Post by macmex on Nov 26, 2013 11:35:06 GMT -6
Peppers are a wonderful crop, especially where summers are hot and dry. When I say "pepper," in my own mind I mean "hot pepper." That's just me. Sweet peppers are good. They're just totally different, and, in my experience, sweet peppers don't handle adverse conditions like the hot ones. I feel rich when I have a plentitude of hot peppers. Fortunately, most hot peppers produce abundantly here in Oklahoma.
Hot peppers have a good many uses. Personally, after the main harvest of ají I usually carry one in my shirt pocket, to nibble on during the day. This particular pepper has a wonderful complex flavor and heat. When I first take a nibble I taste an incredible sweetness. This continues while I'm chewing in the front of my mouth. Once I swallow I experience a pretty good "heat rush." It's just tolerable for me. Within moments of swallowing I experience a very nice "afterglow." Ají is in the species capsicum chinese (closely related to habanero). Anything like an habanero generally is a "slow burner," meaning, you can bite into it without sensing much heat at all. It waits until you've "swallowed hook, line and sinker" before it strikes. Then, it's hot! But the afterglow is wonderful, full of complex flavor. Here's a picture of the ají I grew. This one is called Ají Yellow 2 by Cross Country Nurseries (chileplants.com) where my seed originated.
When our family lived in Mexico we became very fond of a jalepeño type, grown in an area of the Eastern hill country called the Huesteca. This pepper was known as Chile Rayado (translated: streaked pepper). This jalepeño type was a bit larger than most jalepeños and hotter. Typically, it was smoked and dried. We would purchase it in the market. Wow! What a wonderful hot sauce it made! Several years before we left Mexico I started trying to get some seed to Rayado. It wasn't easy. Most of the people I knew, who grew it, lived a couple of hours from me and got their plants from a collective. Each time I asked about seed they had already smoked their harvest and had none. How sad! They were dependent upon a supplier for each year's planting! After six years, I gave up trying to get seed. Not that all I did was try to get this seed. I was busy. If finally "fell off the edge of the table," so to speak. I forgot about it. We then left the country.
A couple of years after we returned to the USA I was back in Mexico teaching for two weeks. Some of my students picked up on the fact that I'm kind of a "seedy character." Some of them went home for the weekend and returned... bearing seeds! One of those students brought be about a half cup of Chile Rayado seed! I've grown it, here in Oklahoma, ever since. Rayado as well as all Jalepeños, serranos and banana peppers are all part of the species capsicum annum.
I've grown and enjoyed several other kinds of peppers. But right now I'll only mention one more. This one, I've dubbed "Frank's Thai Hot." Back in 2002 my kids bought me two hot pepper plants for Fathers' day. They bought them at Frank's Garden Center in Howell, NJ. They were labeled "Thai Hot." But the peppers they bore didn't match up with either of the Thai Hot peppers I had previously grown, nor with any other pepper I could find by that name. The plants were also pretty expensive. But I enjoyed them. So, I saved seed, growing them almost every year since then. To distinguish this one from the other "Thai Hots" I dubbed it "Frank's Thai Hot."
Frank's Thai Hot is like a miniature cayenne pepper. The pods have thin walls and dry very very easily. They are hot, but not nearly as hot as some peppers. i'd place them at just below a jalepeño in heat. The plants bloom and set pods very early. Plus they continue to vigorously grow and bloom until killed by frost, setting so many peppers that I simply can't be bothered with picking them all. I leave them on the plants, where they usually dry, and at the end of the season, I cut the plants off at the root and bring them in to a shed and hang them. There, once the leaves have fallen, I can easily pick dry, hot peppers during the winter. This pepper is good for cooking in a stew. It's great for grinding into red pepper flakes. I've actually grown clusters of Frank's Thai Hot in flower gardens, where they are very beautiful, with their bouquets of red pods.
