Stickman's 2013 Glog - Time To Pull The Plug on 2013

I'm pulling things together to get ready for my next growing season. I bought NuMex variety seeds from Sandia Seed company in New Mexico, Hot Paper Lantern Habaneros and Antohi Romanians from Johnny's Select Seeds in Maine and Korean varieties from Evergreen Seeds in California. Due to the unbelievable generosity of a number of THP members I've also gotten seeds to a wide variety of chiles from around the world. Special thanks to BootsieB, stc3248, romy6, PaulG, SoCalChilehead, joynershotpeppers, highalt, cmpman1974, smokemaster, mygrassisblue, Mister No, chewi, KingDenniz, orrozconleche and most recently and spectacularly, Habanerohead with a great selection of superhots and peppers from Hungary!

There are eleven varieties of Hungarian peppers in here, mostly the early, thick-fleshed, sweet ones that range from white through yellow to purple and red.., plus Aji Lemon Drop, BJ Indian Carbon, Naga Morich, Bishop's Crown and TS CARDI Yellow! Now I just have to go through my seed bank and match the space available to what I want to grow. Thanks Balázs!

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

That looks awesome! What kind of gloves you using? I just picked up a new box from Lowe's and they withheld the oils of the hottest I have along with making that puree yesterday. 

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Rick,

Amazing sauces, I'm sure they taste wonderful!
I'm moving into my new house at the weekend, and just ordered some garden equipment, including a Weber Compact Kettle, so I won't have any other option, but grill and smoke.:-)
If I recall it right, you were using cherry wood chips for smoking. I checked the available wood chips on the market, and they are selling many from hickory to cherry. I guess they add different taste to the food. Is there any rule of using them? (which one is the best for chicken, pork, beef, etc)

Balázs

 

[stickman]

That looks awesome! What kind of gloves you using? I just picked up a new box from Lowe's and they withheld the oils of the hottest I have along with making that puree yesterday. 

Hi Chris,
   IDK... I've had the gloves for about a year, so maybe they don't work as well when they get old?

Hi Rick,

Amazing sauces, I'm sure they taste wonderful!
I'm moving into my new house at the weekend, and just ordered some garden equipment, including a Weber Compact Kettle, so I won't have any other option, but grill and smoke.:-)
If I recall it right, you were using cherry wood chips for smoking. I checked the available wood chips on the market, and they are selling many from hickory to cherry. I guess they add different taste to the food. Is there any rule of using them? (which one is the best for chicken, pork, beef, etc)

Balázs

Hi Balázs,
   Hardwood smoking is kind of an inexact "science"... A lot of it depends on your own tastes. the general rules are: use deciduous hardwoods, not evergreens like pine, spruce, yew, juniper, etc.   Those impart a strong flavor of pine pitch or turpentine. The mildest smoke flavors come from Alder wood and dried corn cobs (My grandfather used to smoke hams over corncobs)...the strongest come from Mesquite and Hickory. Hickory has a sweet smell, but leaves a sour aftertaste unless used with something sweet to counter the unpleasant tang. I think that's why they put Apricot jam into barbeque sauce. Other woods fall somewhere in between the two extremes. I have friends with Apple trees that give me their prunings to smoke with, and I understand that Georgian Shashlik is grilled over Grapevine prunings (that also smoke the meat).  Apple has a light, sweet flavor, and Cherry's is a slightly darker. Pecan is a popular smoking wood, but it doesn't grow around here so I've never tried it. In Jamaica, they grill Jerk Chicken over Pimento wood (from the tree that produces Allspice berries).
 
This is a rambling narrative, but I hope you find it helpful. Cheers guy!
 
As Brother Bill pointed out, it's been awhile since I did a Dawn Patrol, so here you are big guy!
 
Things are definitely beginning to cool off here. Yesterday was supposed to be the warmest day this week with a high temp. in the mid-upper 80's, but it's averaging in the upper 70's to low 80's about now. Night-time lows are averaging in the mid 50's and some of the chiles are dropping their leaves in response... like these Chocolate Habs...

