First Harvest

Autumn is here and I'm beginning to enjoy the (meagre) fruits of this year's labour. Due to a late start I've not had the huge crops I hoped for but there's certainly enough chillies to produce some of the sauces I've got planned.

Every once in a while you can get complacent with chillies, such was the case with a bowl of Padrons the other evening. These tangy green chillies were grown by my mother and she presented me with a carrier bag full of them to enjoy.  Fried in olive oil and scattered liberally with salt, these Northern Spanish chillies make a delicious Tapas.  However, about 10% of these usually sweet chillies are hot, and these particular ones, being a little older and larger than usually picked, packed a fearsome punch. Nose streaming and mouth burning I was forced to quench the fire with a cold beer (the hardship!) and proceed with caution through the rest of the bowl.

Padrons - handle with caution.

This year's chilli challenge was a success with an number of impressive looking Joe's Long Cayennes being entered for the title of longest chilli. After much deliberation by the judging panel (i.e. holding up the chillies for comparison) the winners were announced as Dave and Annie, who took home the hamper stuffed with chilli goodies (and a couple of bottles of wine as well).

Below are growing photos from the entries.

 

Meanwhile the chillies in the greenhouse have been slowly ripening, I've had to employ the old trick of ripe banana skins to try and speed things along. It seems to have had some success and I managed a few small harvests before the weather broke and the rain set in.

7 Pots ripening in the greenhouse

Scotch Bonnet Big Sun

An early harvest from the greenhouse - Clockwise from top left; Sweet Banana, Cayenne, Superchilli, Cheyenne.

Clockwise from top left; 7 Pot Hab, Black Tongued Scorpion, Cayenne, Peach Hab, Scotch Bonnet Big Sun, RedScotch Bonnet, Nepalese Snakebite.

Supersized pods - Yellow 7 Pot Habs and Peach Habs.

Now the weather has changed I've begun the task of winterising the greenhouse.  I'm slowly covering all the glass with bubblewrap and, time and budget allowing, I'm hoping to employ some more innovative methods of keeping the greenhouse frost-free this winter. More to follow soon.

Growing old gracefully.

Well things are (very) slowly ripening in the greenhouse. We could certainly do with a little more sunshine to speed things along.  Many of the plants are loaded with fruit but without the sunshine they're taking their own sweet time to ripen.

I haven't yet tried it but apparently putting a banana peel in amongst the plants is supposed to help as the banana gives off ethylene gas which hastens ripening.  With the green house holding temperatures well I've still got another month or so of growing season so I won't be resorting to the bananas yet, fingers crossed for some more clement weather.

Peach Habanero

Yellow Scotch Bonnet

7 Pot Habanero

Of particular note is the 7 Pot Hab, which is dripping with pods, some of which are a good 5cm in length.  Bearing in mind the fearsome heat of these pods (they get their name from being able to flavour a week's worth of stew) this single plant will provide for a good few bottles of sauce.  If you're a fan of the 7 Pot heat, you could do a lot worse than check out Upton Cheyney's Megalodon Sauce, possibly the only chilli sauce with it's own Facebook page.

(L) Peach Habanero (R) Yellow Scotch Bonnet

Cheyenne

The twisted Nepalese Snakebite 

I've finally got round to trying out the Nagatropolis chilli sauce that was a valentine's present from my long-suffering wife. It's a beautifully packaged sauce with its white graphics and paper-wrapped cap.  It's these little touches that set it apart from the mass-market sauces flooding the market.

The taste doesn't disappoint either.  The heat level is understandably high but without the acidic sharpness of some sauces.  I loaded a pizza with it the other night and was left suitably speechless and hiccuping (my usual state after any hot sauce - did I mention that my wife is long-suffering?).  The afterburn is a long-lasting and pleasant tingle on the lips.  What was surprising was the strength of the smokiness.  Whilst the label mentions smoked garlic, I certainly wouldn't describe it as subtle - not a problem for me as I love the taste but it did deter my wife who isn't a fan of smokey sauces.

All in all, a very tasty and very well made sauce, thick and sticky and with no harsh notes and certainly well worth the price tag.