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Chile Peppers and My Journey
 Having grown up all my life in the suburban township of Ewing in central New Jersey, gardening had always been a part of the family lifestyle, and a keen pastime of my fathers. I remember we would watch as "pops" started in early March, while the weather was still very cold outside, planting seeds in the basement. He planted tomatoes, peppers and some other garden crops that needed extra time growing indoors under lights so they would be big enough to go outdoors in mid-May when the soil had warmed sufficient to plant the garden.
I recall watching these little seeds get planted, and true to my father's word, in two weeks or so, they would sprout from their mini-gardens and begin to grow. HOW AMAZING!! He tended to his little crops, day after day, in his basement garden, always seeming to know just what they wanted and needed. Then, after a couple of months, they would be ready for the next leg of their journey, the trip to the garden. He planted the outdoor garden, a good size plot (40' x 40') for a family of five. By mid-summer, things were usually flourishing and the harvest would begin. It was wonderful, with all these plants bearing fruits and vegetables of different colors, shapes and sizes.
Growing a little older, I remember wanting to try and grow plants of my own. My father easily agreed to this and soon it was becoming more of a family thing to do. Mom and pop, sister Christine, brother Tom (my twin), and I all got involved. The summer garden was a true marvel of nature, everyone helped out (although "pops" would probably have told you the KIDS HELP was a bit exaggerated) and it always seemed to be a success. As time went on, the kids grew into young adults and the garden continued, but now with my brother and I assuming the majority of the responsibility for the growing. This allowed us to try more new and unusual varieties as well.
About the same time I began to enjoy "hot and spicy" foods. It seemed the more "hot" was in the food, the more I enjoyed it. Then one day at a local shop I purchased a bottle of Melinda's® Hot Sauce. WOW! Was it hot! What kind of pepper could be this hot? Reading the ingredients on the label, it said it was called a HABANERO pepper. Never having heard of this type pepper, I asked my father for assistance in locating some seed. Surely if anyone could find them he could, with his seemingly endless supply of seed catalogs. It took several days, but sure enough, the elusive HABANERO seeds were found. (Understand now, we're talking around 1990 and HABANERO was not in the everyday vocabulary of chile pepper growers as it is now. In fact the whole hot sauce revolution was still in its infancy.)
The following spring we planted the seeds along with the other garden plants. The excitement and expectations of these HABANEROS overshadowed the other plants and I found it hard to wait till they were ready for tasting. Finally one late July morning, my trek to the garden paid off. Hanging on the plant before me was the first pepper starting to ripen to a bright orange color, just as described on the seed packet. With incredible patience, my brother and I waited two more days till the pepper was fully ripened and demanding to be tried. We cut the pepper in half and immediately noticed an extremely pungent and unusual aroma. We then cut thin slices, and tried what we had been waiting for so long. NEVER…EVER…in my life had I eaten anything that HOT!! It was certainly like nothing I expected and everything I hoped for. In the weeks following, more of the peppers matured and soon I had a bunch to share with the world. I took them to all the places where I could find people who thought they could eat hot peppers. It was amazing, place after place, these peppers proved to be the hottest. No one could eat them without great hardship and much regret. Our new pepper quickly gained notoriety and an almost cult-like following. Everyone wanted to know more about them.
It was at that point I knew I was a chile pepper aficionado. I needed to know more about these hot peppers and were there others that could also be this hot. I started to read the seed catalogs and purchased several books about chile peppers. A very brief summary of my readings follows. What are chile peppers?
Pepper, chile, chili, paprika, and aji are all terms used in different areas of the world to describe the plants and pods of the genus Capsicum. All of the terms are correct; I simply prefer to use "chile pepper" when describing my hot pepper varieties. Chile peppers are native to South America and are part of the Solanacea family of plants, which include tomatoes and eggplants. They are not all hot varieties and they are not related to black pepper, the common table condiment. There are five main species of peppers. The list includes:
ANNUUM :
meaning "annual", it includes most of the common varieties such as BELL,
JALAPENO and WAX.
BACCATUM
: meaning "berrylike", it consists
mainly of peppers common to
South
America, known as Aji's.