 
The ones in the ground are much bigger, and less stressed.

 
The same is true for the Criolla Sella

 
The Douglah is just chugging along

 
and the Yellow 7 is too

 
Other in-ground Chinense varieties are doing well too.
 
Not Yellow Bhut

 
Cheiro Recife

 
Maya Red Hab

 
Butch T.

 
Scotch Bonnet

 
That's 10... more later.
Cheers All!

 

[stickman]

Here's another 10 pics from the Chile patch...
 
Aji Omnicolor... these 2 plants are beasts! I'm getting about a pint of pods every day from these. The flavor is a bit floral, but the picante is about Serrano hot and they go well in pico de gallo salsa where the acid of the tomatoes and lime juice balances the flavors nicely.

 
The Antohi Romanian peppers are starting to blush with color and get to a size where they're bending the branches low with the weight of the pods. A nice sweet frying pepper that can also be used fresh in salads.

 
Starting to get some decent-sized Jalapeno Zapotec pods... looks like it's time to make some pickled Jalapeno slices.

 
The third wave of Almapaprika is ready to pickle. I tried some of the ripe pods from the second wave and found them to be mildly hot, sweet and crunchy.

 
The Fish Pepper isn't the largest plant, but it has a good number of pods and nice variegation. I'd grow it again just as an ornamental with the added bonus that the pods are tasty too...

 
Aji Panca is covered in small pods... this is the largest. If the pods ripen quickly and the plant can take a little cold, I may yet get a decent harvest off of it.

 
Money shot from today's harvest... minus the Omnicolor and Cheiro Recife pods... I got a hatful of those! From the top left, clockwise... Magnum Orange Habs, Not Yellow Bhuts, Thai Eggplant, Chocolate Habs, Maya Red Habs, Criolla Sella and Douglahs. Yard-long Beans in the middle.

 
One last "Non" shot... the yellow tomatoes I got from Scarecrw are starting to ripen up...

 
TGIF, and have a great weekend all!

 

[RocketMan]

Ahhhhhhh, thanks for the fix Rick
 
Gardens looking good brother. How much longer to you figure you'll have till you start getting some frost? Be nice if you can last till November. 

 

[romy6]

 Man Rick as usual you stimulate my salivary glands and get my eyes bewildered  with all the great  sauce and pod pics. I have a feeling you're gonna start getting some fairly large harvests. All your plants are loaded. 
 
 Just hoping mother nature allows another month or so of dawn patrols. 

 

[meatfreak]

Great update again, Rick! It feels like the season is just beginning with pods starting to ripe off but it's almost September already Hope we get a nice after summer and your pods ripen off before the frost. That Aji Panca pod looks pitch black?!

 

[stickman]

Ahhhhhhh, thanks for the fix Rick
 
Gardens looking good brother. How much longer to you figure you'll have till you start getting some frost? Be nice if you can last till November. 

It's kinda hard to say Bill... Odds are we'll probably get another 4 weeks or so until frost, but you never know... anything we get after the third week in September is angel time...

 Man Rick as usual you stimulate my salivary glands and get my eyes bewildered  with all the great  sauce and pod pics. I have a feeling you're gonna start getting some fairly large harvests. All your plants are loaded. 
 
 Just hoping mother nature allows another month or so of dawn patrols. 

From your mouth to God's ear on the harvest, eh Jamie? I'm just pulling everything that ripens and putting it away for the winter as fast as I can...  I think I've got enough sauces now, so it'll be powders and freezing until it's time to put up the kimchi around mid-October.

Great update again, Rick! It feels like the season is just beginning with pods starting to ripe off but it's almost September already Hope we get a nice after summer and your pods ripen off before the frost. That Aji Panca pod looks pitch black?!

