Gardening: My Tomatoe and Pepper Progress

[HarborTownBrewing]

@harbortown ahh man, wish there was more. At least you got hops, hell yeah. Are the tomatoes getting a lot of sun and food? I have had that happen with some late plantings. We put green t's in window. I spray chemicals for bugs, need to soon, actually. Cant wait to see some hops.

They probably get about 6+ hours of sun a day, and plenty of water. I should feed them, likely, but I've not delved into plant nutrition. Which I really should.

 

[user 211287]

Peppers can do amazingly well with only 4-6 hours of direct sunlight a day. One of my Bonnets is under heavy shade and now its starting to beat the one that gets way more sun. My Ajis though love tons of sun light but they will drop some pods when its really hot out. The pods will sun burn a bit also.

Im my climate a good solution is full sun until around noon and shaded the rest of the day during the peak of the summer heat. Before summer really kicks in the amount of direct sunlight can be greatly increased.

 

[brewcat]

Harvested a pretty big haul of eggplant tonight. Amazing what happens when you leave for three days.

 

[applescrap]

Yay, first hot sauce. Got it at allrecipes but I thinks it's emerils. No garlic unfortunately and didnt really have any good spices to add or lime or cilantro, anything really. Its bright, spicey and tangy. Wish I would have had better vinegar on hand, too. I did 20 jalopenos rough chopped with a third of red onion roughly chopped, seared in safflower oil with salt. Added 2 cups water and simmered aggresively for 30 minutes. Added 1 c vinegar and tried to use immersion blender but that was very difficult so got not the best blend. So happy thanks pp and crew.

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[passedpawn]

Yay, first hot sauce. Got it at allrecipes but I thinks it's emerils. No garlic unfortunately and didnt really have any good spices to add or lime or cilantro, anything really. Its bright, spicey and tangy. Wish I would have had better vinegar on hand, too. I did 20 jalopenos rough chopped with a third of red onion roughly chopped, seared in safflower oil with salt. Added 2 cups water and simmered aggresively for 30 minutes. Added 1 c vinegar and tried to use immersion blender but that was very difficult so got not the best blend. So happy thanks pp and crew.

I like to run everything through food processor to finely chop, then cook briefly with vinegar in pressure cooker (that really breaks it down). After all that, it's easy work for the immersion blender.

 

[Oldskewl]

Yay, first hot sauce. Got it at allrecipes but I thinks it's emerils. No garlic unfortunately and didnt really have any good spices to add or lime or cilantro, anything really. Its bright, spicey and tangy. Wish I would have had better vinegar on hand, too. I did 20 jalopenos rough chopped with a third of red onion roughly chopped, seared in safflower oil with salt. Added 2 cups water and simmered aggresively for 30 minutes. Added 1 c vinegar and tried to use immersion blender but that was very difficult so got not the best blend. So happy thanks pp and crew.

Are you sure those are jalapeños? They look like Serrano.

 

[applescrap]

Yes, serranos I think.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

weirdest thing, the rains messed up my pollination and the bee's showed up late and stayed way too long pollinating and now this, a cross between zucchini and yellow squash

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

weirdest thing, the rains messed up my pollination and the bee's showed up late and stayed way too long pollinating and now this, a cross between zucchini and yellow squash

Hm... So what does it taste like?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

not sure just picked them, ill let you know, could just be color

 

[z-bob]

I think that's a virus rather than cross-pollination. (cross-pollination doesn't show up until the next generation *except* for corn) The squash are just fine for eating, but the plants will eventually get sick and stop bearing.

Do you have any catnip blooming near your garden? I'm pretty sure catnip is an alternate host for a cucumber mosaic virus. When catnip and squash are blooming at the same time, insects visit both and transmit the virus. I haven't had any problems with green-spotted yellow squash and yellow-spotted zukes since eradicating the catnip (it grows wild here) but that might be a coincidence.

I do have catmint (it's related to catnip, but not all that closely) in my flowerbeds but that doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

you may be right, its a mecca for plants and all vegetation here growing wild, and a compost bin right next to the squash, I have a path for my dog to run around the garden and the garden is fenced in and have not trimmed it at all but so much rain and sun, its either too hot or raining here

 

[HopGobbler]

Planning to pickle my banana peppers tomorrow, can't wait to throw them on some smoked brisket sandwiches!

 

[HoppyDaze]

recipe?

 

[estricklin]

I like to run everything through food processor to finely chop, then cook briefly with vinegar in pressure cooker (that really breaks it down). After all that, it's easy work for the immersion blender.

I tried fermenting hot sauce it was...."ok" I guess, but thinking about skipping that step this time. So if I put them in the pressure cooker, about how long? If you had to guess on the ratio of vinegar to peppers? I have several pounds of fresh peppers at this point I need to do something with.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

10 gallons of green beens picked today,my knees are Jello, I need a beer

 

[estricklin]

10 gallons of green beens picked today,my knees are Jello, I need a beer

You earned it!

 

[passedpawn]

I tried fermenting hot sauce it was...."ok" I guess, but thinking about skipping that step this time. So if I put them in the pressure cooker, about how long? If you had to guess on the ratio of vinegar to peppers? I have several pounds of fresh peppers at this point I need to do something with.

Once the pressure cooker starts steaming, let it go only a minute or two. That's what I do.

