A BIT OF LATE SEASON PEPPERS

I think I mentioned in a previous blog entry that we messed up when it came to germinating our pepper seeds this year.  The first round did not go well.  Next round went some better but the picture above is of my pepper plants I did all on my own.  I did not do our normal procedure, all I did was stick the seeds in a peat pod and water then until some grew.  

What I have pictured are the ones Scott really wanted to make sure we had growing.  I just re-potted them this morning. 

MOA (on the red solo cups) stands for Minster of Agriculture Scotch Bonnet.  They were seeds we ordered about 3 or 4 years ago and are suppose to be certified coming from Jamaica true Scotch Bonnet peppers.

A scotch bonnet peppers is a stable for the Carribean people.  It is between 100,000 and 350,000 on the scoville scale, which means it is about 12 to 140 times hotter than your average jalapeno.

This is the tradition pepper used in a lot of Carribean cooking and most especially jerk sauce.  Jerk sauce is a wonderful marinade for pork, chicken or seafood.  I love it on chicken.  

The name for this spicy fruity pepper came from the shape.  It reminded people of a smashed Scotsman hat.  Therefore it became known as the Scotch Bonnet pepper.   It is also known or called Bahama Mama, Jamaican Hot, Bahamian and Martinique pepper. 

The scotch bonnet pepper is related to the habanero but the sb has a fruitier flavor although similar in their heat index. I personally think the fruity flavor is what helps to compliment the Carribean style cooking due to the fact of all the spices they use, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice.  

We have found that they are very prolific.  I do not know if it is how we amend our soil, the rabbit poop pelts or just the region.  Due to this, I have had to come up with a lot of recipes, mainly hot style sauces, jerk sauce, and bbq sauce.  Below is a chunky style sriracha I canned with them a few other peppers. 

CR (on the red solo cups) stand for Carolina Reaper.  Now you are talking the world's hottest pepper or was until last year.  This pepper was created by Ed Currie.  Ed now lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  We have the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago at his store, Puckerbutt Pepper Company.  He was very nice and gave Scott a few peppers to take home and try.  

If you wish to visit his store in Rock Hill the address is 1740, 237 Main Steet, Rock Hill, SC 29715.  He has a large selection of hot sauces, candies, nuts, seeds and much more.  

An average scoville scale unit is 1,569,300.  Now compare that to the Scotch Bonnet, hehe.  The pepper its self is rather narly looking.  It is all wrinkly and has a pointed tail.

I tell people all the time I will be glad to take a bite if they will but I get the first bite.  All you have to do is eat the tail.  It is not as hot as the next bite into the pepper.  The heat is in the capsicum which is located in the placenta and the seeds of the pepper's body.  The heat is ridiculously hot.  

This pepper hit the World's record in the Guinness book on August 7, 2013.  Since then the Dragon's Breath came out in 2016 with a scoville unit of 2.4 million.  Then in 2017 Pepper X came along and they say it is 3.8 million on the scoville scale. 

My last pepper is the Ghost pepper.  That is what the G stands for on the red solo cup.  

The Ghost pepper is also known as the Bhut Jolokia pepper.  It became the hottest pepper in the World making it into the Guinness book in 2007.  

Climate has to do with this deadly peppers heat range but on average it will weigh in on the scoville scale at 1,431,000.   

The skin on this pepper can be rough or smooth.  They also come in different colors, chocolate, red and peach are the ones we have grown.  

My peach ghost pepper seeds came from my cousin Mickey.  I do not think they look as deadly as the red ghost pepper but they are. 

I am hoping the pepper plants in my red solo cups will continue to grow.  I have them outside now to acclimate to the temperature and the sun.  I will have to harden them off.  However, they are primarily for overwintering.  We lost most of our overwintered peppers this year so we needed to rebuild or stock.

As the summer continues and the plants' fruit I will be doing a lot of canning.  I hope to post some recipes soon on various hot sauces I make.  

For now, you can take a lot at my sriracha post and recipe. 

Happy First day of Summer!!!

ENJOY!