Thanks Stefan, I hope you get a good harvest in as well! I went out into the garden to pick some veggies for supper and I noticed that the Aji Panca pods looked dark purple in the afternoon sun. Eventually they'll ripen to a reddish-brown with low to medium heat and a mildly fruity flavor. I bought some dried pods from a local Bodega and made chicken and peas with them that I thought came out quite tasty.

 

[Devv]

Looking good Rick!
 
I hope as Jamie mentioned you can hang on and get the full harvest. Ever try the hoops in the fall to lengthen the season?
 
I was reading about the gloves, the peppers don't burn my hands for some reason, well truthfully once after processing Reapers, it got under my finger nails. It may be the chems I worked with as an auto tech.
 
But I learned to use them, cuz that stuff don't just wash off! Use your imagination...LOL
 
Have a great weekend!

 

[stickman]

Looking good Rick!
 
I hope as Jamie mentioned you can hang on and get the full harvest. Ever try the hoops in the fall to lengthen the season?
 

 
I haven't so far Scott... usually by the time the season rolls around to where they'd be useful, the plants are too tall for the setup I had in the spring and I'm ready for a break anyway, so I just let them go. This year I'm planning to overwinter a few plants down in my cellar under artificial light, so that'll be a new adventure... I'll let the rest go as far as the season will take them, and pull them up when the frost kills them.
 
I hadn't thought that a side-effect of using degreasers would be loss of sensation in the hands...  I'll put up with burning hands instead though.

 

[Devv]

 
I haven't so far Scott... usually by the time the season rolls around to where they'd be useful, the plants are too tall for the setup I had in the spring and I'm ready for a break anyway, so I just let them go. This year I'm planning to overwinter a few plants down in my cellar under artificial light, so that'll be a new adventure... I'll let the rest go as far as the season will take them, and pull them up when the frost kills them.
 
I hadn't thought that a side-effect of using degreasers would be loss of sensation in the hands...  I'll put up with burning hands instead though.

I hear you there! but I was careful as I could be. I saw guys washing their hands in the "safety clean" vats. I always did my best to wash after any fuel or solvent contact. As years went by they lost feeling in their hands, I never did. But I always could work on an engine that came in hot, like handling hot plates, I got callused and it was OK. Now I feel the hot (temp) more, it's been since 99 that I worked on hot engines. IDK, but the gloves are on my agenda for sure...for the "other" reasons I do have to add LB can't even handle Hab's with gloves, she's that sensitive.
 
Yes, I also hear the "ready for a break" scenario, but I just have to ride this out and see if the supers will do something...

 

[stickman]

Boy, the harvest here is picking up a head of steam... This morning's pull...

 
I picked the Kapias, Marconis and Urfa Biber clean... barring a few green pods. They're setting more from a fresh round of blossoms, but we'll see if anything comes of it... things will be slowing down as the light fades and temperatures at night drop. I think this is the  plants push to ripen anything already started.
    I'll roast, peel and freeze the sweet peppers pictured here and wait for more input from the kapias I planted at my Mom's place. Hers are about a month behind mine, but should be ripening in early September. Then it'll be time to focus on making powder. Some varieties I keep separate, like the Yellow 7 and gochu, but most I just throw in together like Matt does for his "kitchen sink" powder.
   Have a great Saturday all!

 

[annie57]

Dang, Rick, too bad not getting that northern midwest heat. 98F in Minneapolis???
 
Nice dawn patrol haul! I just now got eggplant fruits. Slooooooooow on those this year! Pintung long, finally here. Are those Kellogg's BFast reg leaf toms?
 
Back to peppers, liking choc habs in ground--all your inground looking great!! Am predicting a nice long warm fall for all east coast states! Yep. Madame Zoe has spoken
 
All of mine are turning fast and hope to get some pulls in today!

 

[Devv]

Nice haul Rick!
 
Glad it's a busy time, and hoping Madame Zoe's prediction is true!
 
Have a great weekend!

 

[stickman]

Dang, Rick, too bad not getting that northern midwest heat. 98F in Minneapolis???
 
