Do you have Asian markets near you?

They were all kinds in Walmart yesterday and jalapenos in Publix.

That's odd. Though we did have a few regular items with empty shelf spots during the last snow/deep freeze. Most due to delivery delays and tender produce being left on docks too long. I use poblanos in place of green peppers, (more flavor), and they were out last week but now back and super fresh. DH does most of the shopping so I don't know if the cost has gone up.

The only hots that grow well in my short season are the BabyAjiAmarillo. So I do rely on purchasing. I've been ordering Hatch from NM every October. Stuff, slice and roast, freezer on sheet pans, then zip-lock loose so I can grab a few slices. Stuffed ones I food saver.

sushipup, good idea! there's an Asian market in a nearby city I can try! I would have been there last week to check, but plans got changed when my fav Bosnian restaurant was unexpectedly closed. :(

Sheri, there haven't been any in the local Walmart or other local grocery stores and markets since we started checking months ago. We checked again yesterday, so that's why I posted...

sleeve, I guessed the cause was delivery problems but was told it's because they're just too expensive. What's the reason? where do hot peppers usually come from this time of year?

They are sure not local here!

Oops, sorry I misspelled your name! I figure they aren't from Mexico because I see other produce from there.

That's okay. My MIL used to spell it that way almost all the time! I don't remember where they were from, but I will check next time. I have seen a lot of the grapes are from Chile this time of year.

Maybe you will find them at the Oriental market.

was told it's because they're just too expensive. What's the reason? where do hot peppers usually come from this time of year?

Well, normally this time of year FL, specfically Palm Beach County, is the second largest producer of produce after CA, but because of Irma things are way behind this year. It didn't affect things like greens that grow quickly, but a lot of the tomatoes and peppers that were already planted at the time of the storm were lost.

I bought a package of jalapenos in Aldi about a month ago. I have one left in the pkg. 'Product of Mexico'. IIRC, less than a dollar for a package of 5 or 6 huge jalapenos. Hot ones too, not the wussified ones that becoming all to common.

I read an article about how the cost of trucking produce was very expensive right now because of a shortage of trucks. Hurricanes, wildfires, etc. and demand for materials has the trucks tied up. Plus truckers all want to be home for Christmas so that impacts scheduling for a couple of weeks.

FYI, you can freeze peppers and they work just fine for cooking. For that matter, you can dice them finely and use in salsa as if they were fresh. Small compromise in quality but sure beats having none.

I slice & freeze my serranos to use in soups and various cooked dishes through the year. I don't know about putting in fresh salsa. No hint of sogginess?

Cindy, I did include a caveat....'small compromise in quality.'

The peppers were frozen; you weren't expecting them to be crisp after thawing, were you? If a few bits of soggy pepper is going to ruin a dish for you, then don't use them.

That's why I said soggy. No need to get huffy.

CindyMac, you can use soggy hot peppers in fresh salsa. Just mince them fine and add some crisp bell pepper or jicama for the crunch.

PM, it does sound like transport is the culprit, which is a shame. I'd send you jalapeños from my garden, if I thought they'd survive the journey. Good luck at the Asian store.

Must be a regional thing :-) Here, peppers are available year round. The biggest selection is in season (late summer) when locally sourced peppers are available but stores import from Mexico, central and south America and Asia at other times of year.

You can order from Amazon...

https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Whole-Jalapenos-3-Lb/dp/B00AG3F3V2/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1516489034&sr=8-4&keywords=fresh+peppers

https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Thai-chile-peppers-16/dp/B000ET1678/ref=sr_1_10_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1516489034&sr=8-10&keywords=fresh+peppers

https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Shishito-Chili-Peppers-lb/dp/B078SDXND5/ref=sr_1_12_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1516489122&sr=1-12&keywords=fresh+peppers

I have hot peppers in my yard all winter, but in addition to that, I make large batches of hot sauce when I get huge harvests around October and November. The plants continue to make chilies, but I generally get the most in November. I grow chocolate Habaneros (as well as regular Habanero), and they have a very long growing season. I've only seen chocolate Habanero chilies at farmers' markets - never at regular grocery stores, but I do not visit Latin markets that often, as they are not that close to me. I can always find hot peppers at the Middle Eastern market that I go to, as well as the Indian market.

If I did not have hot chilies in my yard, I would substitute bell pepper with hot sauce added for heat, and I can get a lot of heat from the hot sauce that I make myself.

