Q: Greetings Dave,I am a young entrepreneur looking to start a hot sauce company. My family has been growing peppers in the mountains of Panama for 20 years and now I wish to bring some of that experience here. I have almost chosen a co-packer. I am now trying to find distributors to help me market my product and put …
How to Ripen Picked Green Peppers
Q: Hi Dave,Because of the early frost here in Portland, Oregon, I have picked all (about 8 brown paper grocery bags full) of my guajillo, pasilla, poblano and other peppers. They are quite mature but still green. Is there a preferred way to get these to ripen? Fluorescent lights, darkness, paper bags?Thank you in advance, Fred A: Hello Fred:Generally speaking, …
Pasilla vs. Poblano
Q: Dear Dave,I work for a food manufacturer in So. California. One of my customers wants to buy some poblano peppers from us. When I offered him pasillas and said that the terms were used interchangeably within the industry, he said no thanks, they had to be poblanos. When I discussed this with my buyer he said that he receives …
Developing a Land Race
Q: Dear Dave,I have a quick question regarding a ’land race’. I have been saving seeds from various hard-to-get pepper varieties, and I always select seed from the strongest, most healthy looking plants. I wonder how many generations it takes for a localized variety to develop. I tend to go for those that mature well enough to get to harvests …
No Formula for Calculating Heat
Q: Dear Dave,Is there a formula that will tell a person what the degree of heat would be on peppers that one has grown?–Francis A: Hello Francis:The heat level depends on the variety grown and the environmental conditions under which it is grown, so no, there is no formula.–Dave