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.

Labels: peppers, weather

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Tasting Notes: Chile Peppers

As much as I like tomatoes, I think chile peppers are my true calling. Trying to grow them in northern Virginia was an exercise in frustration. There was never enough sun for them there on our wooded lot, and my impression is that they don't really like clay soil. I planted hot varieties, but was always disappointed in the heat level of the fruit. Ah, but this year, in central Virginia, where the garden is sunny and sandy, I got to fulfill my chile desires. And I only put in 17 plants! What was I thinking?

Now, none of these are the very, very, very hot kinds. I like chile heat, but I want to taste the rest of the ingredients in a dish as well. And oftentimes, there are other interesting flavors lurking in the background of these peppers - the ones that intrigue me have a sort of sweet-fruity taste in addition to the heat.

So, in ~~descending~~ ascending (see? another example of declining brain cell count) order of heat (which is purely my own perception - no Scoville units here) here's the list. By the way, I planted 2 plants of most varieties, and 4 of the Serranos.

Jackpot - These were free seeds, so I planted them. This is a bell pepper and there's no heat to these, but I'm including them (and the next one) on the list anyway. 'Jackpot' is a long, thin-walled bell pepper. I don't love bell peppers and so never planted any before, but after many years of marriage I learned just this summer that my spouse likes them. I swear he never mentioned it before. Anyhow, these peppers are fine, if you like bell peppers, but there are thicker, blockier ones available.

Papri Sweet - This is a long pepper of the type I call "New Mexico" peppers. It has no heat, but is fairly thick walled for its shape. I don't have any strong feelings about this one either way - it's pretty good for what it is.

Aci Sivri - A long cayenne-shaped pepper, which is yellow-green before ripening. This has a bit of that fruity flavor that I admire. The heat was variable on these - some were pretty hot and some had little to no heat.

Czechoslovakian Black - A jalapeno-type pepper, purple-black before ripening, and deep Chinese-lacquer red when ripe. The second-prettiest pepper plants I grew this year - the flowers are purple, the dark fruits are attractive before they ripen and after they ripen they're even better. Unfortunately, I have no photos of a ripe one. The heat is moderate, but there's also a fruity-sweet flavor which intensifies when the peppers are ripe. This is one of my favorites.

Chile Grande - Another New Mexico type. Early in the season I thought these had no heat at all, but they surprised me later on - turning out to be one of the hotter ones I grew. I used them seeded and cut into long strips where I wanted a pepper flavor in a dish.

Serrano Tampiqueno - The Serranos I knew before this year all looked like a smaller slimmed-down version of a Jalapeno, but this one has a somewhat different shape - more blunt. It has the same great Serrano flavor, which I think is superior to Jalapeno. They really don't develop any heat until the fruits are green-mature. This can be tough to discern while the fruits are on the plant, but what I've noticed is that the color turns a deeper green when they're ready. They're also very nice when red-ripe, with a bit of that fruity flavor.

Pinocchio's Nose - Long, long, long thin peppers of the cayenne type. I measured one at 11 inches long. This was best suited for adding heat to a dish, but I didn't detect much other flavor in it. Worth growing just to see the long fruits.

Bellingrath Gardens Purple - I guess this is considered an ornamental pepper, but we eat the fruit. And it is ornamental - dark purple-black leaves with small purple flowers and tiny black fruit ripening to orange-red. I went back to this one again and again when I needed extra heat in a dish. But I think it would make a fabulous Halloween decoration, and I'm writing this down here in hopes of remembering it next year. Imagine planting these in a black container with a ghostly Artemisia or dusty miller, and maybe a salmon-colored Osteospermum, and arranging a pumpkin or two around the container. Must remember this next year, must remember this next year, must...

I'd grow all of these again. There isn't a bad one in the lot. All the plants were nibbled on to some degree by wild critters (deer? rabbits?), but I still had plenty of fruit. I didn't notice if the critters ate the fruit or not, but they definitely pruned the plants for me.

Next year, I'm going to add Poblanos and more New Mexico style chiles. Maybe, possibly, a habanero. We'll see.

I plan to update this post with pictures later, when I take my Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day photos, but I want to post this now before we head out the door to the Virginia Wine and Garlic Festival. And I'm working on a post for my food blog on all the chile condiments in my kitchen, inspired by Ki.

Updated October 14 with photos. Click through for variety names.

Labels: peppers, potager

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Thai Chiles = Chemical Attack?

Was this in the newspapers here? How did I miss it? I was alerted by the BotanicalGardening Blog.

If I can drive myself out of the house with just a handful of peppers, imagine what nine pounds could do.

Labels: peppers

Monday, September 10, 2007

Bellingrath Gardens Hot Purple

This rather sinister looking photo shows the secret to a wickedly hot Thai stir fry dish I concocted on Saturday. The pepper is 'Bellingrath Gardens Hot Purple', and it certainly looks like it could be closely related to the Thai chile peppers known as prik (or prig) kee noo. Apparently, Prik Kee Noo is so beloved in Thailand there's even a pop song. I haven't any idea what the lyrics mean so I'm just guessing, but the video is cute.

Labels: peppers

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Enjoying the Harvest

I have an old cookbook entitled Too Many Tomatoes - a Cookbook for When Your Garden Explodes, and that about sums up what I've been doing lately. One of these days, I'm going to write up my thoughts on the tomato and pepper varieties I grew this year (so I don't forget by next January), but until then I'll be writing up what I'm cooking with them. The Striped Romans yielded a great fresh tomato puree for Gazpacho last night, and some fresh red mildly hot chile peppers provided a little kick and depth of flavor that made it really outstanding. Some of the same peppers went into a gussied-up version of pepper and egg sandwiches, but I haven't written that recipe up yet. Soon.

Labels: peppers, tomatoes

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