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Planning the fire...


donk79

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The crocuses are starting to pop out of the ground and I am starting to plan my pepper garden for the coming year. Last year I had jalapenos, cherries, habaneros, serranos, and bannanas. I enjoyed those, but this year I'd like to explore a little more. Are there any unusual peppers you would recommend? Peppers with distinct flavors, unusual aromas, or just plain awe inspiringly good peppers?

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The crocuses are starting to pop out of the ground and I am starting to plan my pepper garden for the coming year.  Last year I had jalapenos, cherries, habaneros, serranos, and bannanas.  I enjoyed those, but this year I'd like to explore a little more.  Are there any unusual peppers you would recommend?  Peppers with distinct flavors, unusual aromas, or just plain awe inspiringly good peppers?

Donk;

What area of the country are you in? If you're into Southern cooking, there are a million things you can do with cayennes. Check out (among others) Bill Neal in Bill Neal's Southern Cooking. Cubanels also have a nice mild flavor, but add a nice touch to chili and such dishes.

THW

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne." John Maynard Keynes

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Thai bird peppers of various types. Very versatile, especially if you like to make asian food. The plants are also VERY productive.

on the larger chile side, Anchos are very good for stuffing type applications, as they are thin walled with low/medium burn. For general purpose frying peppers (for use on pizza, sausage sandwiches, pasta, etc) you cant go wrong with Cubanelles.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Try some anchos. There's a lot of varieties of them, but ancho ranchero hybrid is a good one for stuffing. Medusa is cool. It's bushy, with those skinny hot little devils sticking straight up. It is very decorative, but edible, flavorful, but not extra hot (unusual for a skinny pepper). Kung Pao--yipes--good. And I am serious here, the peter pepper is an excellent tasting pepper, and makes good pepper vinegar for greens. My seeds came from a little old lady in Milsap, Texas, who was in her 80's and gardened!

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I've heard of the peter pepper, and frankly am surprised to hear that it is so good. I had discarded it as a mere novelty for its shape with little other value. This is all great information everyone! Thank you, and please keep it coming!

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You should try some thai chiles, like Jason said, cause they are real different. And a Big Jim or NuMex Anaheim style, a Greek or Italian Pepperoncini, and if you can get it, Chiltepins. They are the bomb (literally and figuratively).

A good and reputable source is www.tomatogrowers.com. I use them, and their seed is good and fresh. They are in Fort Myers, FL, and so ship all year. And do not worry about using hybrid veges for stuff you do not intend to save seeds from. Heirloom is great, but if you are wanting a particular hybrid, then go for it.

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I agree on anchos, they are a standby of ours, and pimientos, which we roast and freeze when the crop is good. You can then take them out of the freezer as you need through the winter for antipasto plates, salads, sauces etc.

A good thin-skinned italian frying pepper is one of my favorites--since I don't grow them from seed, I have to rely on what I can find at the nurseries, which changes from year to year, so I don't have a specific variety to recommend. They are great for slow frying in evoo, skin on, with fresh herbs.

Fred Bramhall

A professor is one who talk's in someone else's sleep

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In terms of the bird peppers, is there any particular variety you would recommend? I'm tempted to go for some of the more colorful "rainbow" varieties, but I don't want to end up sacrificing flavor. After all, I've yet to see a pepper garden that wasn't a thing of beauty regardless of what peppers were in it.

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In terms of the bird peppers, is there any particular variety you would recommend? I'm tempted to go for some of the more colorful "rainbow" varieties, but I don't want to end up sacrificing flavor. After all, I've yet to see a pepper garden that wasn't a thing of beauty regardless of what peppers were in it.

stay away from the rainbows, those are primarily for ornamental purposes. Go with the regular yellow, green/red bird peppers.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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If you like the habaneros (or Scotch Bonnets), try the Fatalii chile. It's a West African cultivar of the Chinense species; a close cousin of both habaneros and Scotch Bonnets but fruitier and more fragrant than either. My partner and I fell madly in love with them last summer when we grew them for a lark. Their floral character is so pronounced that we've since found them a necessary addition to every meal. ...Er, their heat is also rather pronounced though, so beware. I made a blackberry-fatalli sauce for duck (a ratio of a pint of blackberries + some orange juice to 1/2 a fatalii) that nearly took my head off.

A jumped-up pantry boy who never knew his place.

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Fimbul,

The Fatalii sounds exactly like the type of pepper I am looking for. Where did you get your plants/seeds? Thank you for the advice on the rainbows, Jason. Thats all I need to hear to know their not the direction I want to go.

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Another good Habanero derivative is the Chocolate habanero. They are longer than regular habaneros and have a chocolately brown color on the outside when ripe -- very pungent, distinctive flavor. Also seem to be more resilient to disease than regular orange habaneros and they produce a LOT.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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BTW a really good seedlings seed provider is chileplants.com, thats who I order from every year.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Jason,

my wife won't approve of my spending a minimum of $40 on pepper plants. So that means chileplants.com is out. Unfortunately she doesn't enjoy them half as much as I do. Where would you recommend purchasing seeds from? I'm becoming concerned about complaints against reimerseeds that I've seen online.

Edited to say that i'm checking out tomatogrowers.com right now, thanks mabelline

Edited by donk79 (log)
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Does the cubanelle possibly go by another name?

italian frying pepper, I think. They are long and have light green skins.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Are the bird peppers were referring to tepins or chilepiquins? I'm seeing both called "bird pepper." For reference I am looking at the tomatogrowers.com website now.

Edited for fumblefingers

Edited again to correct misconceptions and assumptions

Edited by donk79 (log)
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To me, the bird chile is the tepins, because they have always been wild and birds ate them..but some folks call both bird peppers now. Tom.growers have the cubanelle, corno di toro yellow and the Jamaican Hot Chocolate, like Jason told you about.

Thanks, Jason, I'm getting some of their goat peppers,birds, and haven't finished yet.Donk, by the way, if you can afford any pepper plants, the tepin and chiltepin can be kept in pots year round, and they are absolute buggerbears to start. Amazing that birds eat them, pass 'em on, they'll germinate, but you try it, and 9 out of 10 times she won't grow!

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