in-ground location.
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Gary,

What are the signs of this and do you know why it happens? Not to derail the thread too much, but I'm afraid I have this going in my raised bed this year. My tomatoes have shriveled and died, as have some of my peppers. Others are just not growing, and others are growing, but very slowly.
 
Bummer, Eric. Sorry about that. I've grown tomatoes for years, but I've never really gotten a firm grasp on how to make them do right. No matter what I do, there always seems to be some damn mysterious problem with them that makes the lower leaves yellow and fall off, or the main leaves get a weird yellow-brown mottling. Also, I seem to always get downward leaf curling. My lazy buddy who just buys tomato plants from the nursery, throws them in the dirt, and forgets about them seems to do way better than I do!

One thing I have learned how to control is the devil of southern tomato growers, the root knot nematode. Check the roots of your dead plants for knots—It always reminds me of arthritic knuckles. Amending and mulching with shredded hardwood prevents those a-holes from getting into your soil.

As for "sour" ground, I'm thinking of soil that doesn't drain very well, and/or has had things planted in it for a long time, so that there has been an accumulation of minerals from years of fertilizer use...It looks a lot like root rot to me: yellowing leaves, stunted growth, etc.

Do you have photos?

Gary
 
meatfreak said:
I got like 20 plants going here, like you said they make a delicious tapas. Simple but so damn tasty :) They call them the Russian Roulette pepper because sometimes you do get one that actually has some heat ;)
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Nice! My girlfriend was just asking about a pepper that was called the russian roulette, they served them as an appetizer at a wine bar she used to work at. I told her I wasn't familiar with any.....untill now :) Exactly eaten as you say, they would watch for the person that bit the hot one!
 
Tweak Sairaxx said:
Nice! My girlfriend was just asking about a pepper that was called the russian roulette, they served them as an appetizer at a wine bar she used to work at. I told her I wasn't familiar with any.....untill now :) Exactly eaten as you say, they would watch for the person that bit the hot one!
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Your welcome, now you can make her happy and tell her you know :D and of course grow it ;)
 
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