Dianne, You're welcome. I have been on a pepper-processing marathon since they have overperformed this year, and it is seemingly impossible to make anything too hot for our darling new daughter-in-law. (Lord knows that if the stuff I've made these last couple of weeks isn't hot enough for her, it won't be because I haven't tried!) Have you ever made Habanero Gold jelly? It is incredibly good and it uses dried apricots as the base flavor, and you spice it up with onion and peppers. The onion and peppers are diced into 1/8" pieces, which is very tedious BUT gives you a beautiful golden jelly with confetti-like pieces of peppers and onions suspended in the jelly like little pieces of confetti. I've made several batches. I started out following the directions exactly, and that batch, which has 1/4 cup of habaneros was a pleasant blend of hot and sweet that even I can eat. So, striving to make it hotter for DH and DDIL, I altered the next batch to double the peppers to 1/2 cup, which can be done safely by decreasing the amount of sweet red bell and red onion by 1/4 cup. That was a lot hotter,but probably not hot enough for them. So, in the most recent batch, I tripled the habs to 3/4s of a cup, and further reduced the sweet red bell/red onion part of the recipe accordingly. The Extra Extra Hot Habanero Gold actually is very, very hot and I am not going to attempt a batch with 1 full cup of habaneros because I don't think anyone could eat it. I had the tiniest taste of the Extra Extra Hot and was sure I had burned a hole in my tongue. I think I have made 5 or 6 batches of Habanero Gold this summer, all because the darned habaneros just wouldn't stop pumping out peppers. Then, 3 of the 4 habanero plants abrupted wilted and died and I took them out, which yielded a huge amount of habs stripped off the dead plants and I've been struggling with this pile of habs all week. Another day or two, and they'll be history. (I still have the equally hot, if not hotter, Red Savina peppers growing though.) It also has been a long salsa summer. I know I have made at least 6 batches of canned salsa, and every single one of them from a different recipe so we'll have a wide variety of flavors from which to choose. I'm still not sure I've reached the ultimate degree of hot salsa that DDIL craves, but I'm getting there. I believe I have at least 3 more batches of hotter salsa left to put up if the peppers and tomatoes cooperate. These will have more habaneros and serranos and maybe some chile tepins as well. My favorite salsa so far this summer has five different kinds of hot pepper that smelled hotter than h-e-double hockey sticks when we had cut up all the raw ingredients and first combined them into the big stockpot. Once it was cooked and blended, though, it didn't taste as hot as it had smelled. It is a great salsa, but it isn't going to burn anyone's taste buds off their tongue. While the onions and potatoes underperformed this summer (that foot of rain in one day in April was very hard on them), the peppers and tomatoes have made up for it, so I've been a pepper-preserving maniac, with hundreds of peppers in the freezer and all kinds of preserved peppers, including bread-and-butter jalapenos, canned jalapeno rings, and bread-and-butter habaneros (mixed with some other peppers to tone down the heat--and the heat is incredibly high). I suspect that I could skip growing peppers next year because I have at least a two year's supply preserved and plants still covered in more peppers, but I'll grow them next year for fresh eating anyway. My son insists that no matter how much salsa is canned and put away in the root cellar (actually, it is a tornado shelter if you want to get picky!), "it won't be enough". I am actually getting tired of peppers and tomatoes and have started making fruit jams and jellies now because we like homemade ones better than those from the store. It has been a great pepper year, so maybe I'll mix some peppers into some of the fruit jellies. I wonder what Strawberry-Jalapeno or Strawberry-Habanero would taste like? I've linked one of the many Hananero Gold threads from the Harvest Forum below. I think both the big batch and the original batch recipes are in the second post on this thread. I've used up all my dried apricots and might try the next batch with either dried pears or dried peaches.\ Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Habanero Gold Thread From Harvest Forum

Barbge, as a pepper newbie, I am also growing Gigantes for the first time. What I can observe of them is the following. They are a paler green, not deep green like the regular Jalapenos and the Mucho Nachos. The plants are big and healthy and loaded with pods. I had hoped these peppers (Gigantes) would be larger than the regular jalapenos, but so far, they are no more than 2 inches although somewhat wider. I find much bigger ones in the supermarkets. Mine grow infinitesimally slowly after reaching under 2 inches. I have cut a bunch off for stuffing (2 bites only!) and they also were not very hot if at all. So, I am happy to learn they all will most likely be getting hotter. I am hoping they will also be getting larger! All of these have been growing for different periods except the Gigante and the last regular jalapeno. This is a color comparison only.

My friend sent her son out to read the tag on the pepper, I had forgotten the name, and the name on the tag was "Mammoth Jalapeno" and they are mammoth. btw, shebear, you want a spectacular pepper for rellenos? Try Beaver Dam. My poblanos weren't big enough for rellenos earlier this year and my Beaver dam's were big and ready so I grabbed a few of them, they are some of the best tasting peppers I've had, they made wonderful rellenos. I will be hard pressed to go back to poblanos.

Here are a few of my favourite appetizers: These little cocktail toasts with goat cheese and toasted walnuts are easy and very tasty. Just put a dollop of warm goat cheese on a cocktail toast, top with a toasted walnut and drizzle with olive oil. This tuna pate is addictive. Tuna Pate ========= Although this is a very easy appetizer that can be made earlier in the day, it is also a very rich because of all of the butter. One of my favourites. 2 (6 ounces) cans white tuna drained 1 cup butter 2 Tablespoons chopped roasted red pepper (Homemade or bottled pimentos) 1 to 2 teaspoons capers fresh lemon juice 2 to 3 drops tabasco salt and pepper Puree tuna and butter in processor Add chopped red pepper, capers, lemon juice, salt, pepper and tabasco. Process on pulse until the capers and red peppers are finely minced. Taste and adjust seasoning. Pack into decorate serving bowl and cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve remove a bit early from fridge so that the pate has a change to soften just slightly. Serve with toasted pita triangles Cut Plain or whole wheat pitas into triangles. Separate each triangle and place on cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter or margarine. Bake at 350�F until crisp and golden. Be careful not to burn. Remove and let cool. Serve triangles surrounding tuna pate OR a big batch of these Firecracker Shrimps? Firecracker Shrimp ================== Source: Week of Menus Blog 2 lbs of jumbo shrimp, legs removed, de-veined and butterflied (see step by step photos below) 1/4 cup of butter, softened (softer the better) 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 1/4 cup chopped red pepper (red bell pepper is fine, but if you like SPICE, use a red chili pepper) 3 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic 1 tablespoon lime juice Sea salt and cayenne pepper(optional) for sprinkling Arrange oven rack so that it is closest to the heating element. Preheat oven to broil. Line sheet pan with foil. Place prepared shrimp evenly so that there is only a single layer and every shrimp will get maximum heat.