Help with Habanaro

Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:23 pm

This is my first year growing habanaro chilies and I started getting peppers in late June. I currently have about 20 plants and about 50(+) peppers. My problem is that none of them have turned orange yet (all of them are green). Reading online, I've found that they are supposed to turn quickly, and am worried that it's getting too late. Most of august was in the mid 90's, so I don't think it wasn't warm enough. What should I do?

Sat Sep 04, 2010 10:18 pm

Orange Habanero takes a long time. I think it is listed as 120 days. You will get a few ripe here and there, and then close to frost time you will start getting more. You may have up to half the fruit on the plant green when frost comes. Some of them will ripen inside after you pick them. You can make extract from the dried green ones if you want heat without flavor.

The long season is why it is beneficial to overwinter peppers like Habs as pruned, down potted houseplants and then get them in the ground next year as two year olds. They flower and put fruit on faster.

Sat Sep 04, 2010 11:09 pm

^Is that 120 days from when they sprout or from when you plant them? The started to sprout in mid May, so 120 days would be now.

Should I bring them in before the frost or will they be alright, being outside for a while?

Sun Sep 05, 2010 3:00 am

110-120 days from when you put the seedlings in the garden. I let mine get hit with the first light frost before I think about pulling them. i might thrrow a sheet over them for protection that night. If the plants are full and dense frost often just singes the branch tips and you can get several more days out of them if the weather warms up.

Even if the frost kills most of the leaves/branches the pruned branch stumps will put out new sprouts when you move them indoors.

I put mine in the garden around Memorial Day and have a couple of orange fruit, but the bulk of blooming and fruit set was much later in the season. Last year I grew Red Savina and Jamaican Hot Chocolate because they were listed as maturing earlier, but the flavor was much different. Peruvian white Habanero was also early and very productive with its little white bullets.

Sun Sep 05, 2010 3:21 am

Mine are just coloring. Fear not...

HG

Sun Sep 05, 2010 2:01 pm

I'm growing the bhut jolokia, which at least resembles the habanero, and they are just reaching full size, not even starting to color. These will probably be ready to harvest about 2 mo. or so after my standard banana peppers. My thai peppers were not ready till about a month after my banana peppers were.

Just give yours time. You could even put up low tunnels (do a forum search :wink:

) to extend your growing season.

Mon Sep 06, 2010 1:29 am

This is straying off topic, so I will apologize for that first.

Does anyone know how Banana Peppers commonly served in restaurants (often as a "side" to sandwiches, salad, or pizza) are processed?
They seem juicy, as if stored/shipped in a jar of liquid. I tried pickling some with a common "pickle" recipe, but the taste and texture did not seem to be close.

Mon Sep 06, 2010 1:49 pm

farmerlon wrote:This is straying off topic, so I will apologize for that first.

Does anyone know how Banana Peppers commonly served in restaurants (often as a "side" to sandwiches, salad, or pizza) are processed?
They seem juicy, as if stored/shipped in a jar of liquid. I tried pickling some with a common "pickle" recipe, but the taste and texture did not seem to be close.

Perhaps frozen

? How to freeze banana peppers

Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:51 pm

No, not frozen... at least not in that way.

The "restaurant" peppers are still whole, and they seem very juicy. It seems like they have been put through some type of "pickling" process... but, to me, they don't have the typical "vinegar and salt" taste of a common pickling recipe.

Tue Sep 07, 2010 2:38 pm

farmerlon wrote:No, not frozen... at least not in that way.

The "restaurant" peppers are still whole, and they seem very juicy. It seems like they have been put through some type of "pickling" process... but, to me, they don't have the typical "vinegar and salt" taste of a common pickling recipe.

Perhaps they get fresh ones brought in regularly. That could very much be the case, especially if there is no "pickling" taste to them.

Mon Sep 13, 2010 3:14 am

They just started turning the other day. I've got a few now that are just about ripe.

Next year I'm going to try Bhut Jolokia. I've found a few places that sell the seeds. If you mix jolokia with habanaro, do you add the Scoville units (result equals about 1,420,000 :twisted:

) or will the end concoction be only as hot as the jolokia (around 1,075,000 heat units)?

Mon Sep 13, 2010 5:23 am

Aren't the Bhut Jolokia somewhere around 150 days? anyways, you can always try the Hot Paper Lantern variety of Habanero ( I had one the other day, was tasty tasy, and of course mouth-blistering hot ) it is an earlier maturing pepper than the standard orange Habanero they have been available at our farm market for a month

funny though, the one i bought the other day, the bottom half wasn't spicy at all, just delicious, but as I got closer to the membrane, that brought the fire.

Mon Sep 13, 2010 1:27 pm

farmerlon wrote:No, not frozen... at least not in that way.

The "restaurant" peppers are still whole, and they seem very juicy. It seems like they have been put through some type of "pickling" process... but, to me, they don't have the typical "vinegar and salt" taste of a common pickling recipe.

Farmerlon, my hot pepper pickling recipe doesn't have the typical vinegar and salt taste you are describing. In fact, I don't really taste the vinegar and salt if the peppers had decent flavor to begin with. Maybe it's because they are, like, brined. (I don't know the word for that :oops:

). They are covered with cold salt water for 18 hours before beginning the canning process. I generally stick 'em in the fridge during this stage.

Is that how you make yours? If not, I can give you this recipe. I like it!

Tue Sep 14, 2010 1:19 pm

Are you watering your peppers a lot? If so try not watering a day or 2 inbetween watering. I found that helps with the heat of the peppers and also helps the process. Also pick one pepper from each plant.. When the pepper just stat to turn you can pick them and put in a paper bag to ripen. This will also help get the ball rolling.

For the resturant pepper question - in resturants the pepers are ussually pan sauted in some oil (fryer peppers) and not pickled. They make them ahead of time and store them so when you get them are very juicy..

Hope this helps..

Ghost peppers do take longer then other peppers but follow the same process. The plant are more bushy...