Pictured: Pysalis Aguaymanto, Brazilian Starfish, Jalapenos, Habanero Big Sun and a pile of Chocolate Reapers.

Final balcony harvest of the season. We had some habs, and this year the wife and I ordered a few varieties from semillas. That's not all of it, of course, we've been eating them all summer. 😀

blah blah blah

Yeah, I know they're all tiny. Not a great year, our plants were dropping their flowers all summer because of the heat, and only really started going in September. Us and Texas (Howdy) as I saw here.

We got through the winter with last year's harvest, this year we'll probably get by mostly on the potency of the reapers. Not really crazy about them, but that's a story for another post.

Anyway, best hobby ever. Also the pepper communities on here are some of the most chill I've seen.

Advice welcome

This week I'm deciding what to do with them. I started a bunch of Chocolate Reaper chili salt. We loved the Brazilian Starfish fresh in salads, very fruity, so I think I'm just going to freeze them.

We have a local hot annum variety (just one, yeah) that's quite decent for sauces – something like Serranos if I had to guess. So we'll probably be relying on those for basic hot sauce, and I'm trying to use these ones in recipes that will let their particular flavors, or at least their colors shine.

I'd be happy to hear any opinions on my thoughts. I've been trying out stuff for a couple of years, but I really don't have much of a frame of reference.

No worries though, got me a bag of green bell peppers, one of sweet red peppers, apple and white vinegar, I'll probably have the whole tray sorted by the end of the week anyway.

Persimmon Habanero sauce

I'm making Persimmon Habanero sauce, either with these fresh habs or a fermented jar I have that looks ready. I was also unsure what to do with that ferment, so they may be a good match.

Last time I used persimmons I didn't manage to keep the color. I've seen lemon mentioned for that… but it won't preserve it like vinegar, will it? At any rate I'll probably want vinegar in there to stop the sugars in the persimmons from fermenting.

Chocolate Reaper sauce

I was thinking of making a reaper hot sauce with green bell peppers, to try and highlight the vegetal smell I'm getting from the Choco Reapers. I was thinking I'd do a regular vinegar/garlic/onion thing, then see how the color turns out.

If it's green I'll blend it with fresh parsley (wife's not fond of cilantro). Maybe try to not overcook the bells. Never made a green sauce before.

If it's brown, I hope the 1:20 ratio of reapers to bells will get it more chocolatey than pukey. I saw recipes adding actual chocolate, so I might try that, but I'm not sure I want to do it with the whole batch. I guess it will make nice gifts, but even my wife who's a total chocoholic has reservations.

Thanks again!

Like, really. We've been admiring your harvests all summer. You folks are an inspiration, even if you made us horribly jealous at times.

I'm such a rambling bad poster. I should learn to make posts about one thing.