Panamanian Sweet Pepper

[macmex]

Glen, in Panama, sent me seed to this commercially available (in Panama) sweet pepper. I understand that it is prolific and has fairly small pods. I'm going to try it here in Oklahoma. I started some seed, in a damp paper towel, on a heating pad, on March 21. I got my first sprout this morning, on March 23. That's pretty fast! Apparently this seed has LOTS of vigor! And so, the adventure begins!






Glen, about what size and shape were the peppers from which you got this seed?

[glen]

I am relieved that you have live seed as I am having problems getting mine to germinate. Those seeds came from the agro-store. They are Panamanian ahi and they are the common peppers that you see in every grocery store here. They are the easiest peppers to grow here and also the cheapest to buy in the super market. Some of the peppers here are down right hard to grow here. These are easy. I have mine growing in 12 inch wide pots. They are suffering in the wind and heat right now and not making new peppers. And, I have some new seed planted that is not germinating. Anyways these are not thick walled peppers. They would not be considered bell style peppers as they do not have that distinct bell shape nor do they have the thick walls. They are about 3 inches tall and a couple of inches wide at the widest part. Thin walled. When you buy these peppers you get quite a few in a package because they don't weigh much. But, they are sweet and have a nice flavor. They ripen red. If you lived in Panama I would recommend them highly because they really put on a lot of peppers, live a long time and provide a long harvest. They also have an early harvest. They are the most dependable pepper I have tried to grow. Just forget about trying to grow traditional bell peppers in my climate. Too much trouble. You will go back to this variety after the first try.

[glen]

Oh, and yes, these are very vigorous pepper plants. Your plants should just get full of blossoms. Of course, this depends on conditions for the plant. You should see mine right now. They are just suffering. But, so are all the rest of my pepper variety's.

[glen]

I just made up a batch of hot sauce. The best recipe I have ever made. I had been saving red peppers and freezing them for a good while and now that I filled up a big quart freezer bag it was time to make up a batch of sauce. I have some sweet peppers growing outside called Ahi criollo. They look like they should be scalding hot but they are sweet. About 2.5 inches long and skinny and nice and red. I also have hot jalepeno. Real hot. I have been letting them get red and saving them in the freezer also. I bought a nice big sweet red bell to complete the recipe.

For the sauce I used about.
15 Red Jalepeno's
The rest of the bag was full of those sweet 2.5 inch skinny red ahi criollo
The big Red Bell.

I cute it all up into pieces.

I cut a half an onion.
10 garlic cloves.
1 tsp of cumin
1 tbsp of salt
2.5 cups of white vinegar
A couple of tbsp of honey
The juice of one small lemon(a juicey one)

Blend all this together. Blend the devil out of it.

Then pour it into a container and let it sit for about 5 days or so. It won't go bad since its got all that vinegar and honey in it.

Then heat it on the stove and boil gently for 10 or 15 minutes. Let cool.

Find a seive that has kind of course screening in it. Not to fine or it will filter too much of the fibre out of your sauce. Pour this cooled mixture thru it.

When it is totally cool refridgerate.

I got three 8 oz bottles. It is hot. I have some of the hottest jalepeno's on the planet so even though I used real sweet peppers for the majority of this recipe it is still nice and spicey.

You can use any kind of peppers for this recipe. Just make sure and use a quart sized bag full of peppers at a minimum. Frozen peppers work fine for hot sauce.

Making your own hot sauce is one the funnest projects on the planet. Try it.

[heavyhitterokra]

Thanks, Glen, for posting some good news. It's been tough gardening here in April, in Oklahoma.

However, George was able to cheer me up pretty good with his germinated pepper seed post. (Those were great photos, George. Thanks for posting them.)

I've been repairing my smoker and hickory smoking some pork ribs today, in lieu of gardening, so the day hasn't been a total loss. I'd much rather have been planting tomatoes. Even though that was very tempting to do on such a sunny day, I don't believe we've had our last frost yet.

[hmoosek]

Any updates, George?

