Final rocoto harvest

Summer and the chile pepper jungle on the balcony feels distant. But I have had some plants left, waiting for the pods to mature.

Today it was time. To pick the last pods on my rocoto and rocopica.

The rocoto has been living on the floor in our living room the last couple of weeks. It was too big to move.

I was positively surprised. I picked 35 pods on one plant! Doesn't this look great?

So now we have 1,626 kg rocoto to eat.

Do you have any nice recipes to share?

Hot regards,
Mats

My "gringo killer"

It's not often I have the luxury to have a rocoto with dinner. For me, it's a very special chile pepper. Not like any other.

So it was a big moment when I put this rocoto on the cutting board.

Looking great! Saving the black seeds for future use :-)

And eating it, I was not disappointed. The taste was great, and nothing wrong with the heat. I got hickups and entertained the whole family :-)

I think the heat in rocotos is special. It is definitely much harder to resist than other chiles. I think I have read somewhere that the pubescens species contains more dihydrocapsaicin than other Capsicum species.  So in other words, the molecules have a different structure. Chemistry is not my home turf, but you can read more about it here: http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/chilli/index.htm

Hot regards,
  Mats

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!

Mr. Bumblebee meets my rocoto grande

It is harder to get a good picture of a bumblebee on a chile flower than one can expect, but today the gods were with me :-) These rocoto flowers are huge! The biggest Capsicum flowers I've ever seen.

Aren't the flowers fantastic?!

I'm also happy to see that my manzano plants have more than 30 pods this year. 

It's a different plant. It does not grow on the height. It is probably only 30-40 cm. tall, but sort of grows sideways. Understandable to a degree, because the pods are really heavy, so I have to support the plant with chairs.

A few more pictures of my manzano here: http://petterssononline.com/habanero/peppers.php?action=variety&id=1207

Wishing you all a nice weekend!

   Mats

Finally some ripe chiles

After the strong winds this spring, when most of the plants looked half dead, I could not expect to see ripe pods in early July. It's amazing to see how fast the plants recover.

Dedo de moça
My dedo de moça is from last year, so it has thick woody stems, and is probably 1,75 meter tall. I keep it in a big pot, so it's not easy to move it. Therefore I had to take this picture through the kitchen window.

 

Serrano
And my first serrano has turned red. We will probably make nachos tomorrow, and I can't wait tasting this one.

Capsicum chacoense (CAP 1153 / 96)
Also a plant from last year. I really love these tasty hot tiny chiles.

Rocoto manzano grande (red)
This is an interesting plant. It does not grow tall, but it grows sideways. So it occupies more than a meter on the balcony. The flowers are the biggest flowers I've seen on a Capsicum.

Tabasco
Another one from last year. Last year it produced only a couple of pods. But this year it looks more promising.

Rocopica
My rocopica is fantastic! Last year it produced hundreds of pods. And this year looks like it's going to be the same. Superhot small fruits!