Where To Start?
- Thread starter MzBehavin
- Start date
depends on your heat tolerance. honestly, buy a wide variety of peppers from people here, find what you like and save the seed. hopefully the seed grows to what the pepper was haha, most likely open pollenated so kinda playing roulette
http://www.chileplants.com
nice reference for peppers and heat levels and flavors
http://www.chileplants.com
nice reference for peppers and heat levels and flavors
+1 ^
look for sales that pop up here now and then(now is a good time of year, you should see some in the forum ads)
a small variety box will give you a good variety to sample
vendor vault is another good place to have a look around (there are several vendors that are active members here)
ask ?'s
there is a friendly community here with lots of people to learn from
look for sales that pop up here now and then(now is a good time of year, you should see some in the forum ads)
a small variety box will give you a good variety to sample
vendor vault is another good place to have a look around (there are several vendors that are active members here)
ask ?'s
there is a friendly community here with lots of people to learn from
there's the basic family taste: chinense, baccatum, etc etc, but individuals in each family have their slightly different taste. I personally love scotch bonnets, but like i said, order stuff from people here and have fun sampling them, you can make a ferment or whatever you want from all the random peppers you get too. I smoke and or dehydrate my peppers, also put them into jellies, ferments, sauces, etc. enjoy the obsession
Got $15-$20? AJ Drew of Peppers By Mail, Sicman, and a few other forumites have got your hookup. Grab an assorted box with labels from any of them so you know what you're eating and can pursue what you like best. E-mail or PM them prior to ordering to let them know what you're looking at for heat range and they should be able to let you know what is coming ripe over the next few days, etc. See if they have any baccatum types they can throw in. You'll be hard pressed to meet a chilehead who dislikes baccatum and they tend to be way less hot than a hab, on average.
People of the forums or the vendor themselves can let you know relative heat range of what you get if you pick up a mixed box. Just post a list.
Later in the season, I recall AJ also sometimes has cool "sampler boxes" that are SFRB containing all available colors or types of just one variety of pepper (Fatalii or Bhut or Scorpion, etc.). Keep an eye out for that. Very cool, once you find something you like and are curious about the differences between strains. Good stuff.
http://www.peppersbymail.com/product-category/fresh-peppers/
https://www.sicmanshotpeppersandpowders.com/
Also make sure to check the Forum Ads. There are often people like me who periodically sell off a SFRB of unique crosses, extra pods, or crazy mutant strains from their own gardens.
http://thehotpepper.com/forum/18-forum-ads/
Cheers!
People of the forums or the vendor themselves can let you know relative heat range of what you get if you pick up a mixed box. Just post a list.
Later in the season, I recall AJ also sometimes has cool "sampler boxes" that are SFRB containing all available colors or types of just one variety of pepper (Fatalii or Bhut or Scorpion, etc.). Keep an eye out for that. Very cool, once you find something you like and are curious about the differences between strains. Good stuff.
http://www.peppersbymail.com/product-category/fresh-peppers/
https://www.sicmanshotpeppersandpowders.com/
Also make sure to check the Forum Ads. There are often people like me who periodically sell off a SFRB of unique crosses, extra pods, or crazy mutant strains from their own gardens.
http://thehotpepper.com/forum/18-forum-ads/
Cheers!
+1 to the suggestion of buying a box of mixed peppers. Look for boxes that have at least one pepper of each variety labeled, so that you will know what is what. That is a great way to explore what is out there without having to grow everything yourself.
Many people really like Scotch Bonnets and Bahamian Goat peppers. If you liked the Caribbean Red, I suspect you would like those too.
Baccatums are generally pretty good. Varieties like Lemon Drop/ Aji Pineapple and Brazilian Starfish are peppers everyone should try, IMO
Also, don't write off the humble orange hab until you have tried a ripe one fresh off the plant. Homegrown orange habs generally have a little more heat and a better, more citrusy flavor than the ones you get in the grocery store, in my experience.
BlackFatalii said:
+1 to the suggestion of buying a box of mixed peppers. Look for boxes that have at least one pepper of each variety labeled, so that you will know what is what. That is a great way to explore what is out there without having to grow everything yourself.
Many people really like Scotch Bonnets and Bahamian Goat peppers. If you liked the Caribbean Red, I suspect you would like those too.
Baccatums are generally pretty good. Varieties like Lemon Drop/ Aji Pineapple and Brazilian Starfish are peppers everyone should try, IMO
Also, don't write off the humble orange hab until you have tried a ripe one fresh off the plant. Homegrown orange habs generally have a little more heat and a better, more citrusy flavor than the ones you get in the grocery store, in my experience.
Scotch Bonnets and Bahamian Goat peppers (the names of some of these peppers crack me up) taste like the Caribbean or better?
MzBehavin said:
Well, better or not is a matter of opinion and personal preference. They have a very fruity taste (yellow bonnets are a little more tropical-fruity tasting while Goats are a touch more citrusy, to me), Many people here favor them. They don't taste like red habs, but they are very tasty peppers in roughly the same heat range as red habs.
MzBehavin said:
Like he said, it's a matter of opinion. Here's mine. Habaneros are in the capsicum chinense family. Scotch Bonnets and Fatalii (Yellow) are the kings of chinense flavor in the minds of many people for a very good reason. Same style and level of burn, on average. Better flavor, IMO. If you can stand the heat, 7-Pot varieties pack equally great flavors. I eat staggering amounts of Yellow 7-Pot peppers when they're in season.
You will hear a lot of folk (like me) say they have never met a baccatum they didn't like. They tend to have Serrano heat or greater; but way less than Habanero heat. Ton of flavor with low-to-moderate heat. Winning combo. I've got Brazilian Starfish, Aji Amarillo, and Aji Pineapple growing this year for examples. I have eaten and grown several other varieties. The worst I've ever heard someone say about any of them was "I don't like this as much as [other baccatum]...".
I don't know what part of southern cali you're from but theres a hot sauce expo at the grove in anaheim this weekend. There will be a bunch of vendors with free samples to try. Would be a good way to find something you like. Only $10 to get in.MzBehavin said: