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.

 

[highalt]

I'm amazed at the productivity of your poblanos. You got twice as many off that one branch as I did off my whole plant for the entire season last year! I like the way you left the stems on the bacon wrapped poppers. Like little cheesy popsicles.

Do you happen to remember how long it took your habs to go from blooming to ripe? Mine are blooming like crazy now, and I think they should be setting pods any day now.

 

[stickman]

Hi Bonnie!
Thanks for the kind words. I've never grown Poblanos before so I wasn't really sure what to expect... I just prepared the soil the best I know how and kept them as warm as I could. I think the black plastic thermal mulch helped a lot.

The poppers were really tasty. We ate some last night and took the rest for lunch today. Glad you liked the presentation... It's amazing how much our appreciation of food is a visual experience isn't it?

I checked back through my glog, and saw that my Habs started blooming on June 13th, setting pods on the 22nd and showing color on the pods yesterday. If your habs follow that curve it'll be about 37 days before you see results. You've got really intense sun at your elevation though, and the high altitude will make it get cooler at night. Maybe that'll be enough of a goose to get them off their collective "assets". We're pullin' for ya... you've worked hard and deserve good results. Cheers

Those PoblanoPoppers look amazing! Wow! Their flavor is my favorite for Rellenos...but they don't typically have the heat to pull it off just right. If you found some with a slight kick to them you're in business my friend! You're in the business of harvesting Orange Habs daily now my friend! With two plants you will never be in short supply. It'll almost seem as though for every pod you pic one evening the plant replaces them with two full sized pods the next morning.

Hi Shane
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I printed out Linda's Sungold Habanero jelly recipe today to get ready. I may modify her recipe slightly by using apples in the boil instead of the liquid pectin and cut down a little on the vinegar. My grandmother made the best jellies by using that method... Apples are great natural sources of pectin as well as adding flavor, and the malic acid in the apples will help the jelly set up.

 

[SocalChilehead]

That the first step of a domino effect your peppers will take into ripening up hopefully they all follow suit sooner than later. You can provide them motivational speech by discussing the awesome use you have for them and how they will become stars of your glog I bet they will change quicker. Keep up the great work

 

[MisterNo]

Boy, do those Poblanos look great

I followed your advice on apples instead of liquid pectin in a pepper jelly.

I made some jalapeno jelly with apples and peaches, it tastes great, thanks for advice

 

[stickman]

Boy, do those Poblanos look great

I followed your advice on apples instead of liquid pectin in a pepper jelly.

I made some jalapeno jelly with apples and peaches, it tastes great, thanks for advice

Thanks Robert
I was pretty happy with the output of my Poblanos too... it's the first time I've grown them.
Glad you liked the results of your Jalapeno jelly... how did it come out for you? Gram used to make fruit jellies with apples or crabapples but not hot peppers so I know it'll work but not how much to use. I'm sure inquiring minds want to know if you'd be willing to share your recipe... Cheers

That the first step of a domino effect your peppers will take into ripening up hopefully they all follow suit sooner than later. You can provide them motivational speech by discussing the awesome use you have for them and how they will become stars of your glog I bet they will change quicker. Keep up the great work

Hi Fernando, thanks for the kind words. I'm certainly looking forward to it, though with a bit of trepidation... I found a small pod in the back that was about the size of a penny and half orange. I pulled it for quality control, cut it in half and licked the cut side to check for heat and flavor... I got the chinense flavor immediately, and about 5 seconds later the burn. Oh Yeah, They're Hot! I'd only licked it, so the burn stayed mostly on my tongue, but after a few minutes it spread to a lesser extent to my mouth generally and my lips. It lasted a bit over ten minutes for me, but I'm not used to anything that hot yet. We'll see what the future holds...

 

[stickman]

Harvested enough gochus today that I had to start more ristras

I decided to use an old shoe rack to hang them from rather than the set screw on the curtain rod.

 

[stc3248]

Those ristras are looking fantastic. They look as good or better than the "authentic" ones you find in the markets of New Mexico.

 

[MisterNo]

Thanks Robert
I was pretty happy with the output of my Poblanos too... it's the first time I've grown them.
Glad you liked the results of your Jalapeno jelly... how did it come out for you? Gram used to make fruit jellies with apples or crabapples but not hot peppers so I know it'll work but not how much to use. I'm sure inquiring minds want to know if you'd be willing to share your recipe... Cheers

Jelly came out great. Since I was making jelly for the first time I was basically following this recipe:
http://allrecipes.co...jalapeno-jelly/
Instead of liquid pectin I used 1 big apple and 1 medium size peach. And I used some generic jelly fix to make the liquid thicker.

Only the color isn't as green as I hoped. It's probably the apple that gave jelly a darker, ''brownie'' color.

