This year’s garden is modest. Yet, I have 5 varieties of tomatoes. The square pepper bed in back contains 6 Tabasco, 2 Serrano, and 4 varieties of hot chilies. Next up: place pine straw and bark mulch around the beds and cage and stake the tomatoes. I am using a new organic fertilizer (like produce, it cost more than the mass produced chemical types) and am anxious to see how it does. I hoed the beds twice this spring before planting. After several years of adding soil and amendments, there is about 10 inches of good growing medium in the boxes and, of course, below that is good old Georgia red clay.
The Thyme maintain well over this mild winter we’ve had. The Chives are doing great as you can see in the middle bed. A few onions came up which were leftover from last year. I have some dill seed on the ends of both long beds and in the square bed.
The Cascade hops are already climbing the fence and will come in big this year. I harvested nearly a pound last year. There should be plenty for a couple of good brews this year.
Update June 18th, 2016:
Two months have passed since the top photo was taken and it’s been terribly dry so far in this growing season.. Although I am hand watering every other day or so, which most of us know is never a good substitute for a good rain, the plants are still not thriving like they should. It has been very hot early this year. Last week (June 13-17, 2016) it was in the mid 90s most days. Those temperatures are usually reserved for July and August. The tomatoes are finally turning and the high temperatures has taken a toll on the peppers; on the other hand, they’re still producing. It’s still nice to have tomatoes and peppers in the back yard.
This Green Lynx spider has been hanging around my basil plants for several weeks now. I just happened to see it capture this fly while I was observing both of them. It happened in a flash. I quickly grabbed my camera and tripod, set up, and got these shots. It seemed to snatch the fly right out of the air in mid-flight. Be sure to click on the images on this page to get a larger, closeup of the two of them.
Serrano peppers are rated at 5,000 – 23,000 Scoville units. That is quite a range and when using them, it is best that you taste test a small bit of it to know just how hot it is. The serrano chili pepper looks like a smaller version of the jalapeno pepper, similar in color, but smaller, about 1 to 4 inches long on average and 1/2 inch wide. They generally grow between 1-4 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide though they have been known to grow longer. The serrano pepper originated in the Mexican states of Puebla and Hidalgo. They are commonly red, brown, orange, or yellow, though you are likely to find them in their more common green color, much like a jalapeno pepper. They are about the same length as Jalapenoes, but slimmer in diameter. Serrano peppers are great for salsas, sauces, relishes, garnishes, salads, and more. They are also very good when roasted. Where a jalapeno is hot (2500 to 10,000 Scoville units), the serrano steps it up a level in the heat zone (see above).
Serrano Chili Peppers
Serrano pepper plants grow about 1 to 1-1/2 feet tall. Each plant can produce up to 50 or more pepper pods. When unripe they are green, but ripe Serrano peppers can be any number of colors, from green to red to brown, orange, or yellow. Most people consider serranos to have a “crisp” flavor, and they are very commonly used in pico de gallo. They are hotter than the Jalapeno pepper, even though they are hotter, most people like eating serranos raw. They are considered to be one of the more flavorful hot peppers which is why they are so so popular.
When to Pick Serrano Peppers
Unripe serrano peppers start out green in color and will typically grow to 3 or 4 inches in length on the plant. As with any chili pepper, you can pick and eat them any time during their growth. The flavors will change as they ripen. Eventually the serrano pods stop growing and will then change color, from green to red, brown, orange or yellow. After that they will fall off of the plant and some may even rot on the plant, so it is best to pick your serrano peppers while they are still green or as they begin to change color. The pepper pods will snap off of the plant easily when they are ready. Leaving the serrano pods on the plant longer, allows them to change colors. The red peppers are slightly sweeter and the red color gives a dish a nice, bright color.
History of the Serrano Pepper
The serrano pepper has a long history in Mexican cooking. The pepper is one of the most commonly found chilies in this area of the world and is very tasty. Many of Mexico’s famous dishes use this pepper as an ingredient. Serrano peppers get their name from the area of the Mexican states of Puebla and Hidalgo. The area is quite mountainous. The word “sierra” means mountain in Spanish and “Serrano” is considered a altered version of this word. Currently, the Mexican states of Veracruz, Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas produce about 180,000 tons of serranos anually.
It’s no secret that the level of hot pepper usage in North American cuisine has risen dramatically. Hot chilies have been around for centuries in South American and other tropical areas. However, there is more to the picture than meets the eye. Hot Peppers have noticeable health benefits along with their lively taste. The spicy element of hot peppers is due to a chemical in them called capsaicin.
Capsaicin is located in the placental area of peppers (the fleshy, pithy part that holds the seeds). The internal membranes contain some to a lesser degree. The seeds themselves do not produce any capsaicin. Most of it is in the pithy white portion of the interior of the pepper. Capsaicin does not actually “burn” tissues. It creates the same mental sensation via the nervous system as an actual burn, but no actual damage is done. The inflammation caused by exposure to capsaicin is believed to be the body’s reaction to nerve stimulation. This seems to be a natural reaction that is produced by the brain because the sensory excitement is translated by the brain as a physical burn or abrasion.
