Care & Storage
For Eating Fresh: Store unwashed in your fridge for a week or two (if left outside of the fridge at room temperature, peppers will continue to ripen, but also tend to shrivel).
To Dry: String peppers together with a needle and thread, then hang in a window or put in your oven at 100°F for 24 hours.
Availability
August - October
Varieties of Note
Oh, the hot pepper. We love the color, shape, and flavor variety found in the pepper family so much. Here are this year’s varieties, listed in approximate order from least to most hot:
Ancho / Poblano – Called Poblano when green and Ancho when dried, these are relatively mild and used for roasting or stuffing. (1,500 Scoville units)
Hungarian Hot Wax – These large meaty peppers are mild enough that they can be thrown into a dish in large slices without overwhelming it.
Matchbox – Smaller and somewhat hotter then the Hungarian Hot Wax, but still relatively mild. Delicious chopped up in spicy omlets.
Jalapeño (5,000 Scoville units) - Make some delicious salsa.
Czech Black – A striking deep purple color, similar in flavor and spice to a jalapeño.
Bulgarian Carrot Chili
Serrano (20,000 Scoville units)
Cayenne (40,000 Scoville units)
(from here on down we recommend - from experience - wearing gloves while handling)
Red Thai & Yellow Thai - Very hot (75,000 Scoville units)
Red Mushroom - Very hot.
Habanero – Extremely hot (250,000 Scoville units).
Chocolate Habanero – Extremely hot.
Scotch Bonnet – Extremely hot (250,000 Scoville units)
Bhut Jolokia – One of the hottest peppers on record, also known as the Ghost Pepper. 1,000,000 Scoville units! Beware and please don't hurt yourself eating them - as a point of comparison, pepper spray (the weapon) measures approximately 2,000,000 on the Scoville scale.
Recipes
Honeyed Jalapeño Ring Pickles
Adapted from The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich
Makes 8 half-pint jars
2¼ lbs jalapeño peppers, cut into 3/16 inch rings and, if you like, seeded
24 whole black peppercorns
8 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tbsp mixed pickling spices
1 quart cider vinegar
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp pickling salt
4 tbsp olive oil
Divide the peppercorns and garlic evenly among 8 half-pint jars. Tie the spices in a spice bag or a scrap of cheesecloth and put it into a saucepan with the vinegar, honey, and salt. Bring the contents to a boil. Add the pepper rings and bring the contents back to a simmer.
Divide the peppers among the jars, and pour the hot liquid over them, leaving a little more than ½ inch headspace. Discard the spice bag. Pour about 1½ tsp olive oil into each jar and close the jars with two-piece caps. Process the jars for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.
