Mid October and harvest time

Mid October, and I've had the plants indoors for a couple of weeks. Some plants make the transition between the outdoor and indoor climates fine. While others just get bad, and loose their leaves. This year, it was pretty fine. Only the lanceolatum that got sad. But the plan is to get rid of most of the plants as soon as possible. So, to harvest the ripe pods have high priority.

Capsicum tovarii Major excitement that the tovarii finally has produced pods. I don't know for how many times I've tried, but as they say - never ever give up. Four pods on one plant may not be a world record, but at least I'm happy :-) I wonder how long they need to mature. Maybe a couple of months more...

Bhut Jolokia The harvest from my Bhut Jolokia plant. I like the taste of them, but they are a little too hot to handle I think. They have the characteristics of a habanero. The immediate explosive heat, but it also has the characteristics of frutescens. The heat that just grows, and doesn't give up. So I don't really know what to do with these. Maybe dry them, and make a powder. Haven't decided yet.
Tabasco I think I need to grow at least one frutescens each year. Tabasco or malagueta. It doesn't really matter. They are so good. I'm surprised that the tabasco plant managed so good to move indoors. It seems to keep the flowers, and it looks fine. In good shape. Who knows. Maybe I can harvest tabasco on Christmas Eve :-)
Capsicum lanceolatum This one is different to all the Capsicum I've grown. Haven't tasted it yet. So I have to report back later.
Long chocolate habanero Yes, this is funny. It used to be a long chocolate habanero. But this year, it was more like a red habanero. Good heat though. And quite a nice harvest. Happy guy :-) Before chopping them for the dryer. I didn't find my protective gloves, so my fingers were on fire for the whole evening... Finally. Drying. I think I will make some flakes of them, so it's easier to adjust the heat. The smell from the drying pods is fantastic!

Mid October and harvest time

Mid October, and I've had the plants indoors for a couple of weeks. Some plants make the transition between the outdoor and indoor climates fine. While others just get bad, and loose their leaves. This year, it was pretty fine. Only the lanceolatum that got sad. But the plan is to get rid of most of the plants as soon as possible. So, to harvest the ripe pods have high priority.


Capsicum tovarii
Major excitement that the tovarii finally has produced pods. I don't know for how many times I've tried, but as they say - never ever give up. Four pods on one plant may not be a world record, but at least I'm happy :-)


I wonder how long they need to mature. Maybe a couple of months more...


Bhut Jolokia
The harvest from my Bhut Jolokia plant. I like the taste of them, but they are a little too hot to handle I think. They have the characteristics of a habanero. The immediate explosive heat, but it also has the characteristics of frutescens. The heat that just grows, and doesn't give up. So I don't really know what to do with these. Maybe dry them, and make a powder. Haven't decided yet.



Tabasco
I think I need to grow at least one frutescens each year. Tabasco or malagueta. It doesn't really matter. They are so good. I'm surprised that the tabasco plant managed so good to move indoors. It seems to keep the flowers, and it looks fine. In good shape. Who knows. Maybe I can harvest tabasco on Christmas Eve :-)



Capsicum lanceolatum
This one is different to all the Capsicum I've grown. Haven't tasted it yet. So I have to report back later.


Long chocolate habanero
Yes, this is funny. It used to be a long chocolate habanero. But this year, it was more like a red habanero. Good heat though. And quite a nice harvest.



Happy guy :-)


Before chopping them for the dryer. I didn't find my protective gloves, so my fingers were on fire for the whole evening...


Finally. Drying. I think I will make some flakes of them, so it's easier to adjust the heat. The smell from the drying pods is fantastic!

September harvest

Almost mid September, and I'm following the development out on the balcony. Still the majority of the fruits have a long way to go before they are ready to be picked.

But I have some great news! And the first one to mention is ....

Capsicum tovarii

Major excitement! I think that I finally have one tovarii fruit that maybe will make it

Bode amarela
The salmon colour of this one is amazing. It looks delicious. I haven't picked the fruits yet, so I can't tell about the taste. But I bet they taste good :-)

A small harvest
Today I picked cheiro laranja and dedo de moça. Both are Capsicum baccatum. And also one tiny Capsicum chacoense. Talk about a greatest hits collection!

