Can you feel the burn?

[GM54-120]

Further apart the better. Annuums cross pollinate easily but the chance of them crossing with a rocoto is extremely slim. Really though, a cross between two heirlooms like FM and Zapotec would probably be a great tasting jalapeno. Both of those are sorta of rare compared to other jalapenos. The only way to keep them going is to make an effort to keep them true.

I grew mine clustered in with a bunch of other similar peppers but i still got original seeds. Its anyone's guess what my seeds could produce. Mucho Nacho on 1 side and Sandia Anaheim on the other.

 

[GM54-120]

Braised beef (similar to Mexican birria) tacos with sauteed onions, Farmers Market and both my Anaheims.

You load up your tortilla and dip it in the bowl of broth.

 

[Idaholewis]

That looks AMAZING GM54!! Not only do you grow awesome peppers, you make some KILLER looking dishes :yeah:

You got me thinking on the Jalapeño’s Crossing, i would really like to keep the Zapotec’s True. Scratching my head trying to figure out how to go about it?

 

[GM54-120]

That beef is so easy to make.

Brown a chuck roast. Either on the grill or in a pan. Brown the heck out of it too.
Cut up a mess of onion and some fresh peppers
Pinch of Mexican oregano and cumin to taste. Spicy oregano if you dont have Mexican
Rehydrate some dried peppers and deseed
Add some pepper powder of your choice. Ancho powder is a good one to just add flavor and not much heat.

Boil all the peppers and onions. Allow to cool and either pour it in a blender or immersion blender (optional unless you are using whole dried peppers)

Add the meat back to the pot with the stock and simmer until its nearly falling apart. Mine took 5 hours but i used a sirloin roast this time. It was on sale and looked nice.

Birria is normally goat meat. Its normally just served with fresh chopped onions/pickled onions and lime wedges.

 

[Idaholewis]

I have decided to try and OverWinter 2 plants, The Little Mini Red Rocoto from my Dad, I saved it Yesterday! It amazes me that it hasn’t Frosted out there yet (We are REALLY close!) That little plant was my very best Mini Red, It didn’t do much at my Dad’s? I believe it was from his High PH Water and lack of Nutrients? My exact same plants Grew like Little Trees! If i can keep it alive here in the House this Winter I think it will go NUTS next spring with My PH lowering method, and Good Nutrients. I also decided to Try and Save 1 of my Little Thai plants, These things are REALLY Hot and the Plants look like little Bonsai Trees, This 1 is LOADED with Green pods now, i will pick them as they Ripen here in the House. They are gonna have to be tough, i am not gonna Run lights for them, I have a Corner out of the Way in my Kitchen where they will remain. I thought about putting my little T5 jumpstart light Setup over them, But that would make them Grow, I want them to go Dormant, The Mini Red would Get WAY out of Hand in a Hurry if i “Lit” it up and allowed it to grow.

Will be an interesting experiment, The Plants will Recieve normal lighting from our house, There are 2 Windows in that Corner But not much for Light. At least they will get a Certain amount of Light (The Same Lighting that we Do)

 

[GM54-120]

The few green ones you sent ripened on a window sill within a few days. Set them on a paper towel and turn them over daily. They wont be as sweet as "vine" ripened.

It was just as i had predicted. My best Miraflores that hasnt produced squat now has pods. We had about 2 weeks of nights in the upper 60s to low 70s. One of my window sill minis had a ripe pod so i ate it.

Im going with the 2 inside rocotos for next year and Aji Oro. Its supposed to love the heat and the pods get large. I went to the Mexican market a couple days ago. They had Manzanos for $4.99/lb. Its a rocoto from Mexico that gets pretty large. Nearly impossible to grow them here unless you can over winter. They thrive in 60F temps and lower as long as you dont get a hard frost.

 

[Idaholewis]

Aji Oro is one i signed up to be Notified on when seeds were available. Locato is another one i would like to try. When i ordered the 2 Red Varieties from Pepperlover (Ecuadoran, And Guatemalan) I was hoping to also get a Yellow Variety but seeds weren’t available. These Rocotos are ADDICTING, I love em! :yeah:

 

[Idaholewis]

Ice on my windshield this morning, First Frost

 

[SteveH]

Ice on my windshield this morning, First Frost

Bummer. Hoping for a mild next few weeks so I can harvest the rest of my crop. Many green fruit still on the plants. But just picked these.

 

[Idaholewis]

SteveH, NICE LOOKIN PEPPERS!! I sure wish i could extend our Growing season a bit, it’s tough to get peppers Ripe here, Jalapeño’s, And Rocotos are the Way I’m gonna have to go here. The Super Hots are out of it for me, unless i try and Overwinter some, I did get a package of Carolina Reaper Seed from Ed Curry (Pucker Butt) Tho i know the odds are stacked GREATLY against me, i stil plan to try!

 

[GM54-120]

Ripe mucho nacho hot sauce is going today. Around 310grams of jalapeno before deseeding, 20grams of my mystery pepper and 50grams of shallot. Mostly cider vinegar with some white wine vinegar. I needed the bottle and there wasnt much left in it. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp coriander seeds for the spices.

Man do i love chicken strips with tartar and hot sauce. This sauce is made in house at a restaurant in our "little Mexico" strip a few miles from me. Really heavy on the onion. Mostly guajillo and pulla peppers so its sorta mild.

