Stickman's 2012 Gochu Pepper Glog

Well, here we go... Started about 35 Korean Gochu Peppers and a few Korean salad peppers, jalapenos and orange habs. All are mostly up today but the habs. I started them early last week in my heated grow tent down in my cellar on top of a grow mat, but didn't have the thermostat quite dialed in. When I left it it was 70 degrees f. in the tent. When I checked again the next morning it was 85 degrees, and I was afraid I'd cooked the seeds, so I moved them onto my kitchen windowsill on the grow mat and awaited developments. Looking much better now. I'll give the Habs until the weekend to pop, then move the flat down to the grow tent.

 

[stickman]

Those pickled peppers look good. Does it have any sugar in it? I tried a recipe last year I found online for
pickled peppers. It had some sugar in it, and it was so good. What did I do? I lost it , and now I can't find
the exact recipe. I'm hoping to find another good one this summer.

Hi Linda, thanks for stopping by. The recipe I have calls for a 50/50 mix of distilled white vinegar and water, and a teaspoon of Kosher or pickling salt per pint of brine. Boil the ingredients together for five minutes and pour over the washed peppers packed into sterile jars. Since I was using very green peppers salvaged after cutting off the side branching on my chiles, I figured I'd better add a little sugar to "iron out the rough spots", and I added a tablespoon of sugar to 2 quarts of brine before boiling it, and I thought the results were outstanding.
Hope this helps...

 

[KiNGDeNNiZ]

Hi Denniz, Thanks for the kind words and for dropping by... Good luck with the Koreans. They're vigorous growers and you shouldn't have too many problems. If you like chiles with a bite, let them get red ripe before you pick them though... They've got plenty of punch then.
I'm sure we have enough recipes on THP to make a book already, it's just finding someone willing to do the editing to turn it into a .number of pdf files... say one file per chapter. Then posting them to the site. Then anybody who wants to print out a copy can do it on their own time and expense. Cheers

im down.. im off from school for a couple months.. lets do this...

 

[stickman]

im down.. im off from school for a couple months.. lets do this...

It's great you want to do this, but you probably want to talk to "the boss" before you include files that big on his website.From what I see he'd probably be down with it too, but it's courtesy to ask first, and there may be a reason why it wouldn't fly. No sense wasting time and effort. Cheers!

 

[stc3248]

Be careful what you wish for my friend! You'll be tagged admin and put in charge of converting and updating the file yourself! There are a ton of folks that are on this site mainly for the food....do you follow the throwdowns? Each of those generates at least a dozen recipes. Haven't looked at what the July throwdown is, but you all should get in on it and rub elbows with the nice folks on that side of the site! I know you have a foodie thread somewhere Rick, I need to get over there and check it out!

 

[stickman]

Latest report of the dawn patrol... I lost one of my Poblanos this weekend. I had it staked, but not tied to the stake, and a wind came up from an unexpected quarter and snapped it off flush with the ground. I saved what pods I could and cooked them up after double staking the remaining Poblano and tying it in with foam covered wire...

You know, I've been looking at the chiles I thought were Big Jims, and I'm wondering now if they aren't Serranos instead. Would anyone who knows the difference between the two comment? I got them in a seed swap and I'm thinking now that they may have been mislabeled.

Serranos? They're setting pods like crazy but they don't seem to be getting any larger than this. They don't seem to have the slightly flattened, two lobed appearance of the Big Jims either...

Noodling on the net I find that what we Americans call a Pepperoncini is actually called a Frigitello pepper in Italy. Pepperoncini is actually a generic plural for any pepper that has a good deal more bite than the milder chiles like Frigitellos or Cherry Peppers. Anyway, mine are loaded. When I get enough that are at least 3 inches long, I'm going to pickle them.

These are beginning to rival the Chimayos for size and productivity.

Orange Habs have grown to a bit over 2 feet tall since cutting the side branching. The leafy crowns of the plants have doubled in size and are beginning to grow together. The blossoms are setting pods at the rate of about 50 percent, but there's a Jeezly amount of flowers, so I should have plenty if most of them ripen.

 

[stc3248]

Not a Big Jim for sure Rick...and Serrano looks like a good guess from your pics. Sorry to hear about your Poblano too! I am down to 2 plants that have pretty much shut down production with the recent heat. Some blooms opening now, so maybe another round is in my future???

 

[stickman]

Had some old kimchi that had gotten pretty sour... decided to make Kimchi Jjigae. The recipe calls for a pound of diced pork belly but I didn't have any, so I used slab bacon instead and didn't add any salt. This stuff will put hair on your chest. Just don't spill any on it or it'll dissolve...

Poured over rice it's actually pretty good, but the flavor is intense.

 

[stickman]

Making the dawn patrol on a cloudy, rainy morning. Everything's looking good!

the two on the right are Andy gochus, the one on the left is a Mat Jang

One I got in a seed swap that was supposed to be a serrano, but I now suspect it's a Big Jim or some other kind of Anaheim

The three chimayo chiles are all different sizes but they're all loaded like this one.

