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Ornamental peppers edible??

14 years ago

I wasn't planning on buying it, but I came acoss this beautiful 'black pearl' ornamental pepper the other day. When the sun hits it, the leaves are velvety black. It had purple flowers that form tiny purple or red peppers. Are these edible? It came with a warning for pets, saying that they were very hot. Either way, it's gorgeous.

Kim

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Comments (6)

greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
14 years ago
While the Black Pearl is perfectly edible for those who don't mind the heat,
growers will often use chemicals that wouldn't necessarily be used for food-crops.

That would be the only concern.

Josh
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ajijoe
14 years ago
hello Kim

yes there all edible

some arent worth eating but that is a matter of subjection, some are very hot some like 'SANGRIA' have no heat and no flavor there basiclly for admiring as most ornimental are, black pearl are hot and probably taste ok i myself never had one

i will be sampling some of mine this year

i have
MEDUSA

EXPLOSIVE IGNITE

INCA BERRY

BOLOVIAN RAINBOW

2 NOLD HYBRIDS

CHINESE 5 COLOR

5 COLOR

PURPLE PERU

TRI COLOR

VARIAGATED TRI COLOR

AND MY FAVORITE AND RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE IS

"AJI OMNI COLOR"
ITS HOT, HAS CRUNCHY FLESH WHEN EATEN RAW, AND A CITRUS SMELL AND FLAVOR THATS HARD TO BEAT

YES THERE ALL EDIBLE AND IT COULD NOT HURT TO TRY THEM

HOPE THIS HELPS THANKS YOUR FRIEND JOE
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For a long time I didn't know for sure that ornamental peppers were edible, but then I read that they were, and I have 'sampled' them ever since. It has been a really cold winter here too and it may end up as our snowiest or second snowiest winter ever in Love County...the local paper said it was the snowiest ever but the OCS data doesn't agree. Regardless, it has been very cold. Even our warmest days have been cooler than average. We have three sunny days in a row this week. Now, if only we can get a little something accomplished before the severe T-storm/tornado type weather arrives and starts pounding on us. Y'all sound busy up there. I don't even think we've received our census form in the mail yet, but we did get the letter saying the census form was coming soon. I hoped to be planting this week, and then we got over an inch of rain at our house yesterday....just when we were almost mud-free. I'm going to try to plant tomorrow as it is just squishy, icky mud today and needs to dry out some first. Since it is too muddy to plant, I may go shopping this afternoon. I am climbing the walls from boredom. Don't work too hard! Dawn
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I would follow growers advise quite closely for the chemical reason alone. If the label says not edible, don't eat it. However I don't think anyone would be idiotic enough to produce/breed a poisonous chilli, that would be criminal. Someone, somewhere will eventually eat it, if not direct from the store bought plant, fruit from it's seedlings etc. I bought a grafted lemon tree in full fruit and it was labelled as inedible for "ornamental purposes only". This irritated me as it grew extremely well when planted and produced fruit second to none. It produced flowers and fruit all year and good healthy foliage. For different reasons I then spent months tracking down it's wholesaler and then grower in Sicily, the wholesaler had already stopped stocking citrus. When I got to the bottom of it I was told it was a speciality lemon, specialite regionale (the Italian version) used for forcing and extremely edible, a highly prized variety grown on virus resistant stock. The middle men the wholesaler and exporter in a different country entirely said they had been treating the trees with systemic fungicides and pesticides when in full fruit at time of sale and thats why they were labelled as such. Of course they might not have been so enticing for the consumer had the label said "danger this plant has been treated with lethal toxic chemicals". And of course after a couple of years I had already tasted the fruit and decided they were stunningly delicious, both good for juice and zesting. I was more interested in the variety and graft stock used as it did so well. But had I been tempted to try the fruit straight away I might have become seriously sick.....so just shows. It can take awhile for systemic chemicals to be neutralised and in a short lived plant like a chilly pepper......not worth it. White fly apparently is a big problem in production of chilly pepper plants and is often difficult to eradicate without systemics, which are often used anyway to stop even a small possibility of an accidental infestation that could ruin an entire crop of plants. I live for the day ornamental pot plants and garden plants are labelled "organically produced", but when it says not for consumption believe it.
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I am surprised that many of you don't think ornamental peppers have any taste or taste like carrots. These make great pickled peppers to use on steaks, in salads, eggs, etc. The Medusa taste like pimentos. There are are hot varieties as well. I grew them in Texas, and I am working on growing them in Utah. You don't need to remove the seeds. To pickle them use 12 oz of a wine vinegar above 5% acidity is best if you want to keep an open bottle in the pantry rather than the frig. I actually like Champagne Vinegar at 7%. With 8 oz of peppers that have had the caps removed and the initial 12 oz of vinegar, bring to a boil, and then add 4 peeled cloves of garlic and a sprig of rosemary, and simmer for 10 minutes. Let the peppers cool for a bit and place in a sterilized jar. Washing the jar in the dishwasher will work, or boil it 10 minutes will do as well. Place peppers in jar, cover with the vinegar, topping off with extra vinegar if needed. Place in the pantry for 6 weeks, after which they are ready to eat. There are all types of wonderful vinegar's available, There are red and white wine, Champagne and Sherry vinegar's. As I plan to can mine, I will boil them initially and add the garlic and rosemary, and then I will place them in sterilized bottles and place the sterilized canning lids and rims on them, and then place them in the same boiling water I used to sterilize the bottles and boil them for 10 minutes. Turning the heat off and letting them set for additional 10 minutes. Remove them and let them cool down. The lids will pop as they cool and become vacuum packed. I suggest you read up on canning and get a simple kit with the tongs, jars holders, funnel, etc. You don't need to get a large canning pot as you can use a large walled pot, and as long as the filled jars are covered by 1.5-2 inches of boiling water. I use 8-12 oz canning jars. These make great gifts to show of your culinary skills. Btw, The plants can be dug up and stored in pots or those plastic plant containers to over winter in the garage if it doesn't get too cold or a basement with windows. Water now and again, but not too much. They seem to be slow growers here in Utah, so the plants are out in the grow boxes in full sun and loving it, where as my seedlings are slowly growing. I plan to over winter them again. I just harvested 2 pounds processed peppers from the 2 year old plants. Good luck and enjoy. I expect more by the end of the season.
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Woohoo, thats what I was told when I asked about them. The guy said not to eat pods that came from the ornamentals since they were laden with pesticides. Im talking about those you see at a Traders Joe and other places that have plenty of pods. He said those seeds were good to grow out and those pods would be ok to eat. The situation here is Jman grew this plant from seeds so I say enjoy your pods. Were on the same page Kevin. :)
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heirloomjunkie
Original Author
14 years ago
Cool. Thanks so much. I must admit, I'm a wimp when it comes to heat. I grew jalepenos last year and even those were too hot. lol. I guess I'll stick with my bell peppers.