Here's a picture
Peppers do cross. According to some literature I've seen, there is even crossing between species. However, in my own experience, I have grown Frank's Thai Hot or Chile Rayado directly adjacent to habaneros without a single cross. But, being capsicum annum I'm positive that they would have crossed very freely between themselves or with bell, cherry or banana peppers. Within the same species we should expect crossing and take measures to prevent it, if we are aiming for pure seed. Experts vary on their recommendations, and their opinions have evolved over the years. Most are becoming more careful/conservative in their recommendations. I know that I have done well to give peppers of the same species as much isolation distance as possible. I almost never grow more than two of any one species.Generally, I grow one habanero type and two capiscum annum. I plant one of these right next to my capsicum chinese and the other in another garden, several hundred feet away. This way, I have never had a cross. Consider that they are not only separated by distance, but also, there are many flowering plants between them. Here in Northeastern Oklahoma bees do indeed work pepper flowers. So be careful! I received my Ají Yellow 2 seed from my brother in NJ. Pete had ordered something like 14 different habanero types from Cross Country Nurseries, planting them all in the same garden. When visiting Pete, I had the privilege of going through the garden and tasting the different chiles. I thought that Ají Yellow 2 had the best flavor, so I picked and brought three pods home with me. From these pods I probably extracted 35 seeds. I planted only about a third of them this spring. Of these, I ended up planting out five or six plants. All of them came out pure, as I remembered the variety; all except one. That one plant was obviously a cross with a red habanero. Its fruit were much larger. They matured red, and they looked like a somewhat long habanero. I would never have guessed that it had ají in it. But it did taste good. The cross was a useful one. But I've decided not to grow that cross anytime soon. I prefer the pure ají yellow 2. When I harvested my seed in 2013, I tried to take pods farthest away from the crossed plant. Possibly I will find yet another cross in 2014. But eventually I'll get down to pure ají yellow 2. In fact, I liked ají yellow 2 so much, that I dug up a plant and brought it into our sun porch. My hope is that I can nurse it through the winter and transplant it back into the garden in May, getting an early harvest, which, should be absolutely pure.
The real problem is when a grower wants to produce seed for sweet peppers and there is a cross with a hot pepper. The next generation may produce hot bell peppers, for instance. But saving pepper seed is worth while. Some varieties disapear after just a few short seasons on the market. Some, like Chile Rayado, never make it into the gardening market.
A very determined/dedicated pepper grower could actually build a mosquito netting mesh cage around the plants from which he/she wants seed. To assure pollination, one could release house flies into the cage. They would do the job.
Ok,... 'nuff said for now. There is no limit to the possibilities for a seed saver!
George
Hot peppers have a good many uses. Personally, after the main harvest of ají I usually carry one in my shirt pocket, to nibble on during the day. This particular pepper has a wonderful complex flavor and heat. When I first take a nibble I taste an incredible sweetness. This continues while I'm chewing in the front of my mouth. Once I swallow I experience a pretty good "heat rush." It's just tolerable for me. Within moments of swallowing I experience a very nice "afterglow." Ají is in the species capsicum chinese (closely related to habanero). Anything like an habanero generally is a "slow burner," meaning, you can bite into it without sensing much heat at all. It waits until you've "swallowed hook, line and sinker" before it strikes. Then, it's hot! But the afterglow is wonderful, full of complex flavor. Here's a picture of the ají I grew. This one is called Ají Yellow 2 by Cross Country Nurseries (chileplants.com) where my seed originated.
When our family lived in Mexico we became very fond of a jalepeño type, grown in an area of the Eastern hill country called the Huesteca. This pepper was known as Chile Rayado (translated: streaked pepper). This jalepeño type was a bit larger than most jalepeños and hotter. Typically, it was smoked and dried. We would purchase it in the market. Wow! What a wonderful hot sauce it made! Several years before we left Mexico I started trying to get some seed to Rayado. It wasn't easy. Most of the people I knew, who grew it, lived a couple of hours from me and got their plants from a collective. Each time I asked about seed they had already smoked their harvest and had none. How sad! They were dependent upon a supplier for each year's planting! After six years, I gave up trying to get seed. Not that all I did was try to get this seed. I was busy. If finally "fell off the edge of the table," so to speak. I forgot about it. We then left the country.
A couple of years after we returned to the USA I was back in Mexico teaching for two weeks. Some of my students picked up on the fact that I'm kind of a "seedy character." Some of them went home for the weekend and returned... bearing seeds! One of those students brought be about a half cup of Chile Rayado seed! I've grown it, here in Oklahoma, ever since. Rayado as well as all Jalepeños, serranos and banana peppers are all part of the species capsicum annum.
