5lakes
03-24-2011, 08:05 PM
Hi All!
Talking with a friend tonight, she offered to grow some peppers for me in her garden. She has a huge garden, and is incredible with it. Minnesota farmland.
Anyway, I'm trying to decide on what I'd like and how many.
Some background first.. Region is southern Minnesota, decent summers that don't usually get too hot. Mostly into the mid to high 70s with some 80s and a few 90s, some times. The land is good farmland that is well drained. There are some critters around, mostly small things like rabbits, squirrels and such. An occasional coyote, some deer. Of course, their dogs run free.
My goal this time is just to get my feet wet with the processing after. She can grow more next year, or help me set up my own garden here in town. Actually, another friend has offered to till up my back yard and help this year. I think I'll wait a year, though.
My choices so far, are jalapenos for ABTs and 'a la mexicana' type meals. Cayenne peppers to grind to replace the crushed red peppers and powder I buy at the store. Maybe a habanero for some extra kick here and there.
Some extra questions, here. Can the jalapenos be sliced, dried and rehydrated at a later date and still look/taste somewhat good? They'd be dried with seeds intact. If I chose to smoke them, considering the temp of our summers, could they dry enough that way or smoke, then dehydrate?
I'd also like to find a pepper about the same size as jalapenos with no heat. My goal here is to make some ABTs without heat for people that are deathly afraid of the jalapenos. Any ideas for that?
I'd like to try some others, but I'm not sure what will work best in this climate. The growing season will last until September, then frost could be a problem in October. I'm not really looking for incredible amounts of heat, though that's not a bad thing. I would like a nice variety for experimentation under the skilled hands of a master gardener. Any ideas would be most welcome.
Thanks for the help.
Talking with a friend tonight, she offered to grow some peppers for me in her garden. She has a huge garden, and is incredible with it. Minnesota farmland.
Anyway, I'm trying to decide on what I'd like and how many.
Some background first.. Region is southern Minnesota, decent summers that don't usually get too hot. Mostly into the mid to high 70s with some 80s and a few 90s, some times. The land is good farmland that is well drained. There are some critters around, mostly small things like rabbits, squirrels and such. An occasional coyote, some deer. Of course, their dogs run free.
My goal this time is just to get my feet wet with the processing after. She can grow more next year, or help me set up my own garden here in town. Actually, another friend has offered to till up my back yard and help this year. I think I'll wait a year, though.
My choices so far, are jalapenos for ABTs and 'a la mexicana' type meals. Cayenne peppers to grind to replace the crushed red peppers and powder I buy at the store. Maybe a habanero for some extra kick here and there.
Some extra questions, here. Can the jalapenos be sliced, dried and rehydrated at a later date and still look/taste somewhat good? They'd be dried with seeds intact. If I chose to smoke them, considering the temp of our summers, could they dry enough that way or smoke, then dehydrate?
I'd also like to find a pepper about the same size as jalapenos with no heat. My goal here is to make some ABTs without heat for people that are deathly afraid of the jalapenos. Any ideas for that?
I'd like to try some others, but I'm not sure what will work best in this climate. The growing season will last until September, then frost could be a problem in October. I'm not really looking for incredible amounts of heat, though that's not a bad thing. I would like a nice variety for experimentation under the skilled hands of a master gardener. Any ideas would be most welcome.
Thanks for the help.