Joe, that's a ton of peppers! What do you do with them all?

Kim
0
ajijoe
14 years ago
hello Heirloom

yes there are quite a few i have 2 patches of ground devoted to ornamentals, i dont grow flowers, i grow peppers, my wife is the flower person

i harvest the peppers for the seeds and trade for other peppers seeds im looking for as well as some get added to hot sauce for color and accent

thanks your friend joe
0
heirloomjunkie
Original Author
14 years ago
Pretty cool, Joe. And hey, the pepper plants flower right? Double duty, less work. ;)

I grew jalepenos and bell peppers last year. But I got very few peppers. In their defense, the soil wasn't great (I've done my homework this year though). Are your plants usually loaded with peppers? Are the plants leafy? I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or not. Any pics??

Kim
0
ajijoe
13 years ago
hey Kim

there are a few not too many yet, but yes lots of flowers!!

some stressed so bad that they lost most of there leaves, but there is a bright side, the plants are starting to bud and branch out, which could mean lots of peppers!! and they will be leafy also, my soil is not the greatest i just moved to the place im at, but i improved it a little before i planted and im throwing cut grass around the plants

i also have heirloom tomatos, hot peppers and sweet peppers

sweets are vine sweet mini
yellow bell
corno de toro

hots are around 52 species and rising

my main favorites are
CHINESE 5 COLOR
DATIL
AJI OMNI COLOR
AJI YELLOW
RED SAVINA HABANERO
JAMAICAN HOT CHOCOLATE HABANERO
PIRI PIRI

NO PICS OF THIS YEARS HARDEN

BUT IF YOU WANNA SEE A FEW PIC FROM LAST SEASON SEND ME AN EMAIL AND I WILL SEND YOU A FEW

PUT CUT GRASS AROUND YOUR PLANTS, IT WILL HOLD DOWN THE MOISTURE, COMPOST AND NUTRIENTS AS IT BREAKS DOWN AND KEEPS DOWN THE WEEDS

I USE A LITTLE MIRACLE GRO IN THE BEGINNING TO GIVE THEM A JUMP START HOPR THIS WILL HELP

THANKS YOUR FRIEND JOE
0

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