CHINENSE
: meaning from China, although
incorrectly named. This species
contains
the super hot Habaneros.
FRUTESCENS
: meaning "bushy", the most familiar variety, the Tabasco.
PUBESCENS
: meaning "hairy", these plants are
very uncommon and include
the South
American Rocoto.
The origin of the
first peppers is said to be in an area bordered by the mountains of
southern Brazil. It is in this area that we find the largest
gathering of wild species in the world. Scientists suspect birds
were mainly responsible for the spread of the pepper. It seems most
of the wild varieties were fairly small, berrylike and ripened to
red. The fruit attracted the birds, which then ate them (the very
hot pods do not affect a birds digestive tract) and passed the seeds
on intact as they flew to other areas. Some experts feel mans
cultivation of the pepper dates back as far as 6500 BC. in the
country of Peru and the surrounding area. Mans manipulation of the
pepper, saving the best seed, growing larger pods and the peppers
tendency to easily cross pollinate, brought about the thousands of
different varieties known to exist today. The history and
information about the chile pepper is enormous and I suggest anyone
with real interest visit a reputable bookstore or local library and
read some of these books. The information is fascinating! One such
book, which is in my collection and loaded with great reading is
The Pepper Garden
by Dave DeWitt and Paul W. Bosland. (1993).
Why then with all this information and all these varieties in existence, did it seem that all the catalogs contained only the mainstream varieties, nothing unusual or different? The answer it appears is that the "mainstream" garden seed catalogs have a choice to carry whatever varieties they want. They carry the most popular varieties, the ones best suited for certain areas, and more importantly to them, the ones that are the most profitable. They also carry an increasing amount of the "new and improved" varieties known as "hybrids" created in the laboratory by scientists crossing the genes from two parent plants to create a superior offspring. Now these are all fine for many of today's gardeners but my quest was still to find and grow the unusual.
Where then could I find more exotic chiles? Quite some time passed and my research led me to an organization known as the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) located in Decorah, Iowa. I contacted them by phone and discussed my questions regarding chile peppers. Their catalog contained an enormous selection of hot pepper seeds, some varieties small, some large, in almost every color imaginable. They came from all parts of the world. Why then was their catalog so different from all the others? The SSE is a group of gardeners (as is the Garden State Heirloom Seed Society or GSHSS) from around the world looking to protect the diversity of all type garden plants, not only peppers, so that everyone, years from now, may still be able to grow enjoy the largest selection of God- given plants in their garden.
Seed Savers Exchange had what I wanted, so I joined the organization. I began obtaining seeds from many of these "exotic" peppers and growing them in the garden. Soon a problem developed. There wasn't enough space in the family garden to grow the quantity of pepper plants I wanted along with the normal crops. I began to experiment with growing the plants in large container pots and placing them on the back patio. With the extra attention given to these "special" plants, the peppers thrived and soon I was growing ten to twenty varieties each year. For most varieties I would grow a couple plants of each, one or two in containers and a few more of each in the garden. By mid summer, the assortment of colors and shapes in my container garden was simply beautiful. I wanted more people to see my collection, but except for friends and neighbors, few others had the chance. Then one day on our annual trip to the Flemington Fair (an event that runs for one week on Labor Day weekend at the Old Fairgrounds in Flemington, NJ), an idea presented itself. We were talking to the people in the grange tent (an area where local farmers annually display their vegetable crops) and asked if there might be space for us to bring some of our collection of container chile pepper plants. The organizers thought it was a good idea, as the tent wasn't always full with displays and told us to contact him next season. We did so the following year and were given a space in the corner for our display. We brought about fifteen of our favorite pepper types in large pots and made cards with short descriptions of each plant. We set up the display the morning of opening day and returned that night to see the fair and what people might think of our unusual display. Upon reaching the grange tent, we noticed a good gathering of people in the tent. We focused to the corner, to our display, where there were people looking at the plants and reading the cards. There seemed to be a lot of interest and a sort of fascination at these unusual plants. Throughout the week (when we were fortunate enough to be there), we met with and talked peppers with a great many onlookers. At the end of the week we had a chance to speak with our generous hosts at the grange tent. They said our display was a great success and asked if we would consider returning next year. I told them "of course we would" and we've had a display every year since.