Nice dawn patrol haul! I just now got eggplant fruits. Slooooooooow on those this year! Pintung long, finally here. Are those Kellogg's BFast reg leaf toms?
 
Back to peppers, liking choc habs in ground--all your inground looking great!! Am predicting a nice long warm fall for all east coast states! Yep. Madame Zoe has spoken
 
All of mine are turning fast and hope to get some pulls in today!

Hi Annie,
   I know Scarecrw told me what variety the yellow tomatoes were when he sent the seedlings, but I forget now... I'll have to ask him so I can answer your question. I Looooove eggplant! So creamy... I think it's the vegetable equivalent of adding ham hocks to a dish to give it more mouth feel. To avoid the raw eggplant soaking up lots of oil, have you tried roasting or steaming them? One of our summertime favorites here is Baba Ganouj made with smoke-roasted and peeled eggplant... it's even better served still warm from the grill. One trick I got for adding garlic to humus or baba ganouj (or any dip really) is to crush/grind it in a mortar and pestle or suribachi with a pinch of salt. When you do that, it just liquefies and disappears when you stir it into the dip.
 
It would be nice to have a warm early autumn, but inshallah... we'll deal with it as it comes. One of the negatives with that kind of weather is that it intensifies hurricane season. Be careful what you wish for, eh?
 
We just saw my Mom and my Aunt out the door after they stopped here overnight on their way home from Maine. Before they got here i seeded and dried the rest of the sweet Hungarian Paprika I had on hand... I probably have 3-4 ounces of seeds from them now. Lots to share if anyone's interested in this heirloom variety.

 
I also sampled one of my Scotch Bonnet pods this morning...

 
The pods are thick-fleshed and juicy with a fair amount of seeds for a pod so small (a little bigger than a quarter). The aroma was the usual Chinense off-citrus... not sweet, but not objectionable either. The flavor was mildly sweet and floral... the burn kicked in after about 10 seconds but was a little less than a Habanero... say, about like the upper end of Serrano hot. The burn stayed steady for about 3 minutes... concentrating on the middle of the tongue and lips, and quickly faded to a glow that lasted for another 12-15 minutes. By no means an overwhelming pepper, or even a very interesting one, but with a pleasant taste and picante that would be good in salsa, powder or sauces.
 
Have a great Sunday all!

 

[Stefan_W]

Count me in for some sweet paprika seeds I know those will be on my grow list next year.
 
Aside from the colour, the not yellow bhuts don't seem to have the classic bhut shape. I wonder if it just came from a seed that accidently blew over from a different pile. 

 

[WalkGood]

Everything looks great, plants, pods, harvest, seeds, reviews and more ... \o/
 
Nice review on your red Scotch Bonnet, does it have any resemblance to the roots of Scotch Bonnet taste, like a MoA taste? Yes I read your opinion “off-citrus... not sweet, but not objectionable either. The flavor was mildly sweet and floral” and could the flavor have been different, for example sweeter if alowed to ripen mas?
 
Is the main stalk on your Cheiro Recife larger than a broom stick? It looks huge!
 
Have a great one brethren

 

[Ausmith]

Looking good Rick!

 

[stickman]

Count me in for some sweet paprika seeds I know those will be on my grow list next year.
 
Aside from the colour, the not yellow bhuts don't seem to have the classic bhut shape. I wonder if it just came from a seed that accidently blew over from a different pile. 

You got it Stefan... Paprika seeds will be coming your way.
 
I couldn't say what was going on with the Not Yellow Bhut... I bought the plant from a local farmstand. I have no idea where they got the seeds, but having grown them to maturity I'll keep the pods to make sauces and powder.

 

[MGOLD86]

Damn Rick, I had to do a few pages of catchin up! Pods are lookin great and awesome sauce as always.  This is a prime example of why I prefer to plant in the ground.  They can definitely take a lot more in regards to the weather.  When it is hot, cold, wet, or dry it doesn't matter to the in ground plants.  The container plants on the other hand are much more picky.