Wishing for some nice sunny days

The chiles are turning red, yellow and orange now, and it sure is a beautiful sight!

Dedo de moça

Long chocolate (well red....) habanero

Wishing that the weather could be at least a few degrees warmer. Because even if the chile plants are beautiful, I sure don't want to bring all of them inside. They are far too big for that!

Forty three

I decided that today was a good day for picking some peppers. Actually I picked forty three. It is definitely not a lot, but considering that Carl and I did our best for lunch, eating four serranos, that leaves me with 39 hot chiles on the plus side.

The serranos were so hot, so I got hickups, and even scared Carl, so he almost dropped the spoon :-) It's interesting. I thought that after eating home grown chile peppers for fifteen years, I should be used to it. But sometimes, that special heat comes, and it's really hard to be prepared for it.

Some other varieties that I picked were rocopica, Patriks chinense and chacoense. A nice bunch of chiles :-)

There are more ripe fruits out on the balcony. But I couldn't pick my peru yellow and dedo de moça. Simply because I think they are so beautiful just as they are!

Here is my peru yellow. I had a hard time to break through the "jungle" in order to take this picture. But it shows some of the beauty.

And here is my dedo de moça. My good old overwintered plant from 2009, delivering lots and lots of nice baccatum fruits.

Have a nice weekend!

Autumn in the air

The nights are getting cooler, and it's just above +10C in the mornings. My late starters on the balcony have lots and lots of immature fruits. So I think that I will spend this weekend harvesting the ones that are ripe, leaving more space and energy to the ones that still are green.

My galapagoense is definitely the latest of them all. But I was very happy to see that there is at least a couple of tiny fruits.

It's a nice small plant. I think I will keep it for the winter.

The galapagoense is one of my favorites. The small fruits does not really taste much, but the heat is very intense and immediate.

More pictures here: http://www.petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=34

Peppermint

Well I know, this is definitely not a Capsicum, but I must admit that do like other plants than chiles :-) This one is more or less the opposite. It is cooling.

It surprised me with its beauty.

Don't you agree?

These yellow ones are really hot. Two is enough!

That's what Carl said when he had picked these two for lunch.

And I think he is right. This year, our Peru Yellow is hotter than I remember. It's still one of my favorite chiles. Thin, crisp flesh with a fresh taste of citrus. Yum!

My garden

Walking home from school with Carl yesterday, I took this picture of my "garden". There it is on the fourth floor...

Have a great weekend!
   Mats

(One of my) Pimenta cumari varieties

This one had a really slow start this year. The seeds were old, over 10 years, so I even suspected it wouldn't germinate. But it did. It's a beautiful variety from Brazil. The flowers are beuatiful, and the branches are easily broken. Actually quite unlike any other varieties I have grown.

Many varieties go under this name - pimenta cumari. I have grown both baccatum and chinense species with this name. But this one is my favorite.

More pictures here: http://petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=49

My tabasco connection

I have to admit it. I have a special relationship with tabasco chiles.

Fifteen years ago, I was in Louisiana together with some friends. We "happened" to pass Avery Island and the Tabasco factory. Here we are, outside the Tabasco factory. This happy guy on the picture here, that's me :-)

We had had a busy day driving around, and we were just a little late. So unfortunately this was the sign that met us.

Traveling almost across half the globe, and the factory is closed. That is really bad!
We had a busy schedule for the evening and next day, so we did not bother to return to Avery Island. But I know that I one day will visit the factory, and I will make sure that I arrive in time. :-)

A couple of years ago - 2004 to be more precise. Hmmm, that's more than a couple of years... I did my best to teach two-year old Carl how to handle the heat of the chiles. Here he is, eating the mild jalapeño tabasco.

A little later, he started to experiment with the hotter one. The habanero tabasco.

Eating it on crisp bread...

Yum!

I just had to send these pictures to tabasco. And, thanks to Tabasco, Carl got Tabasco shorts, t-shirt and cap, and I got a nice shirt :-)

Anyway. That is the reason why I feel a close relation to my tabasco peppers.

I think this picture is nice. Immature pods, and one stubborn flower.

And here is a wild bunch of tabasco peppers.

More tabasco pictures here: http://petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=144

Rocoto

Today I celebrate the beauty of the Capsicum pubescens flowers!

And fruits...

For more pictures of this beauty, ---->: http://petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=1207

Namaste!

Beautiful pods on a beautiful plant

The plant that was more or less destroyed in the strong winds earlier this spring, was olho de pombo. Check this out http://chilesinstockholm.blogspot.com/2010/05/challenges.html to see the destruction...

But chile plants are strong, and it recovered well. Now it has lots of beautiful purple/brown pods.

Thank you Peter for the seeds. It sure is a nice plant. I'm not sure about the species though. First, I thought that fudging from the flowers, it was a chinense, but maybe it is an annuum? Anyone who knows?

Hot regards,
   Mats

Dedo de moça and habanero

My two biggest pots on the balcony belong to my two year-old habanero and dedo de moça. Both plants are approximately 175 cm tall, and have chile pods, almost like grapes. I can't remember I have seen any baccatum or chinense on my balcony looking like this. Most pods are still green, but look at this. Isn't it fantastic?

Dedo de moça

Habanero

Both of them have started to drop a few pods. Probably because the plant can not carry more. I can't wait for them to start turning red.

Have a nice hot week!

Ripe rocopicas

Yesterday's heat was great for the chiles! Resulting in four ripe rocopicas. Also the peru yellow got a boost, and many pods turned yellow.

The rocopica is a special one. It combines the fantastic massive heat of the rocoto, with the more explosive heat of the cardenasii. Many thanks to Joe Carrasco (http://www.rocoto.com) for developing this great chile!

More rocopica pictures here: http://www.petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=1197

I know what is going to be for lunch already :-) Fresh rocopicas and peru yellows :-)

Have a nice Sunday!

Chilipiquin - Manor

It's 11 o'clock in the morning and temperature is well over 25C and rising, with over 95% humidity. Perfect weather for my chiles!

I'm especially happy today, to see that my old Chilipiquin (Capsicum annuum var. aviculare) from 2009 is doing fine. I have always loved the chilipiquin plants. They are both delicate and strong at the same time. With small white flowers on long flower stems.

There are immature pods on the plant which of course is promising. But this morning my eye got stuck on this beautiful flower. So I just had to bring out my camera tripod and crawl out on the balcony among the plants. And get a picture of it.

More pictures of it here: http://www.petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=1203

Have a nice Saturday!

My Capsicum annuum from Goa

I can't believe it is almost two years ago we were on our yoga retreat in Goa. That was absolutely fantastic. We lived more or less on the beach, did yoga every day, sunshine and good food. What more could one ask for?

Yes, maybe some chiles :-)

Of course I did what I always do when I'm abroad. That is - looking for chile peppers! We stopped at a grocery stand at the road, and I asked the woman for chile peppers. She did not have any chiles there. But she asked her son to run into their house, to get some dried chiles that they had for home use. So she sold me some of those.

Here is my "Indian from Goa". The plant was in a very poor condition after the strong winds earlier this year, but it survived, and has some flowers and tiny pods that I hope will grow bigger.

Namaste!

     Mats