Well folks, that's all for today. Hoping for some nice sunshine the coming days, and a quick development of the ripening of the pods.

Mats

September harvest

Almost mid September, and I'm following the development out on the balcony. Still the majority of the fruits have a long way to go before they are ready to be picked.

But I have some great news! And the first one to mention is ....

Capsicum tovarii

Major excitement! I think that I finally have one tovarii fruit that maybe will make it!

Bode amarela
The salmon colour of this one is amazing. It looks delicious. I haven't picked the fruits yet, so I can't tell about the taste. But I bet they taste good :-)

A small harvest
Today I picked cheiro laranja and dedo de moça. Both are Capsicum baccatum. And also one tiny Capsicum chacoense. Talk about a greatest hits collection!

Well folks, that's all for today. Hoping for some nice sunshine the coming days, and a quick development of the ripening of the pods.

Mats

A chile pepper update

The nights are getting darker, and it's cooler. So it's a race against time out on the balcony.

We picked some nice chiles this weekend. If you click on any of the pictures, you will see more pictures of that variety.

The Cheiro amarela with its unusual shape. Isn't it pretty cool?



And the Capsicum tovarii is finally flowering. I hope that the weather guys are right when they say we will have some warm days this week... These flowers don't open the same way some other Capsicum flowers do. I almost looks like a C. baccatum flower, but it is more "waxy" and more "pale".

Also the plant is different looking. Sort of stronger. More "woody". This branch is from my plant that was started from seeds earlier this year.

And also the leaves are a little different. More shiny. Somewhat resembling my old favorite Capsicum flexuosum.


And my old favorite Capsicum chacoense. Small "berries" that easily drop off the plant.



And last but not least. Dedo de moça, one of my Brazilian favorites. Wonderful to eat fresh. We eat it on crisp bread with cheese. Wonderful texture and taste!


Hopefully more later :-)

Harvest time

Finally! The moment I've been waiting for :-) Time to pick some ripe chiles! During the attacks of the strong winds this summer, the plants have dropped some fruits on the balcony floor, which we of course have tasted. But nothing compares to the taste of the fruits that have matured on the plant! So it was a big moment when I picked three pods on the balcony today.

And we were not disappointed. Fantastic taste and heat. I always sense a distant taste of raspberry in the dedo de moça. I picked them nine hours ago, and saved some seeds, without using gloves or else protecting my fingers. And I can still feel a disturbing heat / irritation on my finger tops. Amazing!

Here they are :-)


Hopefully more harvest pictures soon!

My Capsicum lanceolatum

Finally! After a long wait! There are flowers on my Capsicum lanceolatum!

This is how it looked a few days ago:


And today, flowers had developed!
Aren't they beautiful?

Regards,
Mats

Beautiful Capsicum flowers

Looking at the chile plants on the balcony, I almost feel like I can hear them growing, flowering and producing fruits. Fantastic!

Today I noticed that my Capsicum lanceolatum from last year is starting to flower. It's a small plant with its own growing behaviour, and the flowers that are starting to develop look absolutely fantastic!

I do hope it's not too late for it to produce some fruits. And I'm also very curious about how the flowers will look when they open. More pictures can be seen if you click on the image.



I've always loved the tepin/pequin/piquin plants, because of their beauty. And also of course the taste of the dried pods. So another beautiful variety this year is a chilipiquin (Capsicum annum var. aviculare). The flowers are so tiny, so I think it's hard to capture them, but one always have to try :-) More shots if you follow the link from the picture.

Is it a tabasco year?

Especially if you are not into chile peppers, please continue reading this page, and you may change your impression about what a chile pepper is

I'm not really sure how this summer performs when compared to other typical Swedish summers. But I have the impression that it's been colder, less sunshine and more windy.

Last time I grew tabasco, was in 2002. And I remember that spring and summer, because Carl was born. And it was a very warm spring, quite a warm summer. That was a "tabasco year", giving me a nice tabasco "harvest". So I'm surprised to see that my tabasco this year is a heavy producer. At least judging from the amount of flowers and tiny pods that are on the plant right now.



