I would just recommend try different plants and see what you prefer. Some are called "frying peppers" and for "pickling" for a reason, depends on what you want. For bells I like "Golden Summer", very large plants that have light green peppers that are good tasting even before they ripen beautifully. "Flavorburst" is somewhat similar, with light green unripe peppers that are good also. "Big Bertha" is a very nice hybrid to red bell. "Corno di Toro" and "Carmen" are excellent bull horn peppers, sweet peppers at their best. "Giant Marconi" is a very nice long pepper, Burpee's "Big Daddy" is a vigorous ripen to yellow Marconi type pepper.

Mary, Well, my eyes saw 'Juniper' and thought "Jupiter', so I guess it all worked out. :) Sheri, Fooled You is terrific if you don't want ANY heat. Even I, pepper wimp that I am, like some heat. So, if you want to grow one of the milder jalapenos, Texas A & M University has developed two that are relatively mild, in comparison to other jalapenos. They are TAM Mild Jalapeno and Jalapa. You might try to make your salsa with a mix of either of the mild jalapenos and Fooled You so you could have some delicious flavor from Fooled You and mild heat from TAM Mild Jalapeno or Jalapa. Or, you could make your salsa with Fooled You and add a small amount of canned jalapeno peppers, diced (wear gloves!) for some heat. Canned jalapenos are not as hot as fresh ones. And, if you ever want to make something really, really unbearably hot, use dried jalapeno powder! Several years ago, Texas A & M announced they were developing a mild hybrid habanero pepper that would only be 2,000 to 3,000 Scoville heat units but would have that great habanero flavor. That's one I'll try when it finally makes it onto the commercial market. Scoville Heat Units are approximate only. The more stress (of any kind, but especially heat/drought) a hot pepper plant is exposed to, the hotter the peppers it produces. Here are some Scoville Heat Unit Numbers: Bell Peppers 0 Pimento, Pepperocini 100-500 Anaheim 500-1,000 Poblano 1,000-1,5000 Rocotillo 1,500-2,500 Jalapeno 2,500-8,000 Serrano 10,000-23,000 Aji (most, there are some that are milder), Cayenne, Tabasco 30,000-50,000 Chiltepin, Thai 50,000-100,000 Jamaican 100,000-200,000 Habanero, Scotch Bonnet 100,000-350,000 Red Savina Habanero 350,000-575,000 Hope this info helps in the selection of types to grow. Dawn

OK, maureen, if you can control the sausage jokes I won't say anything about sausages and stuffing and the gleam in Dick's eye. Ahem. I used collagen casings but I think I'd try the natural ones next time. The collagen ones were easy to use but they have a paper like texture that I don't like on the cooked sausages, even if the instructions do say they are edible. We got our spices and casings at a supply in Detroit, based on the recommendation from that Charcuterie cookbook Larry Engelhardt gave me last year. We purchased on-line, their site is www.butcher-packer.com They were cheap, fast, reliable. Their bulk spices are great, that's where we got the fennel we used. I'll definitely order from them again. Oh, and the book is available there too, one of the authors (Brian Polcyn) is the chef/owner of a Detroit area restaurant called Five Lakes Grill which has won about a gazillion awards for their food. It's an amazing book. Annie

Actually if you use a proper cut for long slow roasting with ot without a BBQ type sauce, it's pretty well impossible to cook it too long...those cuts include things like Boston Butt and shoulder roasts. A lean roast like a loin or fresh ham roast will be way too lean and get stringy and tough like you said. When doing the long slow roast of things like a shoulder, I don't marinate at all, I just rub with a little salt and maybe some garlicm slice some onions and a lemon and cover with those slices, add about a cup of "something" apple juice, coke, 7 up, wine, broth,,,whatever....even water....and pop on the lid, set the temperature for 275 and cook for as long as I can....5 to 6 hours depending on the size, Then use 2 forks to shred it and if you think it needs it add some BBQ sauce....there aare all sorts of BBQ sauces to add....I make my own with onion, garlic, tomato paste vinegar brown sugar hatch chilis....and orten some Coleman's mustard powder as well.