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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!
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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!
 
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Dang! There's a major front moving in today from the Gulf and the Mississippi valley and it's supposed to unload on us here in New England tonight when the fishing is best... Guess I'm gonna postpone the salt-water fishing trip 'til a little later in the season. I'm in communication by cell phone with a friend that's been down there since Thursday, and he says that there's bait all over the place but the fishing during the day sucks. It's not worth driving down there 4 hours each way to get to the beach and only being able to fish 2-3 hours before it starts to rain, and the Doppler radar shows it's gonna be fairly heavy when it starts. I'll still go fishing, but in my float tube in a local lake. One good thing about it is, at least I finally replaced the guide on my surf rod that lost its ceramic ring. That project has been on a back burner since last year...
 
Tried a slice of the Yellow Bhut Matt sent... similar flavor, but not floral, and not as intense. Now I wish my "nots" really had turned out to be Yellow Bhuts... they'd have been great as a base for sauce.
 
Have a great weekend all!
 
stickman said:
Dang! There's a major front moving in today from the Gulf and the Mississippi valley and it's supposed to unload on us here in New England tonight when the fishing is best... Guess I'm gonna postpone the salt-water fishing trip 'til a little later in the season. I'm in communication by cell phone with a friend that's been down there since Thursday, and he says that there's bait all over the place but the fishing during the day sucks. It's not worth driving down there 4 hours each way to get to the beach and only being able to fish 2-3 hours before it starts to rain, and the Doppler radar shows it's gonna be fairly heavy when it starts. I'll still go fishing, but in my float tube in a local lake. One good thing about it is, at least I finally replaced the guide on my surf rod that lost its ceramic ring. That project has been on a back burner since last year...
 
Tried a slice of the Yellow Bhut Matt sent... similar flavor, but not floral, and not as intense. Now I wish my "nots" really had turned out to be Yellow Bhuts... they'd have been great as a base for sauce.
 
Have a great weekend all!
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What a coincidence, I had a guided fishing trip scheduled for tomorrow and the guy just called and said a system is moving in that will bring the winds up too high. Our system is coming from the north though. It sucks when you lose a fall fishing trip. 
 
Sorry about the fishing trips, that rain came from Mexico. It was training yesterday all the way to the Great Lakes region. The cool front hit us last night, a high of 81 today so far...
 
Glad you liked the Yellow Bhut, I brought mine to work to taste yesterday but didn't get that far...
 
Have great weekend!
 
Thanks for the well wishes guys!
 
Stefan_W said:
 
What a coincidence, I had a guided fishing trip scheduled for tomorrow and the guy just called and said a system is moving in that will bring the winds up too high. Our system is coming from the north though. It sucks when you lose a fall fishing trip. 
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Yeah, it does... but it's early in the Fall season and there'll be other opportunities. I went fishing in a local lake with my float tube and didn't catch anything but Bluegills, Pumpkinseed and a few small Yellow Perch. I don't eat the sunfish and the Perch were too small, so I threw them all back... I guess the passing front put their bigger brethren down for a few days.
 
It wasn't a totally wasted weekend though... I roasted the last of the Kapia peppers yesterday to make the last batch of Ajvar today. I also took a package of dried Indian Naga peppers I found in a local market, cut the pods in half and put them in a Grolsch bottle with 2:1 ratio of Sesame oil to Greek extra virgin Olive oil. I heated the oil first, so it would quickly penetrate the dried pods. I put the bottle on a sunny windowsill, and will leave it there for a week to infuse the oil.
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I also made an Apple-Raisin chutney with one of Scott's Funky Reaper pods... You gotta try this Scott!
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The FR is a creeper for heat anyway, and putting a pod into two and a half cups of chutney smooths it out quite a bit without removing that lovely "glow" in your mouth for a half an hour afterwards. You might even get LB to like this if she goes for curries. The original recipe is from the Laurel's Kitchen cookbook... I just added one of the FR pods minced fine.
 
two and a half cups diced tart apples (i.e. Granny Smith)
a cup cider vinegar
half a lemon, chopped (I substituted 3 tbsp lemon juice)
three quarters of a cup of raisins
three quarters of a cup of brown sugar
a third of a cup of minced ginger
one or two cloves of garlic, chopped
half teaspoon of salt
1 Bhut Jalokia or Reaper pod, finely chopped
 
Combine ingredients and simmer until fruit is soft... about half an hour if apples are crisp.
 
Looking great Rick! As the season winds down, the cookin continues! The kitchen sink probably had an overwhelming C. Chin taste cuz I think it is like 95% supers.....lol. You know how I do it..lol!

The binds is a decent producer, about 2.5 FT tall, a bit longer to set pods and average ripening time. But I love the taste and have a long enough season to get some decent harvests.
 
Thanks guys! As the season winds down I've gone from picking buckets of pods to picking handfulls. Still lots of pods on the Cheiro Recife, Omnicolor, and Aji Panca. I hope the AP can take some freezes since it has some nice pods on it and none appear to be ripening any time soon. Most of the Manzanos are a fairly dark orange, but there are still tinges of green on them, so I'm gonna let them stay on the plant for at least another week. Good thing they can take a light freeze or three... Everything else seems to have pretty much shot its bolt here.
 
