Sari's Garden 2006, a bit about 2007 and 2008 dreams

[svalli]

Giant Marconi peppers are true giants again. I like their sweet taste much better than bell peppers and these are also easier to grow and more productive. The one on the top is a sweet banana pepper named Bounty Hybrid.


I had not checked the Sweet Datils for a while and was happy to find all these unripe pods.


I found some first ripe ones from varieties, which I have not had yet. Puerto Rican No burn is so awesome that I may just eat them as they ripen. These small chinenses have the most taste of all my seasoning peppers so far. There is just enough heat to warm my mouth, but I do not need anything to cool it down.


First Mexican Red C. baccatum was also ripe. I did not dare to taste it yet, because I have no idea about the heat level. Maybe tomorrow I'll slice it into a sandwich


And the ones I have been afraid of are starting to ripen too. My very first Chocolate Habanero. I may have to eat it like that to feel how painful chiles can be. I will first remove the seeds for saving before savoring the taste of this treat, so it may not be the real chilehead experience, but for me it will be close enough.

[cornell]

Looking nice!!!  Btw: what kind of mixture u have in your soilbeds? My first habas are ripening too...  haven't decided yet how to prosess them...

[svalli]

The raised beds in the garden are  made with collapsible frames, which I will move around each year.  We can till the whole garden before arranging the frames. Our soil is sandy and the garden is in a slope, so it dries quickly and I use the frames to prevent the water from running down the hill. I during the years I have added a lot of organic matter to the garden and finally now it starts to be good for growing. Couple of springs we ordered a truck load of commercially made compost and I have been adding smaller amounts of peat moss and bagged cow manure compost when planting. I use grass clippings as mulch and that also adds some organic matter to the soil every year and helps the ground from drying too fast.

[svalli]

I ate the Mexican Red baccatum last night. The inside of the pepper looked interesting. The placenta went through the pepper all the way from stem to the tip, so the lobes were separated inside with a wall. Some of the seeds were tiny and had turned black; for some reason I get this many times with the first pepper on a plant. I do not know if this affected the taste, but this was not the best tasting baccatum in my mind. It had the baccatum taste, but no sweetness. Heat was strong and had nasty sting, but I still ate the whole thing and this time without any unsensitizing products .

[Aji Inferno]

I ate the Mexican Red baccatum last night. The inside of the pepper looked interesting. The placenta went through the pepper all the way from stem to the tip, so the lobes were separated inside with a wall. Some of the seeds were tiny and had turned black; for some reason I get this many times with the first pepper on a plant. I do not know if this affected the taste, but this was not the best tasting baccatum in my mind. It had the baccatum taste, but no sweetness. Heat was strong and had nasty sting, but I still ate the whole thing and this time without any unsensitizing products .

Interesting... You would probably *love* PI-260460... See the description from Inferno's "info" section in Finnish...  Also Pilange is very, very good! Both are hot ones, truly...

[svalli]

You would probably *love* PI-260460...

Well, I do not know if I am that brave or masocistic. :lol:

The first hot bell pepper was ripe to be harvested for tasting and seed saving.


The pepper flesh is a bit thinner than in bigger bells, but has the same taste. The heat in the flesh is slow and quite enjoyable. The ribs have yellow layer on them, which I believe is capsaisin. I cut the ribs off and took a bite of one.
It was a big mistake. Those yellow drops on the surface must be pure capsaisin and it does hurt!

[svalli]

There are signs of fall in the air. Today was much cooler than normal, so it was pretty good day for harvesting and juicing some frozen berries from the freezer with the steam juicer. Tomorrow I am planning to make the first patch of hot pepper jelly, by using just C. baccatums. I picked also 27 kg of pears from our tallest tree and those have to be processed too. I wonder if I could spice up the pear sauce with some peppers.

For dinner our son wanted the favorite food of most American kids: Mac & Cheese. DH left for a hunting trip this morning, so I did not feel like cooking something else just for me. The cheesy macaroni stuff becomes quite courmee food, when I mixed fresh diced Trinidad Seasoning peppers and an Aji Cristal to my bowl, before eating.

I got quite bored tonigh and watching same old movies from TV did not sound really fun. So for my own amusement I seeded and ate a ripe Chocolate Habanero. Here is the thing before consuming it.


Since being alone (son and cat were already sleeping) I had no witnesses, so as a proof of my bravery I captured a video of it with the computer. As a modest person I did all the worst suffering off from the camera. This must be the hottest and one of the best tasting peppers I have ever eaten whole. I admit that I am quite sissy, since I removed the seeds with the excuse of saving them. :wink: Even the flavor of these is really good, I may not eat an other one just like that.

Now my stomach starts to hurt and it is time to go to bed. I hope the pain in my stomach does not get any worse than it is now.

[Amd]

nice to have a face to you too...chocolate habanero is one mean berry.. brave woman....