Florida got hit hard with Irma, then we've had a hard Winter from Central Florida North. Avocados and Mangos were devastated by the hurricane, also the annual flowers. They had on the news this week that the kumquats were ruined by the cold.

PM, that's odd. Here in Michigan they are at the Meijer store, a regular display. Today they had jalapeno, serrano, cubanelle, poblano and habanero, sometimes they have others, those are the basics. I bought jalapenos for burritos, Elery likes them sliced on top of his burrito.

I'm in a small town in Northern/Western Michigan with a population of around 10,000, definitely not very big. Now I wish I had checked prices, I don't know how expensive they were, other than the jalapenos, which were $1.29 a pound, and I think that's kind of expensive since I grow them by the bushel in the summer time.

Sleevendog, I didn't think you were that much north of me, I'm in zone 5a and I can grow jalapenos, serranos, poblanos, hot banana, habaneros. I tried paprika but it didn't do well and I grew ghost peppers one year but I had to start them inside about Christmas! Definitely not worth the trouble.

Annie

I start chocolate Habaneros inside also, hopefully in February (but not this year), because they need heat to germinate, but once they are started, I keep them outdoors, and the plants live for two or more years without being moved. The chilies I get are smaller on the older plants, which is why I try to replant each year. The plants I have now are almost two years old, and the second year crop has been good, but I can tell that the third year the chilies are going to be too small. I'm going to start mine in March when I get back from vacation.

It's possible that the stores in certain areas sell out of inventory, due to the demand.

Well, the owner of the Italian market told me that his cost was $5.99/lb for long hots and he didn't get them because he thought nobody would want to pay $7 or $8 per pound.

Party, I had to Google to see what long hots were. I haven't ever seen them.They may not be grown as much as the more common hot peppers that Annie mentioned. That would explain the price. You should be able to get serranos or jalapenos though. Those are the ones I see here, as well as bell peppers.

These are seeds I found. Do they look like this?

https://www.rareseeds.com/friariello-di-napoli/

Or this?

https://www.rareseeds.com/jimmy-nardello-italian-pepper/

Jimmy Nardello isn't hot, although it's considered the king of frying peppers. It's not grown commercially much because it doesn't transport well.

These are long hots... Also sometimes called either Italian LH or Portugal LH. It's the common hot pepper here. https://www.pepperscale.com/italian-long-hot-peppers/

I saw that link, but the seed companies don't sell seeds under that name. I was going to get some seeds and try them. I haven't ever seen those fresh in our grocery stores.

Did your grocer just admit to taking a big markup?

Huh, so Italian Long Hots aren't hot? Then I guess Jimmy Nardello would qualify. Just asked an Italian friend and he's never heard of anything specifically called "Italian Long Hot" although he's been cooking in the US for 25 years.

They are hot - or at least are supposed to be. They're long and slender, thin-fleshed, and usually twisted and curled. Re the name, that's what they're called in the northeast and they're available here far more often than other hot peppers.

carolb, he'd have to pay $5.99 per pound to his supplier, so said he'd have to sell at $7 or $8 per pound. You consider that a big markup?

Sherry, those links are not long hots. I got mine under the name Portugal long hot and they're open-pollinated (i.e., not a hybrid). Trying to remember where I got them...

Rare seed stuff are never hybrids, but I didn't think they looked quite the same.

I found this, but don't know if I want to pay that much? They are hybrid.

https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/5301-product.html?utm_medium=googleshopping&recrawl&source=6SG02&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlPmtm6_s2AIVzCWBCh2KkwmmEAYYASABEgK_c_D_BwE#!shipping-quote

Looked up shipping. It is $10. No way I'm paying $17.50 for one plant.

Here's one source for the Portugal long hots seeds:

Stokes Portugal Long Hots

Ci_lantro, that link didn't work for me. I didn't buy them from here, but these sure look right. Around here the peppers are available green more often than red...Italian fried peppers and all that, you know. Once they're red they're usually sweeter and hotter. I grow them every year -- z5a.

Hot Portugal Pepper

Sherry, I'll mail you some of my seeds to try if you'd like. Just be aware that I'm a seed saver with very little growing space and I don't bag my flowers, so, although unlikely, you could end up with a seed produced by a Portugal long hot / Hungarian hot wax union. Lol!

