Your Favorite Pepper Varieties

I can see how that would work well. I think the store bought spices must be years old, I have 2 year powder that has ton’s more flavor than anything store bought.
I have some hot peppers ripening too, all will be dried today. heck just in the sun will do it today! Man is it hot here! I’m looking for a break, with none in sight.

Instead of dehydrating, I have a handheld FoodSaver ($20) and seal them in quart-size freezer bags. Then for recipes during the off season I can remove one or two and use them as fresh.

http://www.foodsaver.com/vacuum-sealers/handheld-vacuum-sealers/the-foodsaver-freshsaver-handheld-vacuum-sealing-system/FSFRSH0051-P00.html

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Nice. I have one similar to that but was trying to find a way to preserve without using the freezer. For the amount of stuff I grow, our little freezer (above the frig) ain’t got enough room, so I save that for quick-use stuff (I even can meats, etc.)

Our European ancestors used salt to preserve - a lost technique when refrigeration came along. I’m trying to figure that out. Some recipes I found did NOT work - or I screwed up somehow. Because of the amt of salt needed, I’m just experimenting w/seasonings (ginger, curry leaf, garlic, sage, oregano, parsley, celery leaf, etc). I have about 15 verdurettes on the counter now that I’ve been using to season meals. Very tasty and convenient - no electricity needed. :blush:

I made jam yesterday to make room for tomatoes for sauce in the freezer. I store tomatoes, till I have enough for a batch of sauce. I have the refrigerator/freezer unit, and a stand alone freezer, both stuffed! Yeah I too need alternative ways, (canning, and drying) to store food.

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Alas, the only peppers we’ve had so far are some Serrano’s and a few Yellow Banana’s. I picked one of the Serrano’s and brought it to the house to sample. I cut it it up in little rings and sprinkled a little salt on it. I was expecting it to be pretty hot, but I found it actually a bit cooler than Jalapeño’s I’ve grown in the past.

I offered a slice of the Serrano to the Mrs and she took a slice, cut it into half, and promptly spit it out, “ooh that’s too hot!”. I don’t know know why she wants to grow all those Jalapeños if she thinks they’re too hot. She said she likes them better when we can/pickle them. I ate the rest of the slices, and it was warm, but not too bad. Guess I have a lot higher tolerance for the hot peppers than her.

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If ya had to choose between either King of the North or California Wonder… which would ya choose for shorter seasons?

I work hard at keeping the salt in my diet to low levels.

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Oh gosh. Sorry, Richard.

Here are some reviews and the description says it is for shorter seasons.

California Wonder is ripe for me here in zone 10a (with mild spring) in mid-summer. I think it’s flavor is about average and not a pepper I’ll grow again. For short-season, I suggest you investigate catalogs for early ripening varieties … for example wander through these offerings:
http://www.tomatogrowers.com/Sweet-Peppers/departments/41/

Also, when feeding these plants in a short season environment give them dosages with N-P-K in the ratios 2:3:4. My (former) customers in Canada absolutely swore by it. :smiley:

My favorite bell-type is Big Bertha. If you have never grown them, you should try at least one or two plants just for the shock value. These things grow to ENORMOUS sizes. The biggest peppers I’ve ever seen of any kind…by far. They tend to get a distorted shape so they aren’t picture perfect to look at. But they taste like most other bell pepers, and the size is just AMAZING!

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Does anyone have an idea what causes thin walls on peppers? We have that problem at times.

A very large bell pepper was purchased at the market last winter. I saved the seeds and planted some. The result was very vigorous plants with large fruit. Some produced earlier than others so I’ll select those seeds for next year.

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Last year I liked Spanish Mammoth a lot. Not a super producer, but grew to be a big plant that had ok production. I will try the others mentioned for sure, thanks all!

I grow Corno di Toro Rosso (red) and Corno di Toro Giallo (yellow), Traditional Italian frying peppers, thin walls, tremendous late production, I harvest the majority around Halloween and use most for Thanksgiving.

This year I’m also growing:
Arroz Con Pollo Pepper
Lightning Mix Hot Pepper
Hybrids:
Cajun Belle
Big Bertha
Giant Macaroni
Carmen Red

I cant resist those peat posts @Lowes, @$2 a piece, and convenience I always pick up some.
The rest of the seeds I get from BakerCreek

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I am trying Corno di Toro Rossi, have a big plant, but no peppers yet. So I guess, like you said, it’ll be a late producer. My Red Marconi is in the same state.

Appears to be a Marconi type.

We have a small restaurant trade with bell and jalapeno peppers. As I mentioned before, we have tremendous bacterial leaf spot pressure spread mostly by soil splash in rain storms. In order to kill the proverbial 2 birds, do those of you who use the weed barrier material find it inhibits soil splash.
BLS takes the lower leaves off non-resistant types leaving the peppers to sun scald and the plants are slow to grow out of the damage and it starts over everytime we get a rain. I’ve sprayed the copper sprays to no real avail and the restaurants don’t like it. The weed barrier will eliminate all herbicides, will it reduce soil splash?
Moderator: If this needs to go in its own thread feel free to move it. Thanks

It does have that appearance but most of them are rounder. They don’t start elongating until they get close to full size and some don’t elongate much. Perhaps it is the result of a cross with a Marconi.

The one on the right is the World Beater (thick walled, four lobed). On the left is King of the North (thick walled 3 lobed). The later ripens here in z7b by Aug 1st and the former soon follows.

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