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]

So now that I have gochu peppers coming, how do I love them... let me count the ways... These are an early springtime favorite of mine. The first thing up in my garden is usually overwintered scallions and garlic chives. I cut them into inch and a half lengths and mix with rice flour, ice water, a little vegetable oil and gochu jang (Korean red pepper paste) and make pancakes! Make a little soy/vinegar dippin sauce and you're in business. Scallion pancakes are called Pa Jeon, and made with Garlic Chives they're called Puchu Jeon.

 

[hooda]

Oh yeah those look so good. We usually only make kimchi and zucchini pancakes, but this will be on the menu next Korean dinner night.

 

[stickman]

Oh yeah those look so good. We usually only make kimchi and zucchini pancakes, but this will be on the menu next Korean dinner night.

Glad you liked them! If you're ever up in Oakland, the Kitazawa seed company has seeds for Ho Bak Squash if you want to try growing them.

 

[SocalChilehead]

Aww man that looks good add some 7 pod red powder going to have to try to make this soon once I get enough pods for powder.

 

[stickman]

Aww man that looks good 7 pod red powder

Hi Fernando! If you want to up the ante, go for it!

 

[stc3248]

Those look delicious! How well do you think they ship?

 

[stickman]

Those look delicious! How well do you think they ship?

Hi Shane! Not too well I expect... How was the fishing trip?

 

[stc3248]

Hi Shane! Not too well I expect... How was the fishing trip?

Good...but more just time well spent with the boy. Not a lot of luck with the catching part. One small bluegill. Lakes out here are really over fished. Plus we're spoiled by my dad's place with 5 stocked lakes back in Texas...

 

[stickman]

Good...but more just time well spent with the boy. Not a lot of luck with the catching part. One small bluegill. Lakes out here are really over fished. Plus we're spoiled by my dad's place with 5 stocked lakes back in Texas...

Well, that's why they call it fishing and not catching I guess. I take it you were out for Bass? We're kind of at the northern extent of their range up here... a five pound Largemouth is a trophy! Smallmouth are fun to fish for in the rivers around here, but the freestones don't have as much food in them as the great lakes do, so they're small as well.
Hope your son enjoyed the day. They seem to grow up too quick sometimes.

 

[RocketMan]

stickman i remember getting something close to those as street food. The had hand pushed carts with the charcole grills on them. In the Winter they made some kind of rice pancake which had a brown sugar filling which were great but you had to be careful as that sugar filling would burn the crud out of you. Cant wait to see you stuff and fry up some of the pods. I read somewhere the other day that the ones we used to get were made with the Pork Gochu peppers, does that sound right to you? Making sourdough tonight down here.

RM

 

[stickman]

stickman i remember getting something close to those as street food. The had hand pushed carts with the charcole grills on them. In the Winter they made some kind of rice pancake which had a brown sugar filling which were great but you had to be careful as that sugar filling would burn the crud out of you. Cant wait to see you stuff and fry up some of the pods. I read somewhere the other day that the ones we used to get were made with the Pork Gochu peppers, does that sound right to you? Making sourdough tonight down here.

RM

I've heard of those sweet pancakes... As I recall, they're shaped kinda like a large goldfish cracker. I'm looking forward to Gochu Jeon too! I'll probably sacrifice a few of my first pods to make some when they're big enough but they're still green, I'll bet they're equally good with Poblanos or Big Jim Anaheims. Beef is expensive in Korea, and Pork is a little less so. so a pork filling in the stuffed peppers sounds logical for everyday. Beef is for company/celebrations. I love sourdough! When I was at Ft Carson I shared an apartment off base with a guy in my company named Ron Steib. We called him Homer because he looked like one... Anyway, I had a tub of sourdough starter in the 'fridge that I kept going, and on Sunday mornings we would have sourdough pancakes that were really thin and airy. Neither of us said a word to the other guys about it because we didn't want to get mobbed.
This weekend brought back a few memories... I used to go to a tank battallion's messhall halfway across the garrison area because I found out that's where the flag rank went to eat, and the best food was served at the end of the month. Most of the guys would go to town to eat on end-of-month payday but I'd go to that messhall where they'd serve steamship roasts, lobster, rack of lamb and stuff like that.