Party, thank you so much! That is so nice of you. I had already ordered this one!

https://uprisingorganics.com/vegetables/peppers/hot-portugal.html

Well, good luck with them! I hope you like them. :)

I wish I had seen the posts sooner. I have been relying on the little bell at the top to tell me when new posts are made to a thread I had commented on and it is not posting everything. That's Houzz for you.

ETA: Both yours and Cil_antro's links are working now. I haven't ordered from this company before. We shall see. I may order the mild ones from Rare Seeds also.

Yay! Good news! Long hots were in the store today and were only $3.99 / lb. ! happy dance!!!

Sherry, what peppers do you usually grow? PM me if you want.

I usually grow jalapenos, sweet bananas,and bell peppers. I have grown tabasco, lemon pepper, cayenne, and ancho. My goodness the tabasco put out zillions on one plant. Cayenne did okay, the rest not so much. I still have a pepper sauce jar in the frig from the tabasco! It sure was pretty, I kept it going for two years. What do you grow?

Hmmm... Never heard of lemon pepper. Will have to look it up.

My growing season is fairly short - zone 5a like Annie, and we can get some real busts for summer. This past summer was a bust! Tons of rain, periods of flooding, and I don't remember any warm nights. :p. I've tried many different pepper varieties and now just stick with the few varieties that do well for me. For hots, I always grow the Portugal long hots, Hungarian hot wax, balloon peppers, extremely hot bird peppers, and sometimes Anaheims. For sweet, I've grown a phantom heirloom Italian sweet pepper for many years that nobody has ever identified. Lol! And I've tried 'king of the north' for the last two years... they were fabulous in 2016, but a complete bust in 2017, so the jury is still out. I also tried minis two years ago by saving the seed from store-bought peppers -- they were wonderful and extremely prolific! Last year they too were a bust. :p

I made a good effort last season. Beautiful 36 cell tray of starts. Nasty cold weather last Spring after a warm early Spring, yada yada. Nice warm summer.

Annie, I still had trouble except for the Aji. I have altitude issues unlike others in 5a. Farm in the mountains. I started a tray a couple weeks ago. Hoping for a better season.

I'm over wintering three of the babyAji from Artisan, a Fred Hempel variety. I had gorgeous flushes of tiny peppers starting in June and all season until Thanksgiving. Pruned them back and all seem like they will make it through for this season. Artisan, HERE, ...free shipping.

Hmm, yesterday I was looking for a hot pepper and choices were limited to jalapeño, red cherry peppers, and Serrano. This at a store that normally has several more choices.

I tried growing some of these (usually bagged, dried, whole) 2.5 - 3 inch Chinese hot peppers. Easy to grow. I brought the plants inside and they're still growing okay.

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Next I want to grow some Thai birdeye chilies and sashito (sp) chilies.

sleevendog, it's funny how picky some plants are, isn't it? I tried the Jimmy Nardello, I was told how sturdy and prolific they were. I got one plant that went crazy and gave me about 6 peppers, the other plants barely survived. Sweet banana is usually pretty reliable here, and the best yield came from some of those little tiny colored pepper assortments I bought at the grocery store and saved the seeds. They produced like crazy, as did the poblanos, jalapenos and serranos. Not a single paprika pepper produced, they struggled all season and never got more than about 8 inches tall, growing right next to the poblanos which were about 3 feet tall and got so many peppers they were falling over, I had to stake them.

They like what they like, I guess. I did grow two carolina reapers in my front entryway, moving them outside daily when the weather was good After two years I got two tiny little peppers and thought "well, I'll at least save the seeds", but neither pepper had a single seeds. Maybe a pollination issue, although I did hand pollinate with a brush. The plants were nearly 5 feet tall when I gave up on them.

Annie

Sleevendog, I get consistently good yields from serranos (zone 4a/b). Several years ago, I planted banana peppers (mislabeled) and those did well. I just don't care for banana peppers, though. I've tried King of the North bell peppers and Atris (sweet horn shaped pepper) with only so-so results. Other more main stream ones like California Wonder, etc. Some years-if we have summer-I do OK, but most years are pretty much a bust pepper wise. The last few years, I've tried peppers in grow bags w/ the rain gutter grow system and get slightly better results. DS has his rain gutter grow system set up on his concrete patio and his stuff does better if he can keep the deer from eating everything. Probably because the slab acts as a heat sink. He's more in the open than I am, too, being buried back in the woods. I've just about come to the conclusion that I'm better off just buying peppers when Aldi has them 3/$1.