 

[Idaholewis]

My Overwinter Project is already getting interesting, The Little Stunted Mini Red Rocoto i got back from my Dad is Growing! If it keeps it up it’s gonna Outgrow my house, i might end up having to trim it back some? I was hoping it would go into a Dormant State and just kinda “Hang Out” But it’s not. It was also REALLY yellow when i got it back, Before Bringing the 2 plants inside i decided to Water them REALLY good with Store bought RO Water with a Good mixture of that Mega Crop Stuff i got the Free sample of, I figured it would be a Good idea since RO Water has everything Removed, Well it seems to have Worked, and Worked WELL, The Plant is Almost fully Green again. The upcoming months as we enter Full on Winter will be interesting.

I might end up moving these 2 Plants to my Basement, I just recently had a Nice Wood Stove Installed in the Basement so it will stay nice n warm down there now, That will be our main source of heat from here on. I have a Good Winter supply of firewood Cut and in the Dry. I will likely Build a Nice Grow Rack down there as well for Starting my Seeds early, I have an AWESOME lighting setup now with this 4 ft 6 bulb Hydro Farm Agrobrite Designer T5, I am looking forward to the upcoming Season :yeah:

 

[GM54-120]

Just be careful with the MegaCrop. Its fairly strong stuff. I think it was around a tsp (max) per gallon of water. Probably just a 1/2 tsp for small plants.
https://greenleafnutrients.com/feeding- ... 16fd43adaa

I would use it rather quickly too. Dont mix up large batches and save it. I tested that and mold grew in the bottle. Store unused amounts in a cool to cold spot. Aside from that plants do seem to really like it.

I had 2 tiny Aji Arnaucho i was using for a test. They were on the edge of death. I brought them upstairs. Placed them in the window with a dose of MegaCrop and worm casting. Now they are doing great. I did pretty much the same thing with 2 mini reds but no worm castings. Now i need to up pot all of them

A bunch of my plants outside are still doing really well. Nights have gotten as cool as 51F. All the bonnets are yellowing and dropping leaves. The Aji Arnaucho and Aji Panca still look really good though and they are a type of hab. Aleppos still look great and so do my jalapeno and Fresnos. Next week is gunna be very warm if the forecast is correct. The panca has 8 pods left but still green. I probably got atleast a 15 green Aleppos im waiting on too.

My stinking rocotos got some nice green pods too after virtually none all summer. I will try my 2 indoor minis next year and a couple AJi Oro. If it dont pan out im done with rocotos. Having a sweet plant all year that produces next to nothing is just wasting valuable space. The Aji Panca is sooooooo slow to ripen but the flavor is good so im growing more. Dried panca pods are very expensive and the good panca paste is like $10/8oz. BurmaSpice does sell the powder for a good price though on Amazon. Im going to order some powder and the good panca paste from Peru.

 

[Idaholewis]

Thank you for the Caution on the Mega Crop! The few times i used it, it was immediately after mixing it, I Mixed 1 Tablespoon per 5 Gallons of Water back in the Summer. Weird that it Molded after Mixed and Left, Wonder What would Cause that?

Back in March, when i first Got my Plants Started and under Lights, I Mixed up 1 Gallon of Neptune’s Harvest, Fish and Seaweed, It had been sitting in my Kitchen Floor for a few Days, Capped Gallon Jug (Didn’t Know any better) When i opened that Jug to Water the Plants i About GAGGED! :lol: My wife didn’t have much of a Sense of Humor over it either, I had to open Windows, and Doors to “Air out” I didn’t think that Stuff would literally Rott like that? YEP it sure enough will! It’s some DARN good Stuff tho!

 

[Idaholewis]

I’m not sure about this Overwintering project I’ve got going, I can’t tell for sure, but this Rocoto looks like it has Aphids on it?? Whatever they are, They are really Small and don’t seem to be Clustering together like Aphids do, Their looks are similar to Aphids But I don’t think these are? Wish i could get a Pic of them, But it’s doubtful as small as they are. I’m gonna have to do something, But not sure what? They aren’t Bad in numbers right now, But I’m sure if left unchecked they could get that way. I’m thinking about cutting it nearly off and Hoping it Comes back? It’s a shame to do that, this Plant has Greened up REALLY nice and has definitely Grown quite a bit since i got it back

My dad was here the other day and noticed that My Ghost pepper, and Scorpion Plants are Sprouting back up from the Stub where i cut them off at the Ground. It frosted pretty hard here last night, it probably wiped them out

 

[GM54-120]

Peruvian style canary beans with andouille and pork tenderloin. So its somewhat of a Cajun Peru fusion. Fresh culantro (not cilantro), aji panca paste and aji amarillo paste. Both from Peru.

 

[Idaholewis]

Killer looking Dish there GM54!

 

[GM54-120]

I made these skinless boneless chicken thighs yesterday in the oven on a bed of onions and mild peppers. The chicken is marinated in a blend of peppers from Peru, olive oil, garlic and lime juice. Pretty mild actually but flavor is off the charts. I sliced them up when done and slapped them bad boys on soft tortillas with some sour cream.

In Peru its called Pollo a La Brasa and eaten with french fries. They cook the chicken whole or split on a wood fired rotisserie.

 

[Idaholewis]

Another FINE looking meal GM54!

I am excited to get my pepper seedlings going again, i got hooked this year :yeah: I am gonna go 90% Potted plants this year, The Little Garden is gonna become the Wifes Berry patch (Raspberry, and Stawberry) Ace hardware has 5 Gallon Black plastic pots that i keep picking up when i get a rewards Card, I have close to 20 of them now. Potted is much easier than dealing with the Garden Weeds

 

[GM54-120]

Whats really good with this is a rocoto and mayo based sauce if you want to kick up the heat a notch.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 to 4 tablespoons rocoto chile pepper paste
1 lime (juiced)
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)

The milder version uses aji amarillo instead of rocoto. My specialty market FINALLY got in a good selection of Peruvian pastes. The amarillo paste i got is just delicious. It tastes kinda like a spicy mango.