 

[stickman]

Had a late start to the workday today so I watered the garden and took a few pics.

The Gochus with a shovel for comparison. I think I'm going to have a jungle pretty soon. Next year I'll have to space them out a bit more.

Got some Gochu pods a couple of inches long now. They'll grow at least 3 or 4 more inches, then start to ripen up.

Andy F1 Gochu hybrids are beginning to flower

Other Gochu varieties looking good

Gwari Put not a Gochu variety. BootsieB thought it was a "Koreanized" chile from India, good for fresh use and pickling

Chimayo blossoming

Jalapenos budding

Pasilla Bajio budding

Poblano budding

 

[Pinoy83]

So now that I have gochu peppers coming, how do I love them... let me count the ways... These are an early springtime favorite of mine. The first thing up in my garden is usually overwintered scallions and garlic chives. I cut them into inch and a half lengths and mix with rice flour, ice water, a little vegetable oil and gochu jang (Korean red pepper paste) and make pancakes! Make a little soy/vinegar dippin sauce and you're in business. Scallion pancakes are called Pa Jeon, and made with Garlic Chives they're called Puchu Jeon.

those looks so good gochu jang is the best...i love that paste....u should try stir frying some veges with that..mix with sweet chili sauce, kimchee sauce and oyster sauce...with sauteed garlic, onions, and u can use your scallions as your garnish
your garden looks awesome i just wish i have a big area also

 

[stickman]

those looks so good gochu jang is the best...i love that paste....u should try stir frying some veges with that..mix with sweet chili sauce, kimchee sauce and oyster sauce...with sauteed garlic, onions, and u can use your scallions as your garnish
your garden looks awesome i just wish i have a big area also

Hi Pinoy! I do... For a spicy stir fry I love to thin some Gochu Jang in toasted Sesame oil and a little soy and use it as a sauce. If I'm in the mood for something savory instead, I'll use Oyster sauce.

More pics from today...

Poblano budding

Orange Habs bushing out

Kim-Chi Gochu pepper

 

[Trippa]

All your plants are Looking extremely healthy bro. Nice work. I am liking the Asian food lessons as well. Can't beat world cuisine

 

[stickman]

All your plants are Looking extremely healthy bro. Nice work. I am liking the Asian food lessons as well. Can't beat world cuisine

Hi Trippa, thanks for stopping by. Looks like a powerful thunderstorm closing in... I just came in from staking all my chiles. Keeping my fingers crossed...

 

[Trippa]

Hope everything comes through unscathed ... fingers crossed for you

 

[stickman]

Hope everything comes through unscathed ... fingers crossed for you

Looking good so far... I lost one plant with a weakened stem, the rest look OK. Guess it's time to tie the larger chiles to stakes...

 

[stickman]

We dodged a bullet down here... Berkshire county in Massachusetts and southern Vermont got hail in addition to pounding rain and 60+ mph winds, but we only got the rain and wind. Good thing I staked the peppers just before the storm hit. They're a bit bent but will straighten.
Sort of a before and after... A few shots from yesterday...

The little pepper that could... This Oe Mat Put from BootsieB was frosted and lost almost all its leaves but came back on side branching. The only such casualty. I'd call it walking wounded

Serranos looking short and stocky, they were unaffected by the storm

Also from BootsieB, Cheon Wu Shin Jo... the same

Yet again from BootsieB, Long Da Ri 35

The aftermath...

 

[stc3248]

Your plants are gonna be able to roll with those punches no problem! I don't see any standing water around your pepper plants, so you should be good to go! They are going to have a nice little growth spurt if you can get some nice sun/warm temps for a few days!