Peppers Part III

Some Like it Hot

Prior posts on Pepper Variety Reviews are here:  Part 1 and Part 2

We've already mentioned Joe's Long Cayenne (top keeper) and Numex Big Jim (not returning) in Part 1.

We're not really going to rate these at this time except to say that we're pretty happy with this rotation of peppers.

Fish

Cool plants with variegated leaves.  They tend to be brittle (breaking easy when you pick, breaking easy in the wind) but seemed to do little better in the high tunnel, despite our thinking this might be the case.  Lots of small peppers that eventually turn completely red.  Great taste and quite warm.  Easily 50+ peppers per plant.  If you like a hot chowder type soup, I bet these would be perfect.  (picture courtesy of Seed Savers)

Wenk's Yellow Hot

Jalapeno shaped and sized peppers.  Moderate heat.  Very productive and seem to prefer being OUT of the high tunnel.  We suspect that, if you keep them picked clean, you could easily get 80-100 peppers per plant - especially if you're ok with smaller peppers.  We tend to like a little size on them and harvest around 40-50 per plant.  If we could convince everyone they were better than jalapenos, we'd quit growing jalapenos all together.  We've noticed heat levels can be variable dependent on the weather.

Hot Portugal and Maule's Red Hot

We still have not determined which of these we like better and keep running in perpetual trial mode.  Very good taste and  warm (4 out of 5 on hot scale).  Nice longish red peppers.  They even look hot.  One of these days, we'll be forced to choose.  But, probably one more head to head year since we have some "carry-over" seed in our possession.

Hungarian Wax vs Aji Crystal

Our first year trialing these two against each other.  We have grown Hungarian Wax in years prior to the CSA for our own garden, but have never grown Aji.  These can get quite hot and have a great taste.  Hungarian Wax are...well, waxy smooth.  Aji Crystal has similar shape and size, but they seem to have angular sides and are not so smooth.  Production so far is 32.7 to 32.8 per plant.  Plant health is similar.  Hungarian seems to want to keep trying late in the year a bit more than Aji, but not much more. 

Beaver Dam

 

A great pepper for taste.  Excellent for stuffing as it has good size for a hot pepper.  Heat is variable, even within the pepper.  We find that it gets hotter as you get towards the point of the pepper.  You can pick them at any time from their lime green stage to completely red.  Plants are small in size, but peppers are larger.  We have had as many as three flushes of fruit from these plants.  High tunnel friendly.  These do not like wet feet and are the first peppers (along with the small papricka pepper plants) that show stress if drainage is poor or rain is excessive.  (picture by RFaux)

Tam Jalapeno

A new introduction this year.  Our prior jalapenos were hybrids and we wanted to try to go with an open-pollinated variety.  Besides, seed was discontinued for one of those hybrids.  You can guess why we picked this one.  Seems like this variety will do best if you pick the fruit smaller.  Otherwise, they tend to exhibit dryness and cracking on the skin.  In any event, it gets a pass this year since we like to give varieties two years to prove themselves.

Alma Paprika and Feher Ozon Paprika

 Both of these peppers are smaller plants, with Alma being a bit bigger.  Both can be very prolific.  Feher, in particular can make you wonder how the little plant can support the volume of peppers it produces.  You can pick either at the point they are creamy yellow, but they may have their best taste as they turn towards red.  Not hot, just spicy - as in paprika spicy.  Great with cheese and poultry dishes.  We like these on nachos.  Feher holds carrot-shaped peppers 'upside down' (point up) in most cases.  Alma has smallish tomato shaped peppers.  Some people confuse them with tomatoes on first sight if picked full red.  We are tempted to increase production, but our heavy soil and the last few years of wet weather hold us back.  A trial in the high tunnel is coming in 2012.

Ancho Gigantea

This is a pablano type pepper.  Tends towards the smaller sized pablano, despite the name.  It's the only variety of its type that we have any success with in our area.  Others we have tried can get nice and green, but barely produce a thing.  We suspect they'd love a dry and hot year.  We also suspect they might like "poorer" soil than the rich loam we grow in.  Still, we grow a few so people who love them can get a taste.