Growing the infamous Habanero! Salsa Garden!

If you like the flavor but not the heat or stomach issues check out some of the different “seasoning peppers”. I planted one Arroz Con Pollo, it looks and tastes like a habenero or scotch bonnet but has no heat. It makes it easy to add lots of flavor but as much heat as you want but adding smaller amounts of actual hot peppers.

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@Travis

Im a fan of cilantro also that with habenero i love. My sister and i are so addicted to that habanero flavor we ate a pint of salsa only made from habanero in a sitting with chips. We sweated , our noises ran and it was straight cooked down peppers. That resteraunt quit offering it as we were the only local Americans who ever ate it in Lawrence that i know of. Maybe there were others but i dont think so. Many might have tried it and felt it was to hot. We paid later but it was so delicious. Literally i felt that heat for hours. Im not saying you should ever do that but im confident if you can get past the heat its great. The owners were Mexican American and knew how to make it right. Thai food can be equivalent as hot and nearly everyone accepts that for some reason.

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I would recommend trying this recipe. It’s amazing

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@Travis

Thats the color of it kind of, Im going to try it out! It is a dirty reddish orange color.

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We grow cilantro every year for the salsa. You either like cilantro or you don’t. I guess it tastes like soap to some people. My wife struggles with not throwing garden stuff out. There’s at least 3 quart bags of cilantro in the chest freezer (and maybe 6-8 quart bags of dill weed for pickles).

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@smsmith

We use mustard seed in our pickles as well just like onions and garlic. Spices make everything better! Yes some people are horrified when i say cilantro.

This study on cilantro is interesting

Cilantro, that favorite salsa ingredient, purifies drinking water - American Chemical Society.

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I didn’t know you could freeze it? How’s it keep?

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Most times it ends up getting tossed the following year. We have had years with a crop failure, and the wife will use the frozen stuff instead. It does “ok” but doesn’t have as much pungency as fresh.

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Does or has anyone grown culantro? I tried last year but had issues with germination.

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Cilantro?.. Ech! Blech!
My wife and I are both in that group that genetically taste ‘soap’ when we consume foods contaminated with cilantro.

All 4 of our kids, however, like it.

Think I told this story before, but I was visiting my sons & DIL in Washington DC… we went out to eat at a nice restaurant, Founding Farmers. I ordered coleslaw as a side to go with my ribs or BBQ main dish. It was the NASTIEST coleslaw I ever put in my mouth… it was chock-full of cilantro. Almost ruined my meal.

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Anyone growing habenero this year?

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We will be…after Memorial Day

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One way (read the tread thru) I did not see mentioned is to utilize the pepper in an oil.

What I mean is I had a housemate after college that was a chef and he would always put infused oils in the pantry for cooking. He would suspend a sprig of rosemary and a as whole as possible habanero or spicy Thai pepper into the full bottle of olive oil. Then when needed in a dish he would just drip a dallop of the infused pepper oil into the clean pan before cooking. I still do this to this day. I can’t take real heat but I like a touch.

It is used quite frequently by cannabis growers as a pesticide. Spider mites, thrips, and aphids all prefer to not be soaked in capsacian has been my personal experience.

I also read an article in scientific American (about 3 years ago) that stated the merits of capsacian as a rodent deterent. Specifically that they were adding it to molten plastic before coating home and auto wire insulation. It greatly reduced the chewing of rats and mice.

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@Noddykitty

I just now read the comment above. This year i tried marigolds as a deterrent for bugs. One marigold the bugs completely stripped and ate but others went untouched. Kansas insects frequently even eat plastic, chew wood fence posts etc. The grasshopper is one of the most difficult to control. Japanese and green june beetles populations are way up the last several years.

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Yeah, I have two plants producing now. Last I checked, looks like there’s half a dozen ripe pods that I’ll need to pick soon. My ghost pepper plant looks rough, don’t think it’s going to produce anything. But, probably will have lots of habs. Might make some hot sauce if I can get enough of them.

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Leaving all the fruits on my Red Hab to ripen. there are probably 50 fruits.

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Always loved growing habaneros. Look terrific and One of the only things I can grow that the bugs will not touch. Only problem was they’re just too hot! How can you eat them? We made hot sauce, but we had to dilute it with so much vinegar it ruined the taste.
Jalapeños were much easier to process, as we could eat them straight pickled or roast them on the barbecue and use them directly in salsa.

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If you can tolerate habenero, this is a super simple recipe for some salsa

I’ve found some seasoning peppers that have the flavor of habs without the heat. That makes it super easy for anyone to enjoy, just add habs to get to your desired heat level.

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We put them in chili, hot dishes, fresh and canned salsa, and pickle them and put on sandwiches/nachos. We like heat though :slight_smile:

I like heat too, but mine were inedible. Even the fumes sting. I think people have some kind of processing step I’m missing.