In the fall of 1999, another event happened that would help me realize my goal to show and educate people on the diversity of chile peppers and the many other garden plants as well. I was contacted by Harold Jones, owner of Jones' Greenhouse, in West Trenton NJ. Harold had been running the greenhouse, taking over from his father, some fifty years ago. The business was a landmark in the area and had the reputation of growing the finest vegetable and bedding flowers available. Harold was looking to sell the business and I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get into a business I had dreamed about. Several months later, in the spring of 2000, with the help of friend and fellow landscaper Russ Freda, Russ, brother Tom and I purchased Jones' Greenhouse and started The Greenhouse Garden Center.
 Harold agreed to stay on and help us learn the monumental task of growing the vast amounts of annual vegetable and flowering plants that has always been the signature of Jones' Greenhouse. We have learned, with Harold's help, what it takes to be a greenhouse grower. It takes tremendous dedication, a thorough understanding of plant-soil-water relationships and endless hours of hard work to produce a consistent, quality product. Along with the learning has come the opportunity to start growing many of the uncommon and almost lost " heirloom" varieties of my favorite chile peppers and more recently, tomato varieties.
In our first season, the chile pepper selection was limited to a dozen or so varieties, but this was enough to spark the interest of our customers. The positive response to these heirlooms encouraged us to grow more last season, with about two dozen chile varieties and equal amounts of heirloom tomatoes. Interest and enthusiasm from fellow gardeners coming to The Greenhouse proved that these heirlooms fill a definite niche in a more knowledgeable and demanding garden marketplace, and these selections should continue to be offered. They offer a diversity that few people, other than some seasoned gardeners, can remember or realize still exist today. I believe this is something we need to continue, to educate people, and to offer everyone a chance to see and grow all the wonderful plants that are, unfortunately, disappearing very quickly from our world.
Throughout my journey of chile peppers, I have had the good fortune to grow and taste more peppers than I thought ever imaginable. Among the many, there exists the few that I feel are the "cream of the crop." The following is a list of my personal favorites. They include chile peppers from all parts of the world, range in heat level from mild to nuclear, and come in all sizes, from minute to large. They are as follows, not in my order of personal preference but alphabetically:
"904" - C. chinense. So named by using the last three numbers of the plant's ID code: PI446904. Peruvian in origin, it grows into a fairly large shrub-like plant with hundreds of small bright yellow pea-sized fruits that grow upright, covering the whole plant. Very ornamental and extremely hot.
AJI CRISTAL - C. baccatum. This large plant starts fruiting early in the season, and continues prolifically until frost. The fruits grow to 5-6" long and 11/2" wide with medium heat and start out a light cream-green color and mature to bright red. We like to harvest this one while still young and use it for pickling. It makes the absolute BEST sandwich pepper you've ever had!
CHOCOLATE CONGO - C. chinense. This plant grows quite large and produces jumbo- sized habanero shape fruits that mature to a dark chocolate brown color. Extremely hot and a very unusual color, these will make for sure conversation.
CONCHOS - One of the few "hybrid" varieties I currently grow. It is an absolutely wonderful pepper with mild heat and superb size for a jalapeno variety. Our favorite use for this pepper is to cut it into halves, clean, and make into small "boats", then stuff with your favorite filling and cook as you would mushroom caps. Absolutely fantastic!
GOLDEN CAYENNE - Beautiful bright yellow, 5-6" long pencil thick pods on 1.5' tall plants. Great flavor but quite hot. The color makes a nice addition to many dishes.
HOT EGG - Very unusual plant, it has large 3" diameter fruits that have an almost white color and a shape resembling some tomatoes. If you're familiar with the hot cherry pepper, this one is similar, except in color and size. Matures to red, with medium heat, and is great for stuffing.
MARABA - C. chinense. A native of Brazil, this plant grows to 2' tall and has small thin ¾" yellow fruits that are extremely hot. This is an excellent miniature Habanero variety.
