Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Pepper Update and Other Stuff
Aren't these pretty? I gathered up all the red peppers I could find, and put them in the oven to dry. I just spread them out on a sheet pan and leave them in the oven with the light on, not the heating element. It works well enough on the thinner ones, but I'm skeptical whether the thick ones will dry before they rot. Time will tell.
I ransacked my kitchen to see what chile-containing products I could discover, and wrote them up over on my food blog. I don't have as many as I thought I did, but it's a fairly diverse collection. Thanks for the idea, Ki.
Did you see today's NY Times article about the giant pumpkin growers, er, I mean growers of giant pumpkins? Buried at the end of the article is a very interesting point. Miracle-Gro is out of fashion with these folks. These behemoths are grown using sea kelp, compost tea, and mycorrhizal inoculant! And another thing - the growers don't mind drought. They prefer the degree of control they get with irrigation.
Drought. How dry is it here? Well we're not in as much trouble yet as, say, Atlanta. But the official records for Washington DC are measured at National Airport, and this is what the National Weather Service had to say this morning:
...RECORD TIED OFFICIALLY AT WASHINGTON FOR CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITHOUT
MEASURABLE RAIN YESTERDAY...
THE RECORD FOR THE LONGEST CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITHOUT MEASURABLE
RAINFALL AT WASHINGTON REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT HAS BEEN TIED. THE
PREVIOUS RECORD OF 33 STRAIGHT DAYS WITHOUT MEASURABLE RAIN WAS SET
FROM AUGUST 7TH TO SEPTEMBER 8TH 1995. THE CURRENT STRETCH BEGAN ON
SEPTEMBER 15TH.
THERE IS A CHANCE THE RECORD COULD BE BROKEN TODAY...ALTHOUGH THERE
IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR ISOLATED RAIN SHOWERS ACROSS THE MID ATLANTIC
REGION LATER TODAY. RAIN CHANCES WILL INCREASE AS A COLD FRONT
APPROACHES THE AREA ON FRIDAY.
DAILY RAINFALL RECORDS IN WASHINGTON DATE BACK 137 YEARS TO 1871.
RAINFALL STARTS TO MEASURE AT ONE HUNDREDTH OF AN INCH.
11 Comments:
Hi Entangled,
Not 5 minutes ago I was talking t a family member about the NYTimes pumpkin story and pointing out that compost tea trumped Miracle Gro... that fact would have had bigger play if I were writing the story.
I hope some rain falls on you and all the other parched states, Entangled... what a horrible word to see as the official designation parched.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
We usually take off the stem and slice the pepper in half lengthwise before we put them in our dehydrator. I think if you don't pierce the skin the peppers may mold before they completely dry unless you sun dry them. I find that our oven is too hot even at its lowest setting. We bought a cheap dehydrator with four trays and it cost less than $15 about 4 years ago and works really well. You can stack up to 10 trays but we found that four was adequate for our needs.
We really need some rain too, though we're not as dry as you are.
Annie: What a coincidence! And I can't believe that important information was in the very last paragraph.
I'm watching the weather radar - there are a few showers in the area today, but I don't happen to be under one. Maybe tomorrow...
Ki: I was thinking of buying a dehydrator, but put it off for another year. I've had pretty good luck drying herbs in the oven with just the light on (no heat). The light bulb gets the oven temperature to around 100 degrees - surprising. So anyhow, I thought I'd give the peppers a try. I took that photo last week, and the cayenne-type pepper are dry now, the New Mexico-types are almost there, but the Serranos are iffy. Maybe I'll try another batch, and cut them in half first. I'm sure a dehydrator would do a better job.
I'm new at drying things, so I'm no expert, but the past few days I've been obsessed with drying. Initially I tried sun drying, but it's so wet here of late (rains a bit every day). So, I've had the oven on at 200 degrees (which means it's really about 170 degrees, because it's not quite as hot as it says). And I've dried lots and lots of peppers, tomatoes, and ground cherries with great success. I set the timer for every 30-45 minutes, and take out the ones that are done. I've found that the peppers look so much more beautiful dried this way, rather than dried more slowly. They have the color of my New Mexican grandmother's sun dried ristras!
P.S. I forgot the two keys I've learned: prop the oven open slightly (I do it with a dish towel) to let out the steam, and when drying tomatoes, put a little salt on them. Amazing how much better this works!
Melinda: Thanks for the tips! I haven't tried drying using the oven's heating element, but I wonder if that's what my thicker-walled peppers need. I noticed here, too, the beautiful jewel-like colors on the peppers; much prettier than any I've ever bought. I hope that color doesn't fade too quickly - I'm debating whether to grind these into powder or keep them whole. Right now I'm leaning towards keeping them whole, just because they look so nice.
Yes, red peppers are indeed pretty! I keep mine whole in a jar and grind as needed. They make for a colorful accent on my kitchen counter.
Connie: That's a great idea, and I'm going to borrow it! I'm going to look for a big glass jar today.
Melinda, and everybody: Success! This morning, I tried the oven on its lowest temp (170 degrees F) with the door slightly open, and the last few peppers that were still moist are now dry. I'm going to cut them open before I use them, just be sure nothing visibly nasty grew in there. This seems to be a good technique, although I may try cutting the thicker ones in half first.
Glad it worked! I'm going to ground the ones that aren't so pretty, and then, like Connie, I'll ground the rest as we go. I like the jar on the counter idea!
This is my third comment to your post, which is a bit embarassing, but I couldn't find an email address on your website!
I just found this page today, and I thought you might find it interesting:
http://www.fiery-foods.com/dave/drying.asp
Melinda: Thanks for the link! I always wondered how to make those nice full-looking ristras. I don't know if I'm going to have any more ripe peppers this year - frost is in the forecast for tomorrow night and Monday. I may try to cover the plants and hope for another warm spell before the cold weather is here to stay.
I really ought to put an email address somewhere on the blog, but I've been hesitating because of spam.
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