New Peppers

My tomatoes elicit nothing but pity and ridicule. However, I do quite well with peppers.

Here are the habanero gold peppers I grew from seed. Some are ready to pick.

Here’s a yellow habanero, for comparison. Yellow habaneros are fairly big for habaneros, so this will give you an idea how big the others are. The habanero golds are about the size of Clementines, and they get even bigger.

As I’ve noted before, I don’t think “habanero gold” is an authentic variety. I found these peppers at Norman Bros. Produce, a yuppie vegetable market here in Miami, and “habanero gold” is what it said on the bin. Store owners often mislabel peppers. I’ve never seen anything like these, online or in stores.

If you can grow only one type of really hot pepper, this would be a good choice. They’re big. They look great. And they’re super sweet. The first time I bit into one, I thought I was in for a sweet, fruity, mild pepper. Then my eyes exploded in their sockets. I exaggerate; they’re hot, but not hotter than other habaneros. They’re fantastic sliced on chili.

I’m also very happy with my cayennes, on the milder side. Sweet as candy, and mild enough to eat out of hand. You wouldn’t want to eat a handful without a glass of water, but they don’t compare to chinense peppers. A while back I ground some into a paste and fried them in oil with garlic, salt, and sugar. Man, that was good.

I have maybe a thousand prig ki nus. They’re great, but I don’t know what to do with them.

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Hey, pepper heads. My Trinidad scorpion bush is starting to bear. It blew past the habanero gold, and it’s going to be a monster. Envy me, losers.