Tag Archives: hot peppers

Today’s Harvest Basket 10/1

Beautiful bells, a few mildly hot peppers, and this seasons best surprise pepper.

Chocolate peppers, named for their color, will go from a chocolate brown and turn green when cooked.

It’s October. The cooler weather is producing more peppers. A little rain could only help.

Several loaded branches of the pepper plants have snapped with the weight of this year’s crop. The heavy foliage protects the pepper from sunburn.

Dark Purple Bells

We grow peppers to freeze and use all winter in stew, chili, fajitas and soup. Chopped or cut into strips, bell peppers are easy to freeze. A couple of trays of stuffed peppers are already in the freezer ready for quick winter meals.

Some of the prettiest bells were the Sweet Purple Beauty, Sweet Cal Wonder and Sweet Chocolate**. Sweet Cal Wonder is the one pepper that should always be in a small space home garden, the thick-walled and juicy bright green bell turns red when ripe.

Padron peppers

Pick when 1″.

Padron chile peppers, Pimientos de Padron*, are the summer’s best garden discovery. My only regret was not growing more of these 1″ to 1-1/2″ surprise peppers. They are delicious. Except maybe 1 out of every 10 is hot.

These peppers are bright green to yellowish-green and best picked small. Size or color is not an indicator of heat.

Padron

The Padron peppers are a tapas bar and restaurant favorite throughout Spain. Padron chile peppers, Pimientos de Padron, are an heirloom non-hybrid variety of chile. Let one or two peppers continue to grow and save some seed for next year.

Picked small, then blistered in a hot, oiled skillet, and finally, salted. They are the perfect appetizer, or tappa.

Mildly hot Poblano and Anaheim peppers

Once charred, peppers easily peel apart from the skin.

The poblano (Capsicum annuum) is a mild Mexican chili pepper. Dried, it is called ancho or chile ancho.

Anaheim and poblano peppers are first roasted then peeled. These chilies are finely chopped and frozen into cubes for easy storage. To use, drop the frozen peppers into what ever dish you are cooking.

You can exchange these peppers for each other in recipes.

A poblano chili ages to brown and has an earthier, almost smoky flavor. When dried, it becomes the ancho pepper with a smoky sweet taste.

The green California Anaheim becomes sweeter as it ages to red. Pick at any stage. These are the pepper I use in salsa. I mix the colors in my salsa, using what ever is available at canning time.

Seed Source:

* The Tapas Peppers,Spanish Padron are from Renee’s Garden and started from seed.

** Organic Bell Peppers, Sweet Cal Wonder, Sweet Purple Beauty and Sweet Chocolate at Peaceful Valley Farm

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Garden beer bread

Made from scratch and better than the mix. Add Cheddar, onions, peppers for color and flavor.

While you have a garden bounty, make two loaves and freeze one for later.

beer bread

I make this beer bread using the peppers and onions from my garden.

charred peppers

Make this recipe your own. Use your favorite cheese, whatever beer you like and any pepper combo that suites your palette.

Garden Beer Bread

by Patsy Bell Hobson

Makes one loaf.
Preheat oven to 375-degrees.

beer bread3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup shredded cheese
½ cup chopped peppers
½ cup chopped onion
1 (12 ounce) bottle of beer, minus one swig
3 Tablespoons butter, melted

Whisk together in a large bowl, flour , baking powder, salt and sugar. Add cheese peppers and onion. Pour in the bottle of beer.
Using a wooden spoon, mix until the dough forms. Don’t over mix. Dough will have lumps.

Pour dough into a heavily buttered large loaf pan. The dough will be wet.

Melt butter, pour over loaf.

Bake for 50 – 60 minutes, until top is golden brown. Or, until toothpick comes out clean from center.

Let it cool 10 minutes and then turn the bread out on a wire rack. Try to let it cool before devouring.

garlic and onionsChefs notes

  • cheese – Choose your favorite cheese or combination of cheese to make ½ cup.
  • peppers – Combine chopped mild and hot peppers to suit your taste. (Bell peppers and a jalapeno for example.)
  • onions – Your choice of sweet or hot onions. I include a green onion or chives for color and flavor.

You will want to eat this bread still hot from the oven. It’s good that way, but it will crumble and fall apart. To slice and serve, wait for 30 minutes (or, until completely cool).

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Todays Harvest Basket 9/3/14

Today’s Harvest Basket September 3, 2014

Tomatoes and Peppers galore! Bell, Jalapeño, Habanero, Felicity peppers

Hot and sweet peppers. Photo: Patsy Bell Hobson

Hot and sweet peppers. Photo: Patsy Bell Hobson

 Chile, “Classic Jalapeño” Pepper, hot

Felicity, sweet pepper, no heat.

Red Bell Pepper, sweet

Arkansas Traveler, Martian Giant, Brandywine and assorted cherry tomatoes.

Brandywine tomato

One slice will cover the bread on a BLT.

One slice will cover the bread on a BLT.

Big old Brandywine was so heavy, it dropped off, stripping the vine’s exterior by several inches.

From an old line of Brandywines, known as the Sudduth’s strain.

Sudduth’s strain comes from tomato collector Ben Quisenberry in 1980. He got it from Dorris Sudduth Hill whose family grew it for over 100 years.

Big pink beefsteak-like fruits can grow up to 2 pounds on indeterminate vines.

This is the tomato by which all others are measured for taste. Brandywine is a consistent winner in tomato taste contests. The intense tomato flavor is the perfect balance of acid and sweet taste.

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