The same year (2002), my dedo de moça had mature pods in May already. That's not the case this year. But it's definitely one of my absolute favorites. It's a nice Capsicum baccatum with moderate heat and nice flavor. Putting it in a large pot helps, and will easily grow to 1,5 metres height in one season.



I label this year as my "greatest hits year", so another true favorite is the Capsicum chacoense. It's one of the varieties that I grow for its beauty. The plant is delicate, with butter-coloured flowers and wonderful small pods.



Over the years, I've grown several different C. chacoense, and if you're interested to see them, you can follow this link.

I mentioned the rocopica in my previous post, but it's worth mentioning again. A few days has passed since then, and now pods are shaping all over the plant. What an adventure!



My chile pepper journey started 15 years ago at a restaurant in Austin, Texas. Together with friends we had a spicy dish decorated with an orange habanero. We ate our habaneros, but saved the seeds, and I promised to grow it when I got back home. I need to look through my old pictures to see if I find that picture, because it's a story in its own. Anyway...

No year is complete without a habanero! Or at least a Capsicum chinense. This year in my greatest hits compilation, I have the long chocolate habanero, which is a very nice habanero!heck out the pictures from my previous years, because it's a true beauty (you can click on the picture below).



Of course I also have some new ones. I can't say much about them yet. But so far they look fine.

Cheiro amarela, which I'm not certain if it's a C. annuum or C. chinense, but I vote for a chinense. I think that the seeds I got were not completely pure, because the pods are differently shaped on the same plant.



Cheiro laranja is another new one for this year. I know for sure that it's a Capsicum baccatum, because of the look of the flowers.



And last for today, but not lease, the bode amarela. My guess is that it is a C. chinense because there are multiple flowers per node.


That was today's adventure on my chile pepper balcony.

Don't you agree that what can be taken for granted as "a chile pepper", is something much more than you first imagine. Different shapes, colours, heat, flavour. And looking at the plants, completely different growing behaviours. Absolutely fabulous!

A chile pepper update

Hello and welcome to my blog!

It's been a different chile pepper year this year. Mostly because the house exterior was painted, with new balconies and all those things, resulting in us living in a lightless apartment without possibilities to open any windows, or anything.

Because of the limited space, I limited myself to a few varieties this year. Mostly a greates hits collection.

So here are the varieties that I grow this year:

• Dedo de moca (Capsicum baccatum)


• Capsicum galapagoense


• Long chocolate habanero (Capsicum chinense)


• Tabasco (Capsicum frutescens)


• CGN 22876 / PI606708 tovarii


• CAP 1153 / 96 (Capsicum chacoense)


• Chilipiquin - Manor (Capsicum annuum)


• Bode amarela (Capsicum chinense)


• Cheiro amarela


• Cheiro laranja


• Bhut Jolokia (Capsicum chinense)


• Rocopica (Capsicum pubescens / ulupica cross)


• Capsicum lanceolatum

Anyway, we could move the plants outdoors in late June, so they have been there for a little more than a month now, and it looks pretty good despite the late start.

Not to mention the strong winds we've had. Many plants have leaves that look like this...


I want to share some pictures of this year's surprise. It's my rocopica from last year that I have kept over the winter.

The rocopica is a very interesting variety. It's a cross cross between a rocoto and ulupica. It looks like an ulupica, but has some characteristics of the rocoto (Capsicum pubescens). Like the rocoto, it has black seeds.



For more pictures of rocopica, click here.

Another overwintered variety is my Bhut Jolokia, which almost died during the house renovation. It has a late start, but if we get a warm autumn, there is hope to get some pods. The ones we harvested last year was definitely the hottest chiles I've ever tasted.

Promising flower buds, but we need some more sunshine here in Stockholm for them to develop.


Also, pictures from my previous chile pepper years can be found here at petterssononline.com.

Well, if we just get weaker winds here in Stockholm, I may get back with more pictures soon.

Take care,
Mats