Peppers Permeate the Air

I declare! Peppers are the star of the end-of-summer garden.

It's hard to believe that the majority of my life-time pepper-eating experiences have been with boring bell peppers. Don't get me wrong. I like bell peppers. It's true. I tried growing the familiar bell pepper during the early years of my garden experiment. Fail! Maybe I hadn't cut down enough trees yet, but yields were low and the ripening process was slow. I was ready to give up on peppers. Then, in 2010, after hearing that hot peppers do better in this locale, I decided to try a few. And the rest is history!

There are so many interesting and delicious pepper varieties available! Since those first trial plants, I have discovered that hot peppers do grow well here, but many sweet peppers do, too. Currently, I grow one full bed of sweet peppers, and one full bed of hot peppers. I have my favorites, but I'm not afraid to try something new. I have learned how to cook and eat sweet Italian frying peppers, sweet Italian roasted peppers, snacking peppers, anaheim chilis, jalapeñas, poblanos ... to name a few.

Now it's time for the 2016 harvest, and it's smelling good! I started at 8am this morning ...

... with fully ripe jalapeñas, bright red. They make a gorgeous, spicy jam. So easy to make! Only four ingredients - peppers, vinegar, sugar, liquid pectin. The recipe is from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, except I do not remove the seeds and membranes. I want all the zesty heat I can get! And I never use food coloring. The recipe shows green jalapeñas, which make a lovely jam, too. I like to make at least one batch of each - red and green. I already have five jars of green jam in the pantry.

Today I added six jars of the red. Light was shining from behind these jars after they were processed this morning. What a color! (Do not mix green and red peppers when making this jam. It comes out an unappetizing browny-green.)


Then I fired up the grill and roasted a pile of sweet Italian peppers. The red peppers pictured here are a variety called "Carmen". They are a horn-of-the-bull type pepper, so named for their distinctive shape. Best picked when deep red. Great for roasting! The yellow peppers are called "Escamillo", similar to Carmen, but ... yellow!

Sweet Italian peppers placed on 500 degree grill

Roasting in process

Roasted and rested. Ready for skin to be removed.

It's a messy job, and sort of tedious ...

Roasted peppers, cleaned and chopped.
1/4-cup blops ... ready for the freezer.

Held out a few for my lunch! with hummus on cracker.

Finally, I blanched a couple dozen hot banana peppers and a dozen poblanos. Stuffed them with a spiced ground beef and cheese mixture. Put them into the freezer. Convenience food... this is how we do it! (Ha! Ha! 6-1/2 hours later!)