wk's 2008 chilli pepper corner

[Herra 47]

I am still that opinion that drink vodka yourself and give bugs other stuff  :wink:

bugs might love some alcohol (okay they might stoned themself to death  :twisted:  but still)

[whitekoohii]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

after the mix being marinating for four months and from the vapours that emanate from the open bottle, i am not sure the stuff is any longer suitable for human consumption... needless to say that after a good vapourising session, in spite of the mix being heavily diluted, it smells like a good bunch of riot police having run amok amongst the chilli plants...

[Herra 47]

sounds delicios to me      

must do that when I get fresh own naga pods  

[NaokiSoma]

Well, I guess that is not anymore drinkable. However, I would love to stand on your balcony during the hot summer day and take a deep breath of the vaporizing Naga scent .

I have used 2-3 pods per bottle and it tastes nice (herra47 can confirm that ):


BTW, Naga-vodka is addictive liquid! One of the Czech ice-hockey players (now ex-Kärppä) begged for more during our dinners and of course I always had more in the freezer :shock:...

[Herra 47]

yes it was good... Maybe i little too mild but taste was perfect

[whitekoohii]

for the last four weeks there's been a low above the chilli corner. the low temps and the continuous rain have slowed down growth (the images are slightly deceptive as in 2007 i had more plants in smaller pots at this stage, giving the feeling of thicker undergrowth...) weather forecast has cleared up so wheel in the summer!

[whitekoohii]

a manzano flower bloomed this weekend. this hairy mexican pubescens variety is also known as perón (michoacán), ciruelo (querétaro), canario (oaxaca) and caballo (chiapas). hope the fresher than normal temps help with abundant pod setting.

[whitekoohii]

as i reported, i came across this rocoto brown while browsing a swedish garden site: örtagårdens plantskola. after making some queries about its origin, it turns out that the famous swedish horticulturalist & book author åke truedsson located some seeds in a peruvian market town in the andes. he was told the locals used the rocoto as medicine! i am about to contact åke see if he has more information about this variety. the plant started branching very early and grew rather fast & bushy, finally flowering today 145 days after germination. patrik (aka patahontas) from sweden cultivated the variety last year and has this really nice pictures.

[Herra 47]

nice pics... And how naga vodka works to pests and other chilieating rascals  

[whitekoohii]

temps have finally soared into the high 30Cs, which has sent quite a number of plants into bloom. amongst them this guatemalan diente de perro or dog's tooth (GRIN PI555634), currently unidentified as capsicum sp ("a catch-all record for unidentified or unnamed plants of capsicum"). the variety was collected by paul bosland from NMSU. i quarantined the plant a week after moving it outdoors, as all leaves started to curl and showing fungus infection like symptoms. this prompted a good preventive spray of copper onto all the plants. new growth appears to be symptom free, so the plant may soon rejoin the pack. the white speckles are epsom salts, i have also been spraying them this year to test their goodness against blossom drop.

i'm almost out of naga vodka. it's difficult to assess its success, as may's weather was so crap bug population (mostly aphids) is very low and have also been spraying with a cocktail of potassic soap + rotenone + neem oil.

[whitekoohii]

my heartfelt thanks go to sofía from villahermosa for this beautiful poblano plant, as her life was turned upside down by the flooding in tabasco last year. i am really grateful for the seeds despite all the havock. poblanos are also known as anchos and mulatos when dried and can be of three types: verde (green), negruzco (blackish) and corazón (heart). the poblano matures into dark red or coffer/chocolate tones. the mexican chilli producers national council (conaproch) have a useful file for the poblano (in spanish). if you happen to have a bunch of poblanos you could either go for the mole poblano (ancho/mulato based sauce) or for the famous chiles en nogada. according to the mexico lonely planet: "invented to honour general and emperor iturbide for his leadership in achieving independence from spain, it consists of large, mild poblano chillies stuffed with a picadillo (ground meat filling) containing fruits nuts and spices, and covered with a unique, perfectly smooth sauce of cream, cheese and walnuts, garnished with pomegranate seeds. the dish's colours - red, white and green - were designed to represent the nation's new flag. it is usually served only from september into november, when the walnut and poblano chilli crops are at their best". want to have a go? here's the pueblan recipe! (in spanish).

[whitekoohii]

here's the chilito de simojovel, a chilli from chiapas. it is an annuum yet a somewhat pubescent variety. simojovel is a municipio in the highlands, north of san cristóbal de las casas, famous for ámbar production. used in the local cuisine to season tamales and re-fried frijoles. turns out that in the ancient tzeltal mayan language, the etymology of simojovel is "ant up the mountain".

[whitekoohii]

i was mesmerised the first time i saw pictures of this brazilian olho de peixe (fisheye) chilli, cultivated by cleômenes caminha, one of most knowledgeable chilli pepper gardeners i have come across. in his own words, he describes the variety as a "shrub plant up to 1.80m tall. dark green leaves with purple stems, branches and veins due to intense presence of anthocyanin. flowers: 2 to 3 per node, with purple anthers and white-green corolla with purple spots on the back face of the petals. it enters into production 120 days after transplanting. highly pungent fruits, ball-shaped measuring 1 x 1 cm, purple colour (immature) to reddish brown (mature), with an average of 30 seeds cream-coloured. it produces an average of 170 to 180 fruits per season. in hot weather, it can produce up to three crops a year. extremely aromatic, the fruits are used to season fresh seafood and the preparation of sauces and pickles."

[Talasin]

2 fascinating chillis you have there whitekoohii..keep us up with there progress..the mountain in cooler temps is very interesting  

[whitekoohii]

6 moths into the season and it is time for a quick recap. out of 37 chilli plants, almost all bar 3 have already flowered with over half of them having set (at least) some pods. 3 varieties have already matured, namely the buena mulata (delicious!), putaparió and poblano. as usual, pubescens (no pods yet) and chinenses (a bunch of pods) are the slow performers. daily temps are consistently above the 30Cs and night temps in the low 20Cs. so far so good. cannot help but showing a couple of recent flowers off, a bolivian quintisho (chinense, thanks go to silbante for the seeds) and a peruvian chinchi uchu (baccatum).

[whitekoohii]

this birgit's locoto bush (or small tree, rather) is up to 2m tall and is full of ripening pods. i have searched info about the bolivian variety to no avail, so it remains a mystery who birgit is and why they are called locotos (term normally used for capsicum pubescens in bolivia) while the variety is a baccatum... fruits mature from light green to orange then red, they are fruity and mildly spicy, very good for eating raw or spicing up cooking.

[NaokiSoma]

How are your Jalapenos doing in hot Spain? Thechileman competition is open just 2 more weeks. Here in Oulu cold weather ruined the chances of succeeding to grow big pods and I guess my 5.1cm grown indoors will be the biggest one.

I don't believe that the 3cm, which you currently have in the list, will be the final result.

[whitekoohii]

hi there jussi,

my jalapeños are starting to ripen, unfortunatley the variety i got seeds for from mexico is not very big and is up to 5 to 6cm long... i need to update before it is too late!