The red pointy peppers did really well this year and the orange block shape were good too. All sliced and into the freezer now. I don't blanche them but always use stir-fried or cooked - haven't been ill yet - touch wood!
This is my very last one, I've given up waiting for it to turn red now the weather has got colder.
And of course had to look up the history in my little book " A Potted History of Vegetables".
Peppers were never used in the home kitchen of my childhood and I'm not sure they were widely available until the 70's but they are thought to have been first harvested from the wild around 10,000 years ago in South and Central America. By about 3,300 BC it was being cultivated and arrived in Europe in the 16C. Now it's vital in many recipes around the world.
I didn't start growing them until we were at the smallholding and growing for sale and also had a couple of years of growing many different sorts to sell the plants at the Suffolk Smallholders Show.
Nowadays I only grow sweet peppers and the red pointed are my favourite, but they are available in a wide variety of shapes, colours and sizes although brown or white don't appeal to me at all but purple would make a good addition.
As I only use the hot chilli peppers in chutney it's cheaper to just buy a pack now rather than grow them. I noticed in the new seed catalogue from Kings Seeds there are a couple of varieties that are listed as Chillies but with no heat and another that can be sown and grown all year round on a windowsill, producing tiny fiery fruit for about 3 months.
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Sue
My last few peppers are half ripe too. Can I chop them into casseroles?
ReplyDeleteYes definitely
DeleteHaven't grown peppers for a while. Perhaps I will next year. My gardening mojo is in recession rather, with the worry over Keith. I never blanch mine when I freeze them (boughten ones). They were freely available in England in the 80s but when we moved to Wales in 1988,they were rare beasts indeed. Clearly the average Welsh housewife then considered them exotic fare and not for HER family! so no demand.
ReplyDeleteMy mum would have called them "foreign" and no to be touched!
DeleteThat pepper page from the book would look lovely in a frame for your kitchen!!
ReplyDeleteI always had a lot of success with small peppers, so much so that I only had to grow them on alternate years as we always had plenty either frozen or dried in store.
All the illustrated pages are lovely, but I wouldn't take the book apart
DeleteWe had good peppers too this year. I'm not normally a fan of them but ours in stew or chili etc. are really nice.
ReplyDeleteI like them done all ways as long as they are sweet rather than hot
DeleteI chop my peppers up and toss them in a gallon zip lock bag. I also chop a combination of pepper and onions, and toss them in another zip lock bag. Then when I need peppers (or peppers and onions), I pull the bag out of the freezer and give it a good slam on the table to break things up, add what I need to whatever I'm doing, and then zip them up and toss them back in the freezer. Convenience food.
ReplyDeletePeppers are handy to have in the freezer for a bit of winter colour
DeleteYour peppers sound excellent. Unfortunately, I've had no luck growing peppers due to wildlife. I love peppers in stir fry dishes and use them regularly. My favorite stir fry is: thinly sliced chicken breast, red, yellow and green peppers with thinly sliced onion and tomato. Herbs: garlic, pepper and anything else you fancy. Stir fried in oil with chicken broth. Hot chili is optional. This served with rice makes a quick meal. Alternatively, heating a wrap and adding the mixture is good too. I like quick and easy meals.
ReplyDeleteMy stirfries are usually carrot, onion and peppers with chicken and noodles rather than rice plus a bit of chilli sauce
DeleteMy peppers are all over now. I took the last two on holiday last week and they were much enjoyed!
ReplyDeleteYou've had a good harvest of them this year, haven't you? xx
I've got enough in the freezer for a year - very pleased
DeletePeppers must have been available/ in use prior to the 1970s? What about the early nursery rhyme: "Where did Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers come from?
ReplyDeleteOrigins. The earliest version of this tongue-twister was published in Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation by John Harris (1756–1846) in London in 1813, which includes a one-name tongue-twister for each letter of the alphabet in the same style.''
I think hot chillies were around before the sweet sort - at least here in Suffolk.and I'd always thought the rhyme meant peppers as in the seasoning!
DeleteI wonder about the early humans who tried out the various peppers and chillis...I'm amazed they survived!
ReplyDeleteThey thought tomatoes were poisonous for decades too
DeleteI don't remember having peppers growing up. I use some in cooking, but not many. I like the milder, sweet ones, not so keen on the hot ones!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine Suffolk being in the forefront of using Peppers!
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