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 āsoapā 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 DCā¦ 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 mouthā¦ 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 beā¦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 canāt 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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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 thereās half a dozen ripe pods that Iāll need to pick soon. My ghost pepper plant looks rough, donāt think itās 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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Always loved growing habaneros. Look terrific and One of the only things I can grow that the bugs will not touch. Only problem was theyāre 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.
JalapeƱos 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
Iāve 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 
I like heat too, but mine were inedible. Even the fumes sting. I think people have some kind of processing step Iām missing.
Most that we use arenāt processed in any way. They get picked, washed, and frozen in ziptop freezer bags. We take out what we want, chop them up and add to whatever weāre making. Those that my wife pickles get done the same way she makes cucumber pickles. The last couple of years my wife has been dehydrating habanero, Carolina Reaper, and Ghost peppers. The garage is like a pepper spray cloud when thatās going on.
I wasnāt very impressed with the aji dulce I grew. Mostly just tasted like a bell pepper.
As Lucky_P mentioned, trinidad perfume is a really good non-spicy pepper in the fruity and aromatic flavor group. Itās different from habanero, to my tastes its more lemon and citrus and less floral. Habanada I havenāt tried yet, but I should have some ripe ones here in a week or two.
Another not spicy but extremely flavorful pepper is biquinho. They are small, but the flavor is super intense and very unique.
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Iām disappointed in my Habanadas this year. More grassy than fruity. This was a very rainy, cloudy year here, so maybe they were off their game. From your description, sounds like theyāre worth giving another shot.
I havenāt started any seeds yet but wanted to let others know about a great use for these, especially for others like myself who canāt tolerate high heat.
I made a recipe for Jamaican rice and peas (beans) for a potluck which called for one whole habenero (or scotch bonnet) that was added whole right before dish went into the oven. It added a lovely slow burn flavor and never broke up.
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