I've grown and enjoyed several other kinds of peppers. But right now I'll only mention one more. This one, I've dubbed "Frank's Thai Hot." Back in 2002 my kids bought me two hot pepper plants for Fathers' day. They bought them at Frank's Garden Center in Howell, NJ. They were labeled "Thai Hot." But the peppers they bore didn't match up with either of the Thai Hot peppers I had previously grown, nor with any other pepper I could find by that name. The plants were also pretty expensive. But I enjoyed them. So, I saved seed, growing them almost every year since then. To distinguish this one from the other "Thai Hots" I dubbed it "Frank's Thai Hot."
Frank's Thai Hot is like a miniature cayenne pepper. The pods have thin walls and dry very very easily. They are hot, but not nearly as hot as some peppers. i'd place them at just below a jalepeño in heat. The plants bloom and set pods very early. Plus they continue to vigorously grow and bloom until killed by frost, setting so many peppers that I simply can't be bothered with picking them all. I leave them on the plants, where they usually dry, and at the end of the season, I cut the plants off at the root and bring them in to a shed and hang them. There, once the leaves have fallen, I can easily pick dry, hot peppers during the winter. This pepper is good for cooking in a stew. It's great for grinding into red pepper flakes. I've actually grown clusters of Frank's Thai Hot in flower gardens, where they are very beautiful, with their bouquets of red pods.
Here's a picture
Peppers do cross. According to some literature I've seen, there is even crossing between species. However, in my own experience, I have grown Frank's Thai Hot or Chile Rayado directly adjacent to habaneros without a single cross. But, being capsicum annum I'm positive that they would have crossed very freely between themselves or with bell, cherry or banana peppers. Within the same species we should expect crossing and take measures to prevent it, if we are aiming for pure seed. Experts vary on their recommendations, and their opinions have evolved over the years. Most are becoming more careful/conservative in their recommendations. I know that I have done well to give peppers of the same species as much isolation distance as possible. I almost never grow more than two of any one species.Generally, I grow one habanero type and two capiscum annum. I plant one of these right next to my capsicum chinese and the other in another garden, several hundred feet away. This way, I have never had a cross. Consider that they are not only separated by distance, but also, there are many flowering plants between them. Here in Northeastern Oklahoma bees do indeed work pepper flowers. So be careful! I received my Ají Yellow 2 seed from my brother in NJ. Pete had ordered something like 14 different habanero types from Cross Country Nurseries, planting them all in the same garden. When visiting Pete, I had the privilege of going through the garden and tasting the different chiles. I thought that Ají Yellow 2 had the best flavor, so I picked and brought three pods home with me. From these pods I probably extracted 35 seeds. I planted only about a third of them this spring. Of these, I ended up planting out five or six plants. All of them came out pure, as I remembered the variety; all except one. That one plant was obviously a cross with a red habanero. Its fruit were much larger. They matured red, and they looked like a somewhat long habanero. I would never have guessed that it had ají in it. But it did taste good. The cross was a useful one. But I've decided not to grow that cross anytime soon. I prefer the pure ají yellow 2. When I harvested my seed in 2013, I tried to take pods farthest away from the crossed plant. Possibly I will find yet another cross in 2014. But eventually I'll get down to pure ají yellow 2. In fact, I liked ají yellow 2 so much, that I dug up a plant and brought it into our sun porch. My hope is that I can nurse it through the winter and transplant it back into the garden in May, getting an early harvest, which, should be absolutely pure.
The real problem is when a grower wants to produce seed for sweet peppers and there is a cross with a hot pepper. The next generation may produce hot bell peppers, for instance. But saving pepper seed is worth while. Some varieties disapear after just a few short seasons on the market. Some, like Chile Rayado, never make it into the gardening market.
A very determined/dedicated pepper grower could actually build a mosquito netting mesh cage around the plants from which he/she wants seed. To assure pollination, one could release house flies into the cage. They would do the job.
Ok,... 'nuff said for now. There is no limit to the possibilities for a seed saver!
George