Next is Jalapeno salsa, will take pics this time

 

[stickman]

Picked my first two Habaneros after work today. Also finished up a second ristra with gochus and pulled a couple dozen Jalapenos and other garden truck. Examining my Chimayo ristra, I found that about 10 percent were moldy inside... it was taking too long to dry, so I broke down and got a dehydrator at Wally World... cut the chiles in half, seeded them and loaded them into the dehydrator. When they've dried I'll start on the first ristra of gochus.

 

[PaulG]

Hey, Rick! Sounds like you've got those orange habs 'licked'
Ypur ristas kick A-double-dollar-signs! that Mass weather looks
like it suits chiles just fine. Good to see a great harvest out your way!

Bummer about the moldy Chimayos. I'd better check my Cayenne
rista for mold issues. I had my dried Poblanos in the greenhouse in
a mesh bag to stay dry, but they absorbed humidity overnight and
aren't crispy anymore. Will have to let them dry in the day and then
seal 'em in airtight container at night. Don't have a grinder yet.

I just saw in the news that a swimmer was attacked by a great
white off the Mass coast. Yikes! Stay clear, bud!

 

[buddy]

great looking chiles. the grilled poblanos look wonderful. good luck with the rest of the season.

 

[stickman]

Hey, Rick! Sounds like you've got those orange habs 'licked'
Ypur ristas kick A-double-dollar-signs! that Mass weather looks
like it suits chiles just fine. Good to see a great harvest out your way!

Bummer about the moldy Chimayos. I'd better check my Cayenne
rista for mold issues. I had my dried Poblanos in the greenhouse in
a mesh bag to stay dry, but they absorbed humidity overnight and
aren't crispy anymore. Will have to let them dry in the day and then
seal 'em in airtight container at night. Don't have a grinder yet.

I just saw in the news that a swimmer was attacked by a great
white off the Mass coast. Yikes! Stay clear, bud!

Hi Paul
Thanks for the kind words... It's been a few years building the experience to grow chiles but it feels good on this end.
No sign of mold inside my gochus. I notice that they have a very thick skin, and although they're turning red, they have very firm flesh. I think they may have been genetically selected to be good drying peppers with a minimum of "issues" when sun-drying. I understand that after the pepper harvest the people in the countryside in Korea spread them out on their roofs to dry. All you need is a $10 coffee grinder. Burr mills are for grinding grain.

No worries about sharks mate... The coast is an hour and a half east by south...

great looking chiles. the grilled poblanos look wonderful. good luck with the rest of the season.

Thanks Buddy... you too.

 

[PaulG]

You still need to watch out for those land sharks, buddy!

 

[SocalChilehead]

Wow Rick that ristas keep growing and growing. Like Paul said that is awful about the ChimayoI hate to see my peppers go to waste due to mold.

 

[hooda]

The ristras look great. As of now, after seeing yours, I am now doing ristras with my arbol, gochu, and cayenne. My girlfriend told me before, Korean tradition is to hang a ristra out front of your house if you are expecting to have a baby boy, to let eveyone know.

 

[stickman]

Wow Rick that ristas keep growing and growing. Like Paul said that is awful about the ChimayoI hate to see my peppers go to waste due to mold.

Hi Fernando... Me too! That's why I got the dehydrator. The whole house smells like chiles now... particularly because I also made Serrano-Peach jelly.

There was enough left over after canning 7 pints that my wife and I each had a slice of bread slathered with the fresh jam... Fairly spicy, and very tasty! I think using Serranos instead of Jalapenos was about the right heat level for us.

The ristras look great. As of now, after seeing yours, I am now doing ristras with my arbol, gochu, and cayenne. My girlfriend told me before, Korean tradition is to hang a ristra out front of your house if you are expecting to have a baby boy, to let eveyone know.

Hi Ben
Glad it works for you. That's a pretty cool tradition... Let us know if you ever do it for real...

 

[stickman]

The Chimayos I had in the dehydrator overnight were rock hard and crispy this morning so I ran them through the coffee grinder I've dedicated to grinding spices. The powder was orange rather than red, which I understand is right, and the smell is incredible! That really earthy, sweet chlle smell. I haven't tried any yet, but will soon!

Chimayo molido

I had to start a third ristra for the Korean gochus, and a fourth for the Andy F1 hybrids. The Andy is of Korean provenance but looks more like the classic twisty Cayenne... it just has a wider body like the gochus. It also seems to be drying well on the ristra.

 

[stickman]

Since I have a dehydrator now I took down the first ristra of gochus, removed the stems, split them in half, scooped out the seeds and loaded them into the dryer.

 

[stickman]

First batch of Gochu Garu is done!

Comparing it to the Chimayo molido... the Chimayo powder had a very sweet and mellow aroma, the Gochu powder had notes of sweetness but was definitely more pungent.

 

[HabaneroHead]

Nice! I see a lot of delicious food seasoned with these powders in my crystal-ball.