New Bud

To the left is a picture of the first bud on one of the Cayenne Peppers. It's the tiny white dot about four fifths of the way up the plant almost exactly in the middle of the plant. Cayennes are the hardiest peppers I've ever grown. They are the first to blossom and will produce well into September. Pretty cute, isn't it? Because I'm a pretty weak photographer you can't see the other buds on that plant, but be assured there are about three others.

I went out several nights this week at pretty odd hours in order to catch marauding rabbits. I did scare one off one night. After the plants grow to about 18 inches or so the rabbits tend to lose interest in the plants. Then it's the deer that become a problem. I'm thinking about getting a silencer for one of my guns in order to dispatch them. Don't think I'm kidding, I'm not. Can't wait for the first ones to ripen.

One day and counting

Below is a picture of what was supposed to be a Cayenne pepper. If you look closely you can see that it's been partially eaten. This pepper was planted about 30 hours ago. I hate Rabbits. Where is Elmer Fudd when you need him?

This is a picture of the Naga Jolokia. Comes from the Naga part of India. Where the Jolokia part comes from is to be tracked down. It's a baby plant. I expect to get the real fruit in 85-95 days. Late August, I reckon. It's the hottest pepper known.

Isn't this fun?

The Planting

Planting

Yesterday I put in 24 plants in. 12 Roma Tomatoes and and twice that number of peppers of several varieties. But as this chronicling of the growing season is about peppers we'll pretty much ignore the Romas. Up top is a picture of one of the 2 Habanero plants. Tiny, isn't it? With an ideal growing season, which for peppers is very warm, especially at night, that little thing will produce about 30 to 50 extremely hot peppers. I also planted 6 Cayennes, 6 Sweet peppers, 2 Habaneros, 2 Chocolate Habaneros, 0ne Tabasco, one Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, 2 Anchos one Kung Pao, 2 Jalapeno and two others that I can't even remember. They're all labelled so I can write about them the next time I go out. A hard part will be the weeding until they bear fruit, but harder still will be the patience to endure until they do. To posit these in heat order (Remember our pal Wilbur Scoville?) they go about as follows in ascending order: Sweet Bell, Ancho, Kung Pao, Cayenne, Tabasco, Jalapeno, Habanero, and the most dangerous--not an exageration-- Bhut Jolokia. The Bell Peppers are about neutran on the Scoville Unit scale. The Cayennes and Jalapenos range from 20,000 to about 60,000. Habaneros can crack 100K. The Bhut Jolokia exceed 1,000,000 Scoville Units. I say without shame that I'm more than a little afraid of the Bhut Jolokia. Cooking with hot peppers is dangerous. If precautions are not taken you can have a fairly intense burning sensation after chopping up a bunch of Jalapenos and Habaneros for Chili. If you get it on your hands and make the mistake of rubbing your eyes it is much more than anybody would want. You will feel that burn for several hours. Ten Cuidado. (Be Careful in Spanish)

The Adventure Begins

Strictly speaking the Adventure began on Tuesday, May 11, MMX, when I bought the peppers. I plan to chronicle the whole thing in earnest this weekend when I plant the crop. I bought a variety of peppers ranging on the Scoville Unit Scale* from mild to fiercely hot. I bought varieties ranging from sweet peppers to the fiercely hot Bhut Jolokia. During this experiment there will be a complete list of the specific varieties with photos and as much info as I can find to accompany. Also the specific handling of the entire garden will accompany in order that I learn what works and what has gone wrong or should be avoided in the future. To borrow a phrase from Emperors and tax collectors, " Let the games begin."


*Scoville Heat Unit scale. The Scoville Organoleptic Test quantifies a pepper's heat according to the punch it packs in terms of capsaicin. Simply put capsaicin is what makes 'em hot. The more the hotter. Just so you know there are other tests for hotness which use Chromatograpy, whatever the hell that is, but we like Wilbur. Oops, I forgot to note that Wilbur Scoville is our guy's whole name and his test dates to 1912.

Perkiomenville Pepper Post

Hey, I bought my peppers today. This'll serve as the trackin' of Perkiomenville Pepper Posts for MMX. I plan to post pictures of the whole process from purchase to planting to picking. Stay tuned. 05/12/2010