Maximum Pungency

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Dave,I am pleased to report that my 2 jalapeno plants are doing quite well this year. Over the course of the summer the heat scale of the peppers has ranged from nonexistent to scorching. With a preference for the latter and as a guide to harvesting, I am interested in the relationship between ripeness and pungency. After about 1.5 hours …

Seed Extraction

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Dave,Do you know a way to harvest seeds from chiles? Thanks,Kevin Hello Kevin:Aside from doing it by hand, there are seed extraction machines available, but they destroy the pods in the process.Dave

Drying Jolokias

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Dave,I am having a terrible time trying to dry my ripe ’Bhut Jolokia’ pepper pods and have them look respectable! I have tried drying them in the sun, whole, whole with razor blade cut along their length on opposite sides, whole with both ends cut off to let air flow through, and whole, split in half with the interior laid …

Mild Habaneros

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Dear Dave, I found this on Wikipedia. Sacrilege I say. "Researchers in Texas have recently created a mild version of the habanero pepper which retains the aroma and flavor of the traditional habanero pepper. The milder version was obtained by crossing the Yucatan habanero pepper with a heatless habanero from Bolivia over several generations. These mild habaneros are expected to …

Harvesting Habaneros for Pickling

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Hi Dave:I’m growing habaneros for the first time, with 2 plants that are producing very nicely. I want to pickle the habaneros, so I have a couple of questions for you:1. Both plants have some peppers that have already ripened while others are just starting to ripen or are still green. Is it okay to leave the already-ripe peppers on …