Beefing up Chaz's Brownies

[tylik]

It's pretty amazing. I think all my peppers are blushing in envy.

(My peppers are happy to be outside, but would prefer a little more sun. Oh well.)

[InkRose]

Is that Cheiro Roxa...entirely purple?

I think I'm in love.

It pretty much is, apart from the less-than-a-few-days-old parts of leaves. And the petals, of course. The pods apparently are supposed to get a pink tinge to them when they're ripe. Not sure how well that'll show up under heavy UV though.

I know Pimenta da Neyde is also purple all the way, and the only way to tell if it's ripe is to cut one open: if the flesh is purple all through, it's ripe, if it's yellow(ish), it's not. It looks much the same as Cheiro Roxa, but the pods are slender and longish (2-3 inches I guess).

[txanne]

Wowowowow. What do they taste like? (Actually, I don't think I care what they taste like, I want one anyway.)

[InkRose]

Haven't come across any "tasting notes" on Cheiro Roxa, it's a pretty new find for the market and here only available to registered customers of Fataliiseeds.net.

Pimenta da Neyde is apparently a somewhat unusual tasting pepper, especially for a Chinense, which usually are at least a little sweet and more or less fruity before the burn takes over. Most comments I found on the Finnish Chile Forum were negative, mostly saying it tastes bitter or just 'off'. Has a fairly generous burn. Probably best to dry and grind them.

Here's two pics: 1 and 2

[InkRose]

Here's another adorable little chile plant. Just make sure he doesn't hear you say he's cute:


That's my only wild species right now, C. Lanceolatum, which has been a grumpy little tease all summer, growing buds but dropping them before they bloom, and so on, so I thought I'd try and turn it into a bonchi (bonsai chile, in case you didn't guess - the word was coined by one Jukka "Fatalii" Kilpinen). C. Lanceolatum is quite possibly extinct in the wild now. In fact, it was already declared extinct some decades ago, but in 1991, two specimens were found on a farm in the mountains of Guatemala, of which even this (and ALL known C. Lanceolatums) is descended.

[tylik]

Oh, it's beautiful!

It's totally no fair that you have a bonsai chile is that is prettier than my bonsai fig!

[InkRose]

I guess it's high time I write a little update on the little old chile farm I've had. Things have gone much better than I ever dared even dream, despite the tarnished plant bugs that ate my first plants. Last saturday I cleaned out the outdoor plants for a harvest of about 3500 grams, taking the total so far to approximately 5 kilos of various peppers. There's a second crop coming in a few plants at the workshop, about 130 Habaneros and several dozen rocotos. I'm expecting them to push the total harvest to over 6 kg.

Last night I made some orange-ginger-habanero jam, and plan to cook up a small batch of lemon & Lemon Drop (a zesty, fresh C. Baccatum - ripens to bright yellow of course) jam or marmalade sometime soon, too. Most of the outdoor harvest is now chopped up and drying in the boiler room at the in-laws' house.

Just a few late season highlights:

The outdoor harvest - unripe rocotos in the foreground.


C. Lanceolatum has finally blossomed (although I missed seeing it open due to new job's hours). Rocoto Red Peruvian is growing quite a handsome pod, plans to finish the season on a high note I guess.


Second crop of Habaneros maturing:                                                                                                                        Starfish (C. Baccatum) a few weeks ago:


Cheiro Roxa harvest (weight includes the bowl, 65 g)                          The first Homera to ripen


Rocoto Peru a few weeks ago, the beginnings of the second crop:


And finally two that I've cut down some time ago in preparation for overwintering, Pink Habanero and Cajamarca:


Next season planning and preparations are well underway already. I've sourced most of the varieties I want to grow and am already germinating the wild species. This month is going to be super hectic though: I've got a new full-time job, still have a bunch of old work to finish, and we bought a house last week which means we'll also be moving both our home and my workshop by the end of the month...

So if any of you guys want seeds, I'll probably only get around to sending them out in November. Just PM me with your contact details.

[Emma Bull]

What a fabulous pepper harvest! I congratulate you!