And Sow it Begins! Chillies.

This week is chilli week, a highlight of my seed sowing calendar. I love French food and cooking, but when it comes to buying chillies we are pretty much limited to Espelette, the Basque red pepper which have a pleasant enough flavour, if not especially fiery and the doux de Landes pepper, doux meaning soft or mild in this context ... The large supermarkets in the big smoke of Tarbes may have habaneros from time to time, but the supply and quality is unreliable so not worth the trip. Growing chillies it has to be!

Chilli pepper growing is a huge thing, even for non-gardeners so there is a massive amount of (sometimes conflicting) information out there. As a consequence I'm just going to be sticking to what I do; I would recommend reading around the subject if you wish to become an aficionado! Many people grow, not necessarily for the kitchen, but as a horticultural challenge, and sometimes, I suspect, for the kudos of having the hottest chilli in the world (currently one of the nagas, I think) or the funniest (the peter pepper - look it up with care) growing in the greenhouse. Personally, flavour comes first and second; I like a hot chilli, but it has to have flavour as well as heat. Indeed, I'd rather have something mild and tasty, over one that just blisters the mouth!


Last season was difficult - the long cold spring, followed by a ferociously hot and dry summer resulted in a small and late harvest. Having said that, I still have a few bags of frozen fruits, plenty to keep us going until the fresh harvest starts again, sometime in August.

I've already posted about how I sow here and there is little difference between sowing six varieties or twenty, just a bigger propagator! This post will just look at which varieties I'll be growing this year, and why. At the end of the year I'll revisit with a review of the successes and failures.

Flower of Albertos Locoto

• Albertos locoto - a lovely black seeded variety that matures to a rich, thickish skinned red. Moderate heat with a sweet edge. Although I've grown it before, these seeds were saved by a friend and last year I lost all the seedlings to damping off disease; this year I'll have to be more careful. 2 plants. 
• Anaheim - classic big green maturing to red, mild and great for stuffing. 2 plants.
• Scotch Bonnet yellow - classic Scotch, hot but not massively flavoured. Not one I'll grow again once these seeds are used up. Freezes well, productive. 1 plant.
• Jalapeno - for pickled green jalapenos and for smoking the mature red ones to make chipotle sauce, which I've not yet managed to do! 6 plants.

  

  Sliced jalapenos, ready for pickling

• Serrano Red - my go to everyday chilli for stir fries and the like. Not too hot but with a nice flavour when red. Freezes well. Productive and early. 2 plants.
• Cayenne - for drying. Some will be ground into cayenne powder and some left whole for dropping into stews or dal to add a soft heat. Productive. 2 plants.
• Padron - a Gallician speciality. Normally mild, they can be very hot, so the first taste can be a shock! Nice fried as a starter. 1 plant.
• Hot Lemon - a pretty plant, with mid length fruit maturing to yellow. Another one that freezes fine but doesn't have enough flavour to justify replacing the seeds. 1 plant.
• Chilli Fish - a variety from the Caribbean. The plants and fruit are variegated white and green and look great. The actual fruit doesn't seem to have much flavour, ideal for not over-powering sea food. 1 plant.
• Fatalii Yellow - the perfect chilli! Hot, sweet and strongly citrus flavoured. If I could only grow one variety it would be this one. The plants are vigorous, although can be slow to get away, but have the advantage of overwintering really well indoors. 4 plants (2 to over winter).

  

  A pile of Fatalii yellow

• Krishna Jolokia - I grew this last year, but it was so slow into fruit that the first frost killed it before harvest; that was really frustrating as it was laden with unripe fruit. Supposedly very hot, much used in the Indian sub-continent. 2 plants, one in a pot to bring indoors before the frosts.
• Habanero Maya Red - nice hot chillies, not as flavoursome as the fatalii, but the red colour remains vibrant in cooking and the heat is not harsh. Productive plants. 2 plants.
• Biquinho Red & Yellow - a gift from friends, so very exciting to be growing something new. 2 plants of each.
• Cherry bomb - another gift and one that looks as though it'll be great stuffed and preserved for bringing out for aperos! 2 plants.
• Chiltepin - I've not grown this for a few years. It is a native wild chilli pepper from the Americas, pretty hot and excellent dried. 2 plants.

  

  Chiltepin fruit

• Ancho Grande - a classic American chilli, also known as the Poblano or sometimes Pasilla, so mild that it can be eaten stuffed when green, or dried. 1 plant.

I'll be sowing more than I need, to allow for failures and also to give away to friends and neighbours. Later on in the year I hope to update on my progress in the pepper garden.