The frigitello just keeps pumping out pods...

and the gwari put next to it

and the jalapenos

pasillas are getting some size to them now, but not getting black yet.

Hope all have a splendid July 4th. Post pics of what you ate!

 

[stc3248]

G'mornin Rick! Happy 4th to you to buddy. I suspect your seed swap seeds got swapped! That one looks like it has Big Jim potential! You'll know when it comes when it comes tasting time. Big Jims have quite a bit more kick to them and more intense flavor...not to mention much larger than typical Anaheims. Your plants are turning into quite the little pod factories! You got me convinced to set aside an area for oriental peppers next year!

 

[stickman]

G'mornin Rick! Happy 4th to you to buddy. I suspect your seed swap seeds got swapped! That one looks like it has Big Jim potential! You'll know when it comes when it comes tasting time. Big Jims have quite a bit more kick to them and more intense flavor...not to mention much larger than typical Anaheims. Your plants are turning into quite the little pod factories! You got me convinced to set aside an area for oriental peppers next year!

Hi Shane, Happy 4th to you too! It's funny how that happened... I got the seeds from two different sources, but they both got transposed.
I made up a Moroccan-style chicken for roasting on my charcoal grill today, and an onion/saffron/preserved lemon sauce to go with it. My wife has packed the camera, but I'll post pics when we get back tonight. We're going to my Mom's place in Richmond, MA. I also made a roasted poblano salsa and threw in a few of my serranos and a jalapeno to kick it up a notch.
PM me your address and I'll send you some Asian seeds. They come from a commercial source so they should be free of virii. Cheers!

 

[SocalChilehead]

Hey Rick everything looks amazing especially the poddage swimming in pods, but that sucks about the poblano at least that gave you an idea that more support was needed before anymore went down. Hope you enjoyed today with the family and friends.

 

[stickman]

Hi Fernando! I hope you and your folks had a great day too. We were 10 people at my Mom's, and everybody that came brought a little something to share. Here's a shot of the Moroccan chicken I grilled...

The pods are starting to ripen up... The Korea Winner and Andy gochus are starting to get yellow-ish, and in this heat should ripen quickly. Take care!

 

[stc3248]

MMMmmmmm...not your usual morning patrol pic, but I'LL TAKE IT!

 

[stickman]

MMMmmmmm...not your usual morning patrol pic, but I'LL TAKE IT!

Thanks Shane. We all devoured it in jig time... The sauce was a little on the salty side (preserved Lemon is preserved in salt and additional lemon juice) but sweet and savory with the addition of olive oil, caramelized onions, garlic, red olives, turmeric, saffron, and fresh cilantro, AND tangy with the preserved lemon. There's a lot going on there... It's a lot like the Jujeh kebabs I've made before... chunks of chicken marinated in yogurt, onion, lemon juice, saffron and olive oil, skewered and grilled, basted with a butter/lemon/saffron mixture. Extremely good! I made our Thanksgiving turkey that way last year and everybody loved it! Spanish saffron is very expensive, but I've found that I can get saffron grown in India at the local Asian markets much cheaper and I can't tell the difference in taste.

 

[stc3248]

Dang it Rick! It's 4:30 in the morning and you got me wanting to fire up the grill. Great, now I'm hungry and gotta go to work...thanks alot!

 

[MisterNo]

Love those plants Rick, I wasn't here for a week or two, these are monster plants

 

[stickman]

Love those plants Rick, I wasn't here for a week or two, these are monster plants

Hi Robert, Thanks for stopping in! How's your grow going? As long as you're getting enough rain you should have plenty o' pods coming about now. Cheers

Here's a shot of my Orange Habs growing into a single bush.

They're 2 feet tall at this point and for all intents and purposes have a single leaf crown. The remaining side branching still compact and bushy, but as the plants grow they're gradually spreading out a bit as the stems get longer between the nodes. They're setting 4-6 pods a day currently, but I think they may slow down a bit when we get into the dog days of late summer.

A ladybug emerging from its larval shuck. It anchored its butt down to the leaf it's on and split the larval skin beginning at the head end. As the skin dried and shrank, it split further. This shot is the adult almost fully emerged. Cheers!

 

[RocketMan]

Looking good as usual there Rick. Your glog is defiantly among my most favorite ones. You keep a great ratio of Pic’s and plant info to cooking and recipes to great stories about things that are close to your heart of mind. I love it. Have a great Friday-eve.

 

[stickman]

Picked enough Jalapenos this morning to make a quart of pickled peppers.

They still look a little green since I just made them, but they'll be more uniform and ready to eat in a week. My wife loves PB and JJ sandwiches... Peanut butter, jelly and (pickled) Jalapenos

 

[Pinoy83]

Picked enough Jalapenos this morning to make a quart of pickled peppers.

They still look a little green since I just made them, but they'll be more uniform and ready to eat in a week. My wife loves PB and JJ sandwiches... Peanut butter, jelly and (pickled) Jalapenos

That looks so good,what did you put inside?