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Picking ripe, green, or semiripe?

D

Doomsdaykillz

Hey,

I have a bunch of bhuts on my plant that are ripening now and are mostly ripe already. Should I just pick them now and let them ripen off the plant so the plant has more energy to work on more growth or pods for this fall/winter indoors?

Is there a difference in the taste or heat if you let pods ripen on the plant or off? I know I broke one green pod off that was only starting to ripen and now it is completely red but needs to darken after about a week... Haven't tasted it, but they do seem to ripen well even if picked way early.

Is there any benefit to leaving them on the plant or does it just sap energy?
I have liek 20+ on there that can be picked.
 
I'm not 100% on this, but I believe the pod needs to be attached to the plant for capsaicin production to occur. So if you pick them and let them ripen off the plant, then you won't have any more capsaicin being produced. I always pick my pods when the tops are red and the bottoms are orange. From what I understand, capsaicin content is at it's peak JUST before the pod is fully ripened. Afterwards, the capsaicin starts getting converted to sugars.
 
Maximum cap production is at the point the pepper is starting to turn, once it starts to ripen it'll get sweeter,
but not hotter. Once a pepper or any fruit reach's a ripening point (or "break" as its called in the industry)
it will continue to ripen on or off the plant as long as its allowed to breath. When ripening the CO2 in and
O out actually reverses so the pod absorbs O and emits CO2, if the CO2 level gets too high the pods will rot.
 
Tigahb8 said:
Maximum cap production is at the point the pepper is starting to turn, once it starts to ripen it'll get sweeter,
but not hotter. Once a pepper or any fruit reach's a ripening point (or "break" as its called in the industry)
it will continue to ripen on or off the plant as long as its allowed to breath. When ripening the CO2 in and
O out actually reverses so the pod absorbs O and emits CO2, if the CO2 level gets too high the pods will rot.
Click to expand...

Awesome info.... SO you would pick them when they are turning red to dsave the plant energy? They would ripen the sme anyway??




Also, dont worry if they take forever to start to ripen. Mind did too at first.
 
My friend who is from India and will eagerly take all the raja mirchi (bhut jolokia) I give her--strongly prefers green pods. I have eaten compounded butter and chutneys she makes with the green pods, and they are excellent. Seems like it's a western chilihead thing to want the pods fully ripe.
 
+1 compmodder and to the above poster, after trying unripe and ripe 7 pots i personnally prefer the taste of un/semi ripe pods but i suppose its what you prefer, personaly if i cooked with them i would use unripe, for drying and especially making powder i would use ripe pods but this is a time for you to experiment and see what you prefer
 
Doomsdaykillz said:
Awesome info.... SO you would pick them when they are turning red to dsave the plant energy? They would ripen the sme anyway??




Also, dont worry if they take forever to start to ripen. Mind did too at first.
Click to expand...

I prefer to pick them about 50% ripe if I'm going to ship them or leave them in normal temps to ripen,
if you put a half ripened pod in the refrigerator then take it out to finish ripening, mold will set in a lot of times
in the pod. Wait till its ripe before refrigerating the pods. I think the plant has already quit sending the
pod "energy" when it starts to ripen, because it is acting in reverse of normal plant behavior.
 
Fataliis at the green stage taste really darn good and I pretty much preffer them in the green stage than fully ripe. Try em in all stages as each stage produces a different taste, texture and heat level. If your out to harvest seed though, let em fully ripen.
 
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