I didn't grow any peppers this year

[macmex]

Well, I had that one seed germinating and planted the rest . They were on my sun porch with the rest of my seedlings, when we had a cold snap. Everything made it okay, except the Panamanian Sweet Peppers. They stopped germinating and died. I need to dig up the rest of the seed (I rarely plant all the seed of anything in one shot.) and try again.

[glen]

Oh, thats too bad George. I can find some more seed and send it too you in the near future. I am having a load of luck with my peppers. I have started growing peppers year around. I only have one Panamanian grocery store Ahí still growing. I get nematodes in my pots after awhile and the plants just keel over. The one I do have left is is kind of lime in color now. I don't know if it will make it or not. I am mostly focusing on Jalepeno and Ahí Criollo now since they are so easy for me to grow. Ron sent me Tam jalepeno and they are already getting covered over with peppers so that is exciting. I like those plants so much I planted more day before yesterday. I will have 5 or 6 hot jalepeno plants and the same amount of Tam jalepeno plants going before its all over with. I like jalepeno's so much that I may not bother to grow habenero peppers. Those peppers are just too hot. They grow like weeds here also and I get bags and bags of habenero's and have no way to use them.

[glen]

This shows a Little of what I am growing now.  One of these foto's has Malabar spinach which is a very practical vining plant that can be cut and used in salads or used as a pot herb.  You will know it when you see it because you may not recognize it.  It grows like a weed.  Loves the heat.  I can grow tomato's and peppers year around here because we have stable hot temps year around.  We have a short day length of around 11.5 to 12 hours because we are close to the equator.  Temps are warm year around which makes living here very affordable.  I don't own many clothes for example.  Don't need much.  It's kind of like Guilligans Island here.

[glen]

The first foto shows my Little bird peppers. Bird peppers are wild peppers. There are many versions of this pepper growing around the world. I have Panama's versión of it. I need to buy some larger pots for these Little fella's cause they won't stay cute and Little much longer. They grow slow but get big. I pruned them day before yesterday to encourage branching. These plants get big if tended properly but grow slow. You get these Little tiny peppers that look like Xmas tree ornaments on them. Why grow these you might ask? They are beautiful if tended. The birds like to eat em. Plus, you can pick the Little peppers and wash em and then soak them in vinegar to make really spicey vinegar for the table. Or, you can also eat the Little pickled peppers. They are hot as all get out. You can make hot sauce out of them also. The plants get big and they are pretty to look at. Plus, they live a long time. If you nurse them thru the dry season they just keep on going. Until something kills them. Try growing them in your área. You have wild peppers growing somewhere near you most likely.

[macmex]

I have to locate the remaining packet of the Panamanian sweet pepper seed and start some more. I'm pretty sure that the first batch succumbed to the cold, when we had a late spring cold snap. My other peppers are doing well. I only have Chile Rayado transplanted out. This week I should get Murupi Amarela and Tabasco in their permanent locations. Normally I have a poor stand of Murupi Amarela, by the time I transplant. This year, however, I have almost every plant which germinated. I CAN'T use that many. That would take up a lot of space and produce about a hundred years' supply of hot peppers! 

[glen]

George, you can freeze your excess hot peppers. Well, I have a lot frozen still anyways that I use for hot sauce and other recipe's. They do take up a lot of space in the freezer but since you have a long Winter to go thru it could be worth it. The Panamanian sweet peppers will just get used as you grow them. They are just plain good tasting Little sweet peppers for general kitchen use. Those darn hot peppers are so prolific its just crazy. Probably one of those hot pepper plants is enough for the average person.

[macmex]

I dug up the rest of my Panamanian sweet pepper seeds and started them yesterday. Here's hoping for some success! Am looking forward to trying them! 

[rdback]

So how did these work out for you George? I must say I find these Panamanian peppers intriguing.

[glen]

George, I sent more Panamanian sweet pepper seed to Ron. Its a C Chinense variety. If you are nice to Ron, he might share some with ya. They are much better than the variety you used in this post which is an annuum.