Harvest of Delight
-
W∴ Balboos wrote:
I've heard they're difficult to grow (longer season than I have)
You need some global warming. :)
Take it to the So... Oh wait :sigh: Just go wash your mouth with soap then :D
Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly
-
Went out back for a few minutes - picked about twenty hot peppers (jalapeno, Thai Hybrids) and three ripe yellow habanero. A great year for peppers - tomatoes, however, just don't seem to ripen. I've heard that from others, too. Oddly, though, I've so many ripe habaneros that shouldn't have started ripening until about now (vs. a month ago). I am now the happy owner (via weekend preparation) of a pint (440ml) of habanero sauce consisting of about fifty of them (red and yellow) ground into paste with vinegar. Opening the jar fills the area with a combination of delightful fruity aroma and choking fumes. Early cooking experiments with this batch show the effort (seed's started indoors in late February) to be well worth it. I've likely mentioned this before, but used with care it's just a "better" hot. If anyone wants to ask - no I haven't tried any of the new ultra hots, such as scorpion pepper and seven-pot peppers. I've heard they're difficult to grow (longer season than I have) and I haven't figured out exactly what I'd do with them - especially if I have a pile of them. Ten times hotter than insanely hot - well, perhaps to discourage dogs as to where is a good place to sniff-and-go ?
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
W∴ Balboos wrote:
I haven't figured out exactly what I'd do with them
I highly recommend dried California Reaper in tomato soup, if treated with respect. All you need is a strip off the main fruit that is about 1cm long, chop it carefully and throw it into a big pot, lightly saute with some ginger, garlic, onions, toss in a few tins of tomatoes and let all that bubble away for about an hour before blending it all. It's an angry, smokey flavour, that's just delicious and really livens up anything tomato-based. Just be careful with it or it really will burn your mouth off.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
-
W∴ Balboos wrote:
I haven't figured out exactly what I'd do with them
I highly recommend dried California Reaper in tomato soup, if treated with respect. All you need is a strip off the main fruit that is about 1cm long, chop it carefully and throw it into a big pot, lightly saute with some ginger, garlic, onions, toss in a few tins of tomatoes and let all that bubble away for about an hour before blending it all. It's an angry, smokey flavour, that's just delicious and really livens up anything tomato-based. Just be careful with it or it really will burn your mouth off.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
From the sound of this is implies the reapers add a smoky taste to the soup. That could well justify the effort of growing them. Otherwise - why not a habanero? Actually, with all the sweetness from the tomatoes, cooked onions and garlic, even regular chilies ?? The reason for growing the habanero is (potentially) similar in that it adds more than just heat.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
-
A few words of warning about drying/dehydrating, learned through painful experience. Of course there is the usual stuff like pieces dry faster than whole. The important part is if you are using your oven to dehydrate them, just don't. Even if it vents outside, enough of the fumes will stay inside and turn your kitchen into a chemical warfare zone. The next morning was still bad enough to cause a lot of breathing problems. Same thing with a dehydrator, stick it outside while it is running. Kind of surprising about having to pollinate them yourself, for some reason I thought peppers were self pollinating. That's because I never did any pollination while I overwintered and they still produced. There was a fan running for a good portion of the day so that might have been a cause as well.
Thanks - fortunately air-drying was the plan. Realizing it was unpleasant, it still can help but bring on a bit of a laugh. Luckily it was unlikely to be running out into the snow. I observed the Thai Hybrids starting to wrinkle and dry, even whole, within a few days of picking so cut open, covered with a permeable top, and dry air should do cut peppers nicely - their non-hybrid predecessors are commonly sold and used for Asian cooking, which I take as a hint. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Have you ever made pepper oil? For any reader who hasn't, it's really great stuff and extremely eas to make. Just fill a jar half full (or more) with dried pepper - even low-quality pizza pepper. To this, add light cooking oil (i.e., low viscosity) and just let it sit. I usually wait a week or so, "stirring" by upending the jar a bunch of times every few days. Then, strain to get the now-red cooking oil that has extracted the capsicum from the peppers. You can cook with it, drizzle it on salads - sadists can rub it into their skin (actually used to relieve joint pain). What not to do: use fresh peppers, unless well equipped with lab-ware. Grinding the fresh peppers and doing executing process resulted in a water layer. Separation, which would have been trivial in a lab with a separatorory funnel turned into a tedious decanting job do to the ground peppers. Filtering, unlike with the oil-dry-pepper version, just didn't work as the filter grabbed what water it could and rapidly became impermeable to the oil layer. I eventually solved it but the extra effort made it a dry-pepper only even thereafter. Not worth perfecting the techniques when such an easy option is available.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
-
Thanks - fortunately air-drying was the plan. Realizing it was unpleasant, it still can help but bring on a bit of a laugh. Luckily it was unlikely to be running out into the snow. I observed the Thai Hybrids starting to wrinkle and dry, even whole, within a few days of picking so cut open, covered with a permeable top, and dry air should do cut peppers nicely - their non-hybrid predecessors are commonly sold and used for Asian cooking, which I take as a hint. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Have you ever made pepper oil? For any reader who hasn't, it's really great stuff and extremely eas to make. Just fill a jar half full (or more) with dried pepper - even low-quality pizza pepper. To this, add light cooking oil (i.e., low viscosity) and just let it sit. I usually wait a week or so, "stirring" by upending the jar a bunch of times every few days. Then, strain to get the now-red cooking oil that has extracted the capsicum from the peppers. You can cook with it, drizzle it on salads - sadists can rub it into their skin (actually used to relieve joint pain). What not to do: use fresh peppers, unless well equipped with lab-ware. Grinding the fresh peppers and doing executing process resulted in a water layer. Separation, which would have been trivial in a lab with a separatorory funnel turned into a tedious decanting job do to the ground peppers. Filtering, unlike with the oil-dry-pepper version, just didn't work as the filter grabbed what water it could and rapidly became impermeable to the oil layer. I eventually solved it but the extra effort made it a dry-pepper only even thereafter. Not worth perfecting the techniques when such an easy option is available.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
That's okay, I laugh about it now too. I haven't made pepper oil myself, but there is a guy at the local farmers market who is a serious pepper head. Sells pepper oil and pepper vinegar plus all sorts of fresh, dried, and even young plants you can take home and continue on your own.
