When John first decided that he was going to put in a garden at Ryan's house, Ryan requested that we plant a few hot peppers. (If you're a recent reader or don't remember why we don't just garden at our house in NJ, you can read the reasons why here.)
John is not a gardener that plants one or two of anything, so since we had seeds started for about 14 hot pepper plants, that's what got planted in the garden. I might have mentioned something like that seemed like way too many to me, but nobody was listening. So now we have loads of hot peppers. The ones on the left are Tridents, similar to Poblano with a Scoville Heat rating of 25-1500. I've found them to be edible on nachos, but John can't eat them at all. The red ones on the right are Red Embers, similar to Cayenne with 30,000-50,000 Scoville Heat Units.
What you see above is just a small picking from one week. We've given away peppers to one of Justin's friends and all of the heat-loving Hispanics that work on the grounds crew with Justin, but we still have too many. I decided to pickle some and see if that would mellow them enough for me.
So I set to work one day, chopping and de-seeding peppers in preparation to pickle them with this recipe. Things went okay with the Trident peppers and I got a whole quart. The trouble started after I had cut up about 10 of the Red Embers. I was coughing and gagging so much from just the pepper fumes that I had to quit. I ended up pickling just what I had cut up, but that was only about enough for half of a pint jar.
They've been sitting in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, and I think that pickling did help tone down the heat a little bit. I can eat the Tridents by themselves (they're actually quite tasty with lots of flavor and a little heat) and one or two of the Red Ember pieces. I'm still the only one that can eat them here, so I guess I'll be enjoying nachos for one all winter. Guess what we won't be planting next year? Hot Peppers!
I think we'll be trying watermelons and cantaloupe instead; there is no heat to worry about with either one of them!
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Be sure to stop by Carole's blog today for her Read With Us wrap-up of Sorrow and Bliss, and stay tuned for the announcement of the Fall Read With Us selection next week. (It's a good one!)
Oh boy! That's a lot of peppers! Nachos for One sounds delightful! ;-)
ReplyDeleteYikes! I don't mind a little spice, but coughing and gagging just from cutting the peppers sounds way too hot for me. (I'm wondering if hot peppers might keep the rats away from my composter, though!)
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of hot peppers!! We only had two jalapeno plants and I got more than I could use (gave a bunch to Dee for Steve). I pickled some this year, but I prefer to make "cowboy candy" which is sweeter and really quite tasty. Enjoy your nachos for one!!
ReplyDeleteWhenever Tom is away and I'm at home, I make Cheese Quesadillas For One . . . and I think they'd be especially tasty with some nice, hot peppers sprinkled it! We actually really like a bit of FIRE, so would've been happy to take some of those peppers off your hands. (But that's a LOT of Scoville Units you're talking about . . . ) XO
ReplyDeleteI just cannot eat hot peppers. I have tried at various times over my lifetime, but it's just a misery when I try. They are very healthy, Bonny, so good for you that you can eat them. They are beautiful when strung up and dried, so maybe you could do that to a few of them.
ReplyDeletePeppers are tricky! You might be able to disappear them into some soups and chilis, too. We wash them and then freeze them whole. They are easy to pull out of the freezer as needed, and they thaw enough to chop in just a few minutes.
ReplyDeleteI like spicy food but whoa, those sound really hot!
ReplyDeletewhoa! a lot of peppers you've got there! My husband loves super hot peppers and I can just tolerate the pepper shaker at the table!
ReplyDeleteYou have too many hot peppers for me...I can take a bit of heat, but not that much! We had some fun with Shishito peppers this year, most are tangy and one in ten is hot (about as hot as a jalapeno), but the last time we had them I got an unusually hot one that brought tears to my eyes!
ReplyDeleteWow! I don't know if Shishito hot pepper roulette is for me, but at least the odds are in your favor!
Deletewhoa - that's a lot of peppers, even for folks who like (and can eat) them! I think cantaloupe and watermelon sound much tastier.
ReplyDeleteOh boy - you gave preserving those peppers a good old college try. I think you are on to something with cantaloupe and watermelon for next year.
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