If I Moved the Towel They Would Eat the Table

I knew I had to start picking peppers if I didn't want the birds and bugs to get them. So today I got to work. Here are the items I harvested this morning.

I think the ISO on my camera is off. Or something. My brown peppers aren't that dark. I'll tell you what you're looking at, going clockwise, starting at top left.

1. Jamaican hot chocolate
2. Fatalii
3. Suspected Jamaican red Scotch bonnets, which turned out to be Caribbean red habaneros
4. White hababero
5. Orange "Scotch bonnet" from grocery (probably a habanero)
6. Tobago seasoning
7. Cayenne
8. Caribbean red habanero

I cut up about 40 Caribbean reds and vacuum-sealed them, and I followed with all the fataliis and most of the hot chocolates. I went through about six nitrile gloves. I threw the bags in the kitchen sink when I was done and washed them with soap. I put every utensil I used, plus the cutting board, in the dishwasher. And I still have to figure out a way to neutralize the surface of the vacuum sealer.

I really don't know what to do with the peppers that come later. The cayennes are great, so I'll save them. And I guess I can use more Tobago seasoning peppers. But the others...I think I have enough frozen for about a year.

I have hundreds of PC-1s, but they're still green, and I don't really like them. I only picked a tiny fraction of my white habaneros, and I still have a ton of Caribbean reds in the kitchen and on the plants.

It's time to do triage. I think I'm going to get rid of the Caribbean reds. They're good, but the grocery habaneros are actually better. And I suppose I ought to lose the white habaneros. They're not exotic enough to be really interesting, and they are so damn hot they are almost useless. I may dump my yellow habaneros, too. I haven't tried them yet, but I suspect they won't be that thrilling.

I have to make room for the datils I'm growing, as well as the Trinidad Scorpions and 7 Pots.

I tried the Caribbean Reds again today, alongside the peppers I thought were Jamaican Reds, and they seemed about the same. Pretty sweet. Very hot. Fruity. I can't figure out how I ended up with two pots of Caribbean Reds, but fortunately I have a Jamaican Red in my bean bed, so all is not lost.

Wish my tomatoes had done this well.