W∴ Balboos wrote:
sadists can rub it into their skin (actually used to relieve joint pain).
Speaking of funny stories, I've got reasonably oily skin and capsicum is fat soluble. I thought I was smart and wore two pairs of gloves while cutting and deseeding several pounds each of reapers, habaneros, serranos, and other less painful types. Well turns out those gloves are slightly permeable and that much capsicum feels like the sun was teleported into your bones for a few days and nothing will help the pain. To be completely fair, my joints felt great! :laugh:
-
From the sound of this is implies the reapers add a smoky taste to the soup. That could well justify the effort of growing them. Otherwise - why not a habanero? Actually, with all the sweetness from the tomatoes, cooked onions and garlic, even regular chilies ?? The reason for growing the habanero is (potentially) similar in that it adds more than just heat.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
I absolutely adore habaneros, and use them liberally for the same purpose. I was addressing your specific lack of experience with the "super-chillies"... As in, this was something that I tried using reapers, which genuinely worked as a dish. Yes, habaneros work well in this. But the dried Reaper just transmogrifies it into something really special. I have also tried blending habaneroes for sweetness, and balancing that with the terrifying strength and flavour of the Reaper. It takes a few goes to get that right, but it's worth it. Plus, if you're serving it to people, you get to call it "Reaper Soup" which sounds elephanting bad-ass. Or "Reaper Stew", if you're doing a sauce. I find that stewing rough cuts of meat in a Reaper and tomato sauce, the kind of not-too-fussy butchering job with some fatty bits, bones and even some tendons still in, makes for a fantastic taste and fun to eat. It also adds to the dramatic effect for your guests, particularly if they're not used to a rustic style of cooking where you get bone-in stews all the time. Good for Hallowe'en parties and the like, served in a giant bowl and accompanied by crusty bread and full-bodied red wine. You get the idea.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
-
That's okay, I laugh about it now too. I haven't made pepper oil myself, but there is a guy at the local farmers market who is a serious pepper head. Sells pepper oil and pepper vinegar plus all sorts of fresh, dried, and even young plants you can take home and continue on your own.
W∴ Balboos wrote:
sadists can rub it into their skin (actually used to relieve joint pain).
Speaking of funny stories, I've got reasonably oily skin and capsicum is fat soluble. I thought I was smart and wore two pairs of gloves while cutting and deseeding several pounds each of reapers, habaneros, serranos, and other less painful types. Well turns out those gloves are slightly permeable and that much capsicum feels like the sun was teleported into your bones for a few days and nothing will help the pain. To be completely fair, my joints felt great! :laugh:
RJOberg wrote:
Speaking of funny storie
This is funny, at least in hind-sight. Maybe when it happened, too. Years ago, my first-time real crop of habanero and I was chopping them (bare-handed, knowing the consequences). Well - when through, I washed my hands twice, directly with dish-washing liquid. Still, not long after, whilst eating a slice of pizza, as I ate down toward the holding end it got got hotter and hotter until quite serious. Clearly, although the heat long since subsided my fingers was still quite full the oil. Then, shortly after the pizza, I went to the bathroom, and without thinking, well . . . a few seconds after I started I realized I was holding with . . . well . . . now it was just a matter of time. Damn - essentially I left 'finger prints" - and a lot of very fidgety discomfort. But, it is funny to think about.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
-
RJOberg wrote:
Speaking of funny storie
This is funny, at least in hind-sight. Maybe when it happened, too. Years ago, my first-time real crop of habanero and I was chopping them (bare-handed, knowing the consequences). Well - when through, I washed my hands twice, directly with dish-washing liquid. Still, not long after, whilst eating a slice of pizza, as I ate down toward the holding end it got got hotter and hotter until quite serious. Clearly, although the heat long since subsided my fingers was still quite full the oil. Then, shortly after the pizza, I went to the bathroom, and without thinking, well . . . a few seconds after I started I realized I was holding with . . . well . . . now it was just a matter of time. Damn - essentially I left 'finger prints" - and a lot of very fidgety discomfort. But, it is funny to think about.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
-
Sorry for laughing at your discomfort! The only thing which even remotely helped was soaking my hands in cold half & half. I'm not sure if it was actually did anything or if it was so cold that it made everything numb.
RJOberg wrote:
orry for laughing at your discomfort!
Like it or not, it's really funny. Even for that first moment when I realized what a uniquely stupid thing I had done and new it was only a matter of time. Soaking in half-and-half would doubtless have inspired some serious questions I'd not want to answer
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
-
RJOberg wrote:
Habanadas on the other hand took much longer than their spicy relative to grow. They have the same flavor as a habanero but a scoville rating of 0.
Now there's one I might eat.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment "Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst "I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
An amazingly delicious (not hot) eating pepper: Giant Aconcagua[^]
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
-
RJOberg wrote:
orry for laughing at your discomfort!
Like it or not, it's really funny. Even for that first moment when I realized what a uniquely stupid thing I had done and new it was only a matter of time. Soaking in half-and-half would doubtless have inspired some serious questions I'd not want to answer
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
