This year a monumental occurrence has happened in my chunk of North Idaho. I have lived on my farm for almost eighteen years, and during that tenure we have gotten a frost the first week of September every year but one or two like clockwork. It is not uncommon to get a sixty day growing season in these parts, but guess what!? We still haven't received a frost of tomato, squash, and pepper plant death yet! In fact, yesterday I wandered out to pick my chile friends before it gets too chilly for them. I should apologize for that, but I am not going to.
Anyway, upon arriving at the garden and after getting distracted by the oddity of my pumpkins being a shade of orange on still green vines, I wandered up to the three pepper plants I plunked into the ground this year. The first plant that I inspected was the ancho chile plant, and let me tell you, I wish all the plants in my garden had yielded like the ancho, It was so packed with peppers that the plant had burst free of the stake I had offered it and fell to the landscape fabric like an overburdened pack animal.
My over eager to begin harvesting hands began plucking the apple sized chiles off the plant and I just marveled a bit over how many there were. Anchos are usually dried, ground, and enjoyed around here as a heat enhancing spice of slightly smokey awesomeness. Perhaps there are other ways to enjoy an ancho, if any fine Steemian wants to educate me on this topic, I'm all ears. Oh, that was corny, I am supposed to be talking about peppers, my apologies.
Moving on, I tackled the Anaheim chile plant next. The large, slight in heat Anaheims are one of my favorites. After being stuck in Hatch this year, I discovered a new way to preserve these peppers, they are getting roasted and frozen in quart bags. Even the gas stations in Hatch sell quart sized bags of roasted, frozen chiles of that variety. That way, whenever the urge for a batch of chile relleno or a fresh batch of enchilada sauce strikes me, a walk to the freezer is all that is required. No more substandard chile flavor for me!
Finally, there was the jalapeno plant. No matter the length of my growing season, I can always produce some jalapenos. My black recycled landscape fabric combined with some season extension techniques works well with jalapeno plants due to their slightly faster growth pattern. There are a few varieties which can be ready in 60-70 days, so yes, I will admit it, I wasn't quite as excited about the jalapenos. Well, that is until I actually started harvesting them.
Egads! The plant just didn't quit! There was at least 40 little jalapenos on that thing! It was almost as if the plant knew that I was craving cream cheese stuff, bacon wrapped jalapeno halves or something. Weird. Jalapenos are quite frequently used in my realm as they are easy to acquire around here and I have a known fondness for pico de gallo. In fact, just writing that term sent me on a thought diversion to my time in Puerto Vallarta. It was there that I achieved happiness on Earth when I discovered that they served me pico de gallo and lime wedges with every. single. meal. If only that could be an every day thing...
Sorry bout that, I have random mental diversions when it comes to food experiences of the sublime kind. We were talking about jalapenos. I eat them a lot! And when I say a lot, I mean on pretty much everything: pizza, eggs, sandwiches, in most of the dips I make, in stir fries, the list goes on and on. Sliced or diced fresh or pickled jalapenos adorn my food most of the time. In fact, that reminds me, I have never pickled my own jalapenos, perhaps that is what I should do with my sudden surplus of pepperage. Indeed.
I would love to hear what you all do with peppers? I'm even open to hearing atypical uses for them. The other day I chucked a jalapeno at a particularly insolent offspring. The resulting smack warmed the cockles of my heart almost as much as a nice bite of jalapeno warms the tips of my taste buds. Really, my friends, any and all data is welcomed by this Kat. Hope you all are having a most smashing Sunday!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's rather spicy and kinda nicey iPhone.
