great tour, looks like you're going to have a nice bounty of peppers this season!

Bonnie. Your plants look awesome. Your community garden has taken off fast! Jamie

Thanks for the great pics. Some of these varieties I'm seeing for the first time. How was the flavor?

Rudy

Rudy, I'm still waiting on some of the varieties, such as Cosa Arrugada, Sandia, Puya, Lemon Drop, Aji Yellow, Serrano Tampiqueno, Joe E. Parker, College 64, and the Anchos to ripen.

Here are my thoughts on the ones I've tried so far:

Chilhaucle Rojo has an immediate, but short lasting heat, which disappears when cooked. I like the flavor it adds to cooked dishes.

Jimmy Nardello, very sweet, good flavor.

Kalocsai V2 has a nice level of heat, and was grown mainly for making hot paprika. Not as sweet as the Alma Paprika's I've grown in the past, but the plant is very productive, and I think the peppers themselves are just beautiful.

Czechoslovakian Black nice flavor and level of heat. Mine was not as productive as the Black Hungarian I grew last year though.

Santa Fe Grande is one of my favorites so far this year. It has some heat, but it doesn't overpower the flavor, and a good bit of sweetness. It will make a nice paprika, or great addition to salsa.

Fresno has the most heat of all the ones I've tried so far. Planning to use it mostly for canning - salsa, zucchini relish, etc.

I'll give an updated report after I have a chance to try some of the other varieties I'm growing.

Bonnie

Today, I turned these:

Fresno

Santa Fe Grande

Serrano Tampiqueno

... and a couple of Jalapeno M's into this:

Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly

Can't wait to dig in!!!

Your growing some beautiful peppers there. The chilhaucle
Rojo makes a very nice powder. Grew that one last year.
Aji Panca also makes a nice powder.

Sweet stuff, Highalt!

Josh

Thanks, guys!

That's good to know about the Chilhaucle Rojo, Roper! I've got several ripe that I was wondering what to do with. Unfortunately the Aji Panca is just now starting to set pods, so not sure if I'll get any ripe ones before the first frost.

Hoping to have enough ripe peppers to make another batch of jelly soon, since friends and family have already put dibs on that first batch, LOL! Last year, I think I had an English muffin with cream cheese and jalapeno jelly for breakfast for two months straight. That stuff is addictive!!!

Bonnie

Today I made my first ever batch of Habanero Gold Jelly. I did not grow them, and had never eaten one before today. I got them from my neighbors who use them at their restaurant. The specks of red are from a sweet pepper, and just added for color.

The Habaneros were hot for sure, with a very unique smell to them, but the overall heat of the jelly wasn't any more than the other jelly I made using Serranos and Sante Fe Grandes. I guess the heat disperses when cooked.

Bonnie

I would sure appreciate your sharing your jelly recipes. Thanks.

Sure thing, sworegonjim! They aren't secret family recipes : ) The Habanero Gold recipe came from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I left out the red onion, and added more apricots instead. Oh, and I doubled the recipe, which normally isn't a good idea, but since a batch is only 3 jars, and others on the harvest forum have done it successfully, I thought it would be fine. It gelled very well.

Not sure how to post links within text, so I'll be back with the other recipe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Habanero Gold Jelly recipe

... and here is the recipe for the Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly. It came from a Taste of Home cookbook. When I made it last year, I used Jalapenos, and I thought it was not hot enough. So this year, I used the Serranos, Fresnos, and Santa Fe Grandes, and I think the heat is just right.

Let me know if you try either of these, and how it turns out for you.

Bonnie

Here is a link that might be useful: Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly

Since my last post, I've made another batch of Habanero Gold, and one more of the Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly. The Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly didn't turn out as hot as it did last time, even though I'm using the same varieties of peppers. Just goes to show you how much variation in heat there can be, even on the same plant!

Today, I put a couple of trays peppers in the dehydrator. Here is a picture of what I harvested. Clockwise from the bottom is Alma Paprika, Chilhaucle Rojo, Kalocsai V2, Czechoslovakian Black, and Cosa Arrugada.

This is my first year with the Cosa Arrugada, and initially I was disappointed that it didn't have more heat, but it is sweet with very little flesh, so I'm thinking it will make an excellent sweet paprika.

Still waiting for Lemon Drop, and Aji Yellow to ripen, so that I can do a taste comparison, but there is only a week or two left before our first frost. The Lemon Drop was very slow to get going, but has turned into a huge bush that is loaded with pods. The Aji Yellow grew much faster, but doesn't have near as many pods on it. Hoping I get enough before the season's over to dry and grind some.

Bonnie

So we had our first frost this past Thursday, earlier than I was ready for, but not much earlier than the average first frost date for my location. Even though it was rainy and windy that day, I managed to spend a couple hours harvesting everything that was left. Here are a few pics of my final harvest.

Lemon Drop. As you can see, not a single ripe one off the entire plant! Is there anything I can use these for?

Serrano Tampiqueno. All of these came from one plant!

Ancho San Luis. This is pretty much the entire season's harvest from this plant. Not a big producer, but the pods are very large.

Sandia

Georgia Flame

Mystery pepper. These were supposed to be Alma Paprikas, but I have no clue what they are. Alma's start out cream, and are more round in shape, like a pimento pepper. These are shaped kind of like a Lipstick pepper.

... and finally, a bowl of misc. mostly ripe peppers.

Pretty decent pepper year overall : )

Bonnie

Awesome!

I found that Poblanos aren't a big producer for me, either.
Huge plant, but only a handful of pods.

Josh

Nice looking harvest Bonnie. Sad to see your season is over. Old man winter has no patience. And thanks for all the jelly recipes. Yum Yum

Your welcome, Romy! Just made another batch of the Cranberry Jalapeno Jelly this morning, but I'm changing the name of this batch to Hot Pepper Jelly, since it was quite hot, and I didn't use any jalapenos, just Serranos, a Santa Fe Grande and a couple of Kalocsai V2. I think this batch may actually be hotter than the Habanero Gold, because that jelly just uses finely diced peppers in an apricot based jelly, and this recipe actually purees the peppers with the cranberry juice, so the heat is more consistent throughout the jelly.

I also filled a couple of trays in the dehydrator with Cosa Arrugada, and Chilhaucle Rojo peppers to make some more paprika.

Hoping I can find enough time tomorrow to can a batch of salsa, and wondering how long it is going to take to process all of the peppers and tomatoes that have taken over my kitchen, guest room, and garage.

Nice harvest again! Too bad about the lemon drops! I get bunches of ripe ones of those. My Poblanos are finicky too. If I can get them to set early, it seems everything is ok, but, once it gets to mid Summer, they just stop until it cools off again, then the peppers don't ripen. I don't get a lot of any one plant, but, have several plants. Just wish they'd ripen!!!