[tknummelin]

Fiery face (tm) -video  

You should get a medal or something for that act :shock:

But what is that weird mumble-jumble -language you're speaking ?  :roll:

[Sauli Särkkä]

Great video, Sari!

It's nice to be able to put a face to a nickname. Perhaps a separate thread with pictures of us would be great.


-Sale

[Nuthead]

Nice video, looks like somebody was hurting.... :twisted:
Actually I was expecting more face expressions, but it was ok anyway.
While chewing the last piece, you looked like some 90 year old having a stroke.
But it was good to see who's hiding behind the nick....

Kaj

[Aji Inferno]

That video was really something, congrats!

[thp]

Now that's a clip I won't watch when I'm thinking of eating a Habanero. Loved the authentic agony...  :twisted:

And I bet you'll have to eat your words someday on that last note about never going to do that again...

[svalli]

Thanks guys! Since the camcorder was connected directly to the PC, I was not able to move it with me, when I ran to the kitchen to take a sip of the gallon milk jug and after that to the bathroom to keep my tongue under a running tap. I was so much in pain that I did not find my magic numming gel tube, so I did not use it at all. I ran around the house drooling, sneezing and crying, until I remebered that milk is the best remedy. It is amazing how holding milk in my mouth made the pain to fade.

During the night I woke up because by stomach was burning badly. I had to take painkillers, so I could get back to sleep. The pain was not the worst I have had in my life, but the idea of me causing it myself by my own actions made me feel worse. I just wonder if eating so hot peppers is good for health...

[Omskakas]

I just wonder if eating so hot peppers is good for health...

It might not be good for your gastric track.  :evil: According to this study you can eat chilies often, but you should limit the amounts somewhat. Chew the habanero and spit it out?  :wink:

Chili Pepper Consumption and Gastric Cancer in Mexico: A Case-Control Study
Lizbeth López-Carnllo, Mauricio Hernández Avila and Robert Dubrow
American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 139, No. 3: 263-271

Laboratory studies indicate that capsaicin, the hot-tasting component of chili peppers, may be carcinogenic. A population-based case-control study was conducted in Mexico City during 1989–1990 to evaluate the relation between chili pepper consumption and gastric cancer risk. The study included 220 incident cases and 752 controls randomly selected from the general population. Information was collected by interview. Chilipepper consumers were at high risk for gastric cancer compared with nonconsumers (age-and sex-adjusted odds ratio = 5.49, 95% confidence interval (Cl) 2.72–11.06). Among consumers, there was a highly significant trend of increasing risk with increasing self-rated level of consumption (low, medium, and high) (p = 2 × 10-7). The odds ratio for high-level consumers compared with nonconsumers was 17.11 (95% Cl 7.78–37.59). However, when consumption was measured as frequency per day, a significant trend among consumers was not observed. Multivariable adjustment increased the magnitude of the chili pepper-gastric cancer association, but a significant trend among consumers (measured as frequency per day) was still not observed. Chili pepper consumption may be a strong risk factor for gastric cancer, but further studies are needed to test this hypothesis.

[Aji Inferno]

Thanks guys! Since the camcorder was connected directly to the PC, I was not able to move it with me, when I ran to the kitchen to take a sip of the gallon milk jug and after that to the bathroom to keep my tongue under a running tap. I was so much in pain that I did not find my magic numming gel tube, so I did not use it at all. I ran around the house drooling, sneezing and crying, until I remebered that milk is the best remedy. It is amazing how holding milk in my mouth made the pain to fade.

The makers of Blair's sauces etc claim on their website that while milk etc is fine for surviving the heat, the best cure is actually strong booze!

[thp]

And that is correct. Because though capsaicin dissolves in fat as we know, ethanol has actually similar solvent characteristics.

Source: Wikipedia

[Aji Inferno]

And that is correct. Because though capsaicin dissolves in fat as we know, ethanol has actually similar solvent characteristics.

Source: Wikipedia

What does this mean..? So far it's (often) been: first get comfortably drunk, then get capsaicined, then yell for help (& milk)... From now on, it sounds even more frightening. Again, get drunk enough to eat that damned Habanero... Then get capsaicined. Then get even a lot more drunk in order to calm your stomach and bowels down...

Am I the only one here who can see some *serious* potential trouble..? ;-)

After all, perhaps the ideal thing is to drink chili booze... Still, after seeing what happened in our Vaasa chili-meeting (that HORRIBLE bottle with zillions of Habaneros crushed in!), I have my doubts...  :twisted:

[thp]

:lol:

But as said earlier, ethanol only chops the capsaicin, it doesn't neutralise it. Therefore it wouldn't be of any use to drink before eating chilis, except for the possible numbness. But a manly sip of vodka should at least help your tongue to cool off a bit.

Only speculating here.

[cornell]

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: you leave no other option for the rest of us .... habakaste... it's almost a ritual