The Increased Demand for Spicier Foods in America
The Asian hot sauce Sriracha has recently taken on an more prominent role as America’s favorite hot condiment. Recently, Sriracha sales have grown noticeably every year without any major advertising by their distributor, Huy Fong Foods. Dining establishments have begun featuring Sriracha in many of their dishes, Lay’s, the potato chip manufacturer, have it as one of their top three new chip flavors. Subway has started offering Sriracha chicken and steak melts on their menu. Sriracha is just one component in the spicy foods movement that has gained popularity in the U.S. Chipotle, tobasco, habanero, and jalapeno are on the list of foods that have recently become more prominent in snack foods, as well as on restaurant menus. Doritos brand has 102 different varieties of corn chips. Out the 102 flavors, the majority of these have spicier flavors added. These include Doritos Fiery Habanero, and Chile Limon.
Restaurants and food trucks that feature Mexican or Asian foods now comprise a large number of newly opened restaurants. One thing in common with these cuisines is their tendency of cooking spicy dishes, which is now satisfying America’s growing desire for those hot dishes. Over half of consumers mentioned that spicy or hot foods are appealing, compared to less than half a short 4 years ago.
Health Benefits of Hot Peppers
Cayenne peppers, better known as the red hot chili pepper, are full of the antioxidant vitamins A and C.
Hot, spicy peppers can also work as a pain reliever for some people. The pain receptors within your mouth can get desensitized, nerve receptors in the body can also be desensitized. This is the theory behind using capsaicin and pepper extracts as pain relievers. When applied to the skin, topical capsaicin has been shown to ease symptoms of headaches, shingles, and osteoarthritis. Capsaicin is being studied as an effective treatment for sensory nerve fiber disorders, including pain associated with arthritis, psoriasis, and diabetic neuropathy. When animals injected with a substance that causes inflammatory arthritis were fed a diet that contained capsaicin, they had delayed onset of arthritis, and also significantly reduced extremity inflammation. Red chili peppers, such as cayenne, have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol, triglyceride levels, and platelet aggregation, while increasing the body’s ability to dissolve fibrin, a substance integral to the formation of blood clots. Cultures where hot pepper is used liberally have a much lower rate of heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism.
Spicing your meals with chili peppers may also protect the fats in your blood from damage by free radicals – a first step in the development of atherosclerosis. In a study involving 27 healthy subjects (14 women, 13 men), eating freshly chopped chili was found to increase the resistance of blood fats, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, to oxidation (free radical injury).
In cultures where people enjoy lots of food laced with spicy flavor, there is a lower incidence of heart attacks. Could capsaicin be the heart-helping ingredient? Researchers once thought that capsaicin would send blood pressure sky-high, but the opposite could be true. As mentioned above, capsaicin can be a shock to your system at first, but over time, you can get used to it. Evidence is preliminary, but there’s a possibility that capsaicin could be used as a treatment to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Eating meals with capsaicin-rich peppers may also help to regulate blood sugar levels and lower the risk of diabetes. And when you lower your diabetes risk, your blood pressure, and your cholesterol, you lower your overall heart health risks!
Generally speaking, the hotter the pepper, the higher the capsaicin content. So, spice your foods with hot peppers and gain the health benefits that folks in the tropical locales have enjoyed for a long time. Hot peppers can spice up salsas, salad dressings, soups, and vegetables. They also work as a balance to bitter foods like greens. To cool the hotness of those peppers, mix spicy peppers with more neutral tasting foods. These foods may include, yogurt, avocado, mango, papaya, or cilantro. Try a variety of peppers from the capsicum family: anaheim, bell, cayenne, jalapeno, pepperoncini, poblano, serrano, habanero, and tabasco. Chili peppers have a mistaken reputation for contributing to stomach ulcers. Not only do they not cause ulcers, they can help prevent them by killing bacteria you may have ingested, while stimulating the cells lining the stomach to secrete protective buffering juices.
Red Chili Peppers have significant amounts of the following vitamins and minerals:
Vitamin E – Excellent
Vitamin A – Very good
Fiber – Very good
Vitamin B6 – Very good
Vitamin K – Very good
Copper – Very good
Iron – Very good
Manganese – Good
Vitamin B3 – Good
Vitamin B2 – Good
Potassium – Good
Many people adhere to the Scoville organoleptic test to determine heat or capsaicin content; however, the test is flawed in that it is highly subjective. Currently, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is used to measure the capsaicin content of the various hot chili peppers that exist. This laboratory procedure gives an exact measure of capsaicin, which is given in American Spice Trade Association pungency units but typically converted to and stated as Scoville Heat Units, as these are better known. These are not published publically and the American Spice Association charges for these published results. It is quite expensive to perform these tests.
Read more Chilli Misconceptions 5: Heat Level X
For most of us, we can get a relatively good concept of the heat (capsaicin) content of hot peppers by simply following the Scoville Unit list.
Scoville Units in some of the more common hot chili peppers:
This has been one of the best garden years that I can recall since we moved to Georgia. The rain been fairly regular and they have been good soakers. I planted 12 tomato plants this year. Next year, the plan is to plant 6 and 2 weeks later, plant the other 6. That way, the fruit will last longer through the season. I found that pinching off the initial flowers on the tomato and pepper plants forced them to produce more fruit. It does seem to work!
The pepper plants: Bell, Cajun Bell, Serrano, Tabasco, Jalapeno, and Hot Chilies are all doing well “plant-wise”, but only the Serranos, Tabascos, and Jalapenos are doing great. The others are producing, but not as hoped. The Tabasco peppers are doing fantastic and have tons of peppers on them. Next year, Jalapenos, Serranos, and Tabascos will be the ones I plant.
The two pics of grapes above are from a $2.50 clearance vine I purchased 3 years ago. This year, there are 7 bunches coming from the single vine. The grapes have been small, but very sweet.