MGOLD86 said:
Looking great Rick! As the season winds down, the cookin continues! The kitchen sink probably had an overwhelming C. Chin taste cuz I think it is like 95% supers.....lol. You know how I do it..lol!

The binds is a decent producer, about 2.5 FT tall, a bit longer to set pods and average ripening time. But I love the taste and have a long enough season to get some decent harvests.
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Oh yeah... lots of great Chinense flavor in that powder Matt! I put a spoonful of it in the batch of Ajvar I cooked up last night, and that was plenty... still great roasted sweet pepper flavor, but now it has a sting in the tail! I ended up with 7 and a half pints from this batch.
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Thanks for the info on the Bonda Ma Jacques... I might just try to get one of those going next year.
 
Have a great week all!
 
That ajvar looks great. I presume it tastes a whole lot better then the stuff in the jar at the store? I tried that and didnt care for it.
 
JoynersHotPeppers said:
It is starting to smell like a frost is coming soon. :(
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Aw heck... you too Chris? Where I live down in the Deerfield river valley it hasn't frosted yet, but it already has up in the hills nearby. Putting down the plastic solar mulch in the spring has extended the season somewhat on this end as well, but it's surely coming... The leaves on the hardwoods have definitely started turning. If we follow the usual pattern our local foliage will be at the peak of Autumn color on Columbus Day weekend and two weeks later the leaves will be mostly down on the ground. http://www.yankeefoliage.com/peak-foliage-forecast-map/
 
 
Devv said:
Rick, The Ajvar looks mas tasty!
 
I just can't get over the depth of your cooking, we're just meat and potatoes compared to you. Really great stuff!
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Thanks for the kind words Scott, but what's so bad about meat and potatoes cooking? Your tamales, ribs and briskets have had me drooling right along with you! ;)
 
 
Jeff H said:
That ajvar looks great. I presume it tastes a whole lot better then the stuff in the jar at the store? I tried that and didnt care for it.
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Most definitely Jeff! Commercial Ajvar is usually made from steamed peppers... homemade is done with fire-roasted peppers, and it makes all the difference! It really enhances the naturally smoky flavor that ripe peppers have anyway. I add a little smoke-roasted Eggplant to mine to increase the creamy mouthfeel as well. My Eggplants don't get big on the plants because I pick them fairly small, say around 3/4 of a pound to a pound and a half, so they don't have time to get big and bitter. Add Garlic to taste, a little good extra virgin Olive oil, and enough salt and white vinegar to enhance the flavor without overpowering it. Go ahead and add the hot pepper powder of your choice to make it more picante, but not too much, because you don't want to erase the natural sweetness of this condiment.
 
Cheers all!
 
Rick, mighty beautiful looking and I bet just as tasty batch of Ajvar you made. I’d much prefer your fire-roasted VS steamed although when it comes to plain veggies I do love home steamed fresh but that’s a different story.
 
WalkGood said:
Rick, mighty beautiful looking and I bet just as tasty batch of Ajvar you made. I’d much prefer your fire-roasted VS steamed although when it comes to plain veggies I do love home steamed fresh but that’s a different story.
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Yeah, fire-roasted is superior for pepper flavor, and nothing beats fresh from the garden! :)
 
I ate Matt's TSMB Yellow and West Indian Hab pods in my breakfast sandwiches the last couple of mornings... both were a little on the mild side for Chinense varieties or I'm really getting used to them. I didn't notice any flavors that really stood out in either except for the usual Chinense. Neither had the off-citrus flavor I've noticed in other varieties.
 
The weather here has been dry and cool since last weekend, and I'm gonna have to do some painting on the trim outside. Thank God they used Hardie board for the siding when they built this place... that won't need paint in my lifetime, and probably beyond.
 
Have a great Thursday all...
 
Rick, that chutney looks very tasty brother and the reaper pod, cool, well ok Hot but still cool :)
 
Humm, Ajvar, I might have to take a look at that it really sounds good. Hope  your able to get some more pods out of your garden before ole man winter starts settling in up there. I know you probably have plenty of powder stashed to keep it warm though. 
 
Have a good one!
 
RocketMan said:
Rick, that chutney looks very tasty brother and the reaper pod, cool, well ok Hot but still cool :)
 
Humm, Ajvar, I might have to take a look at that it really sounds good. Hope  your able to get some more pods out of your garden before ole man winter starts settling in up there. I know you probably have plenty of powder stashed to keep it warm though. 
 
Have a good one!
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It's all good brother Bill...  I grew enough chiles to have plenty of sauces and powders to get me through the winter, and a bit over to share. My Korean-inspired ferment has stopped bubbling, so it's time to go down to the cellar to age for a bit. 45 days from the start will be the week before Halloween, so I'll process it then. The whiffs I was getting when I gently shook the jar to dislodge gas bubbles were really good... (no Bill, I never took the top off, but I didn't crank it down absolutely tight either, so excess gas could bleed off).
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