I made notes one time and they say I added 1 cup of vinegar to 5 oz of peppers. That one worked out pretty good. Since then, I just add enough vinegar until the vinegar is visible above the pepper mash in the pressure cooker. If it still seems too thick when I strain it, I just add some more. I was really making this up as I went along, so feel free to tell me it's hoohey.

I also tried fermenting and I didn't t thing the flavor was improved. Carrots, onions, garlic, Worcestershire, mangos, that's where the magic is.

Here's a post and some pics:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7659722&highlight=vinegar#post7659722

 

[user 125772]

I tried fermenting hot sauce it was...."ok" I guess, but thinking about skipping that step this time. So if I put them in the pressure cooker, about how long? If you had to guess on the ratio of vinegar to peppers? I have several pounds of fresh peppers at this point I need to do something with.

my recipe for hot pepper sauce goes like this :
*8 oz batch: (scale accordingly )

4 oz good water
4 oz apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
8 hot peppers . (habaneros, ghosts, reapers, that size) adjust up for cayenne-sized, down for big jalapeño sized)

Mix Water, vinegar and salt and bring to a boil.
toss the halved peppers in and boil in the solution for 5 mins (make sure to take a good whiff) lol
pour everything into a blender and liquify. (keep face away)
add a little Xantham gum after liquefied for emulsion
Bottle the same way you would bottle for favorite ale (i usually use the little Coronita bottles.

 

[passedpawn]

^^ I'm a big fan also of Xanthan gum and use it in some of my hot sauces. Just be careful and don't go to far with it Can be added into hot or cold, doesn't matter.

 

[user 125772]

agreed, doesn't take much !

 

[applescrap]

I was afraid that my pressure cooker would make the rice I give the kids spicey, same with the blender. Any thoughts?

 

[user 211287]

Metal or glass is pretty safe bet it will be fine....Plastics though may retain a little heat if they are super hots. I dont think you would even notice it with peppers under a regular orange habanero.

 

[passedpawn]

I was afraid that my pressure cooker would make the rice I give the kids spicey, same with the blender. Any thoughts?

Naw, not if you wash well with soap and water. If you don't, could be a problem.

Short story: I used a cheese knife to slice up a habenero. My wife later used the same knife to slice some cheese and her lip literally blistered on the inside of our mouth from the heat. I wouldn't have believed that could happen, but I saw it with my own eyes. Even have a picture of the blisters.

Funny thing, I ate that hab on chips with sour cream. No blisters for me

 

[BowAholic]

man Eric...that looks yummy...

 

[applescrap]

Some updates, got the plants tied up better and peppers are starting to grow. These yellow pear tomatoes are growing tons of fruit.

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[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

nice, I like your clean set up

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Banana pepper plant is starting to kick back into producing! You can kind of see all the little peppers coming through, and a ton of flowers not pictured.

Tomatoes decided to flower and i have 4 bulbs now. I thought it was dead but the lower temps have definitely helped it come back.

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[passedpawn]

I babied a seed to a seedling to a LARGE plant that never become the promised Carolina Reaper. I accused it of being a weed, and I was just about to cut it down when I noticed an odd wrinkly pepper growing in one corner of it

 

[estricklin]

Once the pressure cooker starts steaming, let it go only a minute or two. That's what I do.

I made notes one time and they say I added 1 cup of vinegar to 5 oz of peppers. That one worked out pretty good. Since then, I just add enough vinegar until the vinegar is visible above the pepper mash in the pressure cooker. If it still seems too thick when I strain it, I just add some more. I was really making this up as I went along, so feel free to tell me it's hoohey.

I also tried fermenting and I didn't t thing the flavor was improved. Carrots, onions, garlic, Worcestershire, mangos, that's where the magic is.

Here's a post and some pics:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=7659722&highlight=vinegar#post7659722

I did make some last night, and I guess I got confused and used 5 oz of vinegar to about 1 lb of peppers. I added a small amount of W sauce and yellow mustard, salt and a very small amount of garlic. At first, I thought it had too much vinegar but I actually like the vinegar taste in hot sauce, and I'm really surprised at how well this turned out, especially since it only took 20 min or so to make it. I wish it was hotter but I didn't have enough really hot peppers this year. I DO like hot sauce, but I mostly just eat my peppers with whatever I'm having for dinner that night, pretty simple. There are certain things I prefer hot sauce on for whatever reason, like pizza and mac and cheese. I just had so many peppers, next round I'll make some more chili powder. I have been freezing a lot of peppers so that I'll have some fresh ones this winter, hopefully it will work out.

my recipe for hot pepper sauce goes like this :
*8 oz batch: (scale accordingly )

4 oz good water
4 oz apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
8 hot peppers . (habaneros, ghosts, reapers, that size) adjust up for cayenne-sized, down for big jalapeño sized)

Mix Water, vinegar and salt and bring to a boil.
toss the halved peppers in and boil in the solution for 5 mins (make sure to take a good whiff) lol
pour everything into a blender and liquify. (keep face away)
add a little Xantham gum after liquefied for emulsion
Bottle the same way you would bottle for favorite ale (i usually use the little Coronita bottles.

Thanks for the recipe, I actually did substitute some white vinegar for apple cider.

man Eric...that looks yummy...

Your not still getting squash are you?