A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Hot Pepper Question About rippening??

I have a bunch of Hot peppers..They are all Green
Is there a way to rippen them off the vine?? Does it affect the flavor at all?? I plan on making hot sauce with them!

It is only July..
I'd give 'em a wee~bit of time...

But if you have some that are like
one large one on each plant..
Pull that one particular one...
Then give it a wee~shot of a foliar
feed of a liquid fertilizer with a
high middle number...

That will send a couple messages to your plant..
One, the main big pepper is gone..*which
was on it's way of making seeeds to the plants' mind*
It will start producing more flowers and give energy into maiking and ripening the one's you have then...

Thanks Weezie... I did Pull a few of the big ones off My plants... The reason is I bought some from the Market that I wanted a bit more Ripe..

I strung them with thread and humg them in the sun... Hoping it will help some at least!!
My peppers are doing really good this year! Many are very close to ripe right now

Hi Rita
Remember...letting them get red on the plant will bring the heat to the max...but even when they're green, they're still hot!! I'm so hasty when it comes to my hot peppers...I'm constantly picking them when they're green. I just use two green where I would use 1 red.

Christina
(Still sorry about usin' your dragonfly pic. )

That is fine Christina I really did think it was FUNNY... I was laughing my butt off!!

Yeah Keith likes them REALLY hot ... He was bummed he could eat the habenaro just fine and not much burn... I guess I will have to wait on the hot sauce for some hotter peppers to ripen off our plants!!
Thanks Christina

Depending on what type of peppers they are. There should be some red on the peppers, if you are planning on drying them- if there still green, they may not turn red after picking, and may end up rotting. Maximum flavor and heat comes by letting it ripen on the plant. You can use green chiles to make a green chili sauce, but they should be used fresh- not dried. Thick walled peppers dont dry well such as Hungarian Wax or Jalapenos. You can cut them an dry them in a dehydrator though. Jalapenos can be smoked dried in a smoker (that is what Chipotle is!)Chipoltle is made when the Jalapenos are red though.

Thanks.. Makes a lot of sense!! I have the mother load of a drier too it is a Cabella Has 16 trays HUGE looks like a wine fridge

Rita, I selectively pick mine so I can use them fresh. It is SO HARD to wait until they start changing colors. I am rally trying to be patient this year cuz I wanna make ristras. Will see if that actually happens or not.

ristras ???What is this triss??

This is a ristra. You hang them for decoration and once they are completely dried, you blend all the peppers for the spice cupboard.

That is so vibrant,
I Love the colors on that!!!!

Did you make it???

Wicked Cool Triss thanks for the Idea...

No, I did not make that one. I have made them before but that was a gift from my SIL Carolyn.

That is so cool!!!

You can even make Ristras into wreathes like this:



Heres a link on Drying peppers, and making Ristras. It is from Fiery Foods.com, and is a page ran by Dave Dewitt. His books on hot peppers are great- lots of recipes, and uses for peppers, as well as history, and of course gardening!

Drying Chiles- Making Ristras

That is a great site. Loads of information!

Sorry to jump in here, but I'd like to know how soon I can pick off my peppers. I planted the stay-green ones and have some about 4 inches long.

They're looking so great on the vine I'm having a hard time deciding when to pick the first one.

Hi Rosepetal
Stay green ones? I've never heard of those. Are they a type of chili? What are they called?
You can pick a pepper at any time really. Just try picking one and eat it. If you like it..then I'd say they're ready for you.
Though, I would like to know the name of these peppers you're talking about.

Hi Christina

The pepper I planted is called "staysgreen" and is "the world's first sweet pepper that stays green from August till October", or so the advertizement said in my catalog.

I'm doing my pictures now so in a few minutes I'll add a few pictures.

Here are my pictures for the "Staysgreen" peppers I planted. Most of the plants have peppers on them. These pictures do them no justice, they are so pretty in real.

No justice?? Those are some gorgeous plants with some gorgeous peppers!! So green, so healthy looking!! I pick some of my peppers at the size you're showing, others I leave longer to grow larger and/or to turn red. I'd say pick one, eat it and enjoy!!

Christina

I will !!!!!!!!!

Those look great!!!!!

Wow, on the plants
and a double Wow on the peppers..

And you did those in POTS/CONTAINERS??????

Great job!

We've never had good luck with peppers outside with all our wind here, so I decided to give it a try in the greenhouse, did lots of other veggies too.

It's been a real pleasure working in this type of environment.

Some are doing well and others have been quite a challenge for me.