ORANGE HABANERO - C. Chinense. "THE ONE THAT STARTED THE WHOLE JOURNEY." This was the first pepper that I grew in my pursuit of hot peppers. Beautiful, almost surreal bright orange color peppers with a heat level to match. Plants grow to 2-3' with a plentiful harvest of fruits.
ORANGE THAI - One of my all around favorites for versatility and beauty. These sturdy shrub-like plants grow to about 2' and bear hundreds of thin 3" long fruits that ripen to a brilliant orange color. The heat level seems to be slightly higher than most Thai peppers I've tried and they can be used fresh in food dishes or easily dried for long term usage either whole or as flakes. This is an extremely beautiful and very hardy growing chile pepper.
PC-1 - This pepper is also known as an Indian PC-1 or more technically Naga Jolokia. This native of India grows into a large plant, nearly 3' tall, and bears huge harvests of pencil thick 3' fruits that are very hot. A recent issue of Chile Pepper magazine had an article, with the authors' thinking this to be hottest pepper ever measured. The credibility of this statement, however, has been highly argued by pepper experts and remains very much in doubt. After having eaten several of these peppers, I agree that this pepper is far from the hottest. The heat is similar to most Thai pepper varieties.
RALLADO - A personal favorite of ours, this variety is similar in shape and size to the Jalapeno. Originally from Mexico, it contains a heat level that surpasses any Jalapeno I've tried to date. I don't recommend eating these straight up, but rather adding them diced into dishes like salsa to add extra heat.
RED HOT CHERRY - These peppers grow on sturdy shrub-like plants and have an almost round shape with thick flesh and a wonderful, medium heat and a flavor that reminds me somewhat of a bell pepper. Delicious fresh, these peppers are usually found commercially pickled and sliced, used for sandwich condiments, or in many delicatessens stuffed with proscuitto and provolone, known as "pepper shooters".
ROCOTO - C. Pubescens. Also known as Manzano or Locoto. This plant, I feel, is as unique and attractive as a chile pepper gets. The plants leaves are covered with a pubescent fuzz, along with purple flowers and (unique in the pepper world) BLACK seeds. The fruit is usually egg shaped, with thick flesh and a heat level that seems to vary between not too hot to extreme. A native to South America, it is revered in countries like Peru, where it is served with many of the local dishes.
TEPIN - Found most commonly in the arid southwest United States and Mexico, this plant has hard woody stems with small leaves, that allow it to survive the rough conditions in which it lives. The fruits range in shape, but most are very small, usually no larger than a pea. In their native surroundings, the plants grow for many years, and can achieve sizes of eight foot or more. These little gems are extremely hot!
UVILLA GRANDE - C. Chinense. A variety I started growing many years ago, this one has always captured my interest in the vast diversity of chile peppers. Fruits are typical C. Chinense., very hot, with a strong smoky flavor. They are small (no more than ½" diameter), resembling a miniature scalloped tomato, grow upright on the plant, and are almost always in pairs. This native of Peru is a very unique and very rare chile pepper. Don't let the pretty orange color fool you. This one is hot!
VIETNAMESE - Seed for this one was obtained thru a SSE member (as were a great many), brought back to them from a friend stationed there during the war. The plants grow to 1' tall and have very thin 2" fruits that turn red at maturity. An excellent ornamental pepper in the garden, try mixing them with dwarf marigolds to make an eye catching border.
YELLOW FATALII - This one may be last on the list, but certainly not in order of merit. Originally from the Central African Republic, this chile pepper possesses power unsurpassed by any previously grown in my garden! It is NUCLEAR HOT!!! It rivals the hottest of the hot! Also, the plant is beautiful, growing to 3-31/2' tall, with large wide leaves, covering 3-4" fruits that ripen to a beautiful bright yellow. This is arguably the finest statement of HOT CHILE PEPPER I know of!!!
AND PLEASE, CONTINUE TO SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS
LIKE SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE AND GARDEN STATE HEIRLOOM SEED SOCIETY !! THEIR SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR GROWERS
LIKE MYSELF HAS BEEN TREMENDOUS!! THANK YOU JOE CAVANAUGH !!!
Article taken from the Fall 2002 Issue of the
Garden State Heirloom Seed Society.
Sincerely,
Christopher E. Andreas II
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