Taste review: Parvifolium mini mini

Last year I was send some seeds from Lee, the founder of Wildchilli.eu.
One of them was the "Parvifolium mini mini" It even became one of the biggest plants I had this year.

Lee already warn me it would take a long time to ripen them, and he was right!
For more than months the fruits stayed green, and with winter and frost coming, I had to dig it out and take it inside.
Even inside, with warmer conditions, it didn't ripen. So today I decided to taste a green one.
The fruits of the Parvifolium mini mini are very small like the name already did suggest.

Now to the taste:
First (like you can expect from a green chilli) the typical green bell-pepper taste,
Followed by a nice fresh citrus, wow its just like a ripe lemon!
Then the heat kicks in, very shape sting in my tongue who also disappears rather quick, leaving me with a little taste like lemongrass.
A itchy feeling in my nose made me blow it..and then it started: This one burns in your nose!
The burning feeling you get under your nose when you have a cold and have to blow it a lot.....times ten!


Parvifolium mini mini, a little,citrus tasting, bugger, wonder how it will taste when ripe!

Aldo

Taste review Rocoto mini red

After my last Rocoto, I expected this to be a mild chilli without a really strong taste. . .
Well, think again. . . Surprises surprises, what a lovely chilli!

First, this plant again has amazing flowers, and them hairy leaves and stem.
This plant however does not grow like mad, its gets flowers, drops a few, and gets fruit.
It really is much faster than the other ones. and stays within 60-70 cm wide ( approx 2 foot )
But then the ripening, it takes ages and makes you wonder if anything is wrong. And no, there is not.
These plants are really a bit odd you know, they hate full sun, and like a bit of shade. Not too much shade, but a bit. Full sun all day is a no no. So if you have a spot where you don't want to place chillies as it is a bit in the shade, this is the place for a Rocoto plant.

Now this one is hot, really hot, but not as hot that you can not get the taste. Again this watery hot is strange, take a little bite and your mouth is watering and hot all over in seconds. The taste is odd and lovely, makes me think of a wild chilli. Not a really strong taste, but certainly 3 steps up from the Giant red Rocoto. It makes me think of a Roma tomato, soft and almost creamy. Then it starts giving more and more tastes. Its got both tomato and apple taste in it, and a general taste of fruits. But that taste is almost contradicted with herbs and the taste of berries. It is slightly sour, making me think of that tomato I said before, but also of Juniper berry with the slight bitter it has.

In short a fantastic Rocoto that you can grow in a pot, with such good flowers and a very complex taste. Now mind, it is not a superhot, but the heat builds if you cook it. And due to its instant spreading in the mouth of the heat, your fist bite rocks !

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Sometimes tasting is hard

Dear readers,

Sometimes tasting is hard, and having my head bent over an other chilli a full evening, laptop next to it with not a word typed. I felt rotten all night. Really, I didn't get any taste, I could not compose it to a story.
So I started to get stressed, did want to have a story out tonight, and it was just not going to happen with this chilli. So I tasted an other, and no, not a drop off inspiration. Then you start to doubt, is it the wrong time, am I having a cold? Is this a boring chilli, is it me?

When I took a break, I thought about next weeks Monday growing article I wrote yesterday. Before I can publish it, I need to take pictures. So for that article I read in for about 3 hours, composed an article in 2 hours, read it through and made corrections for about half an hour. Then I sorted what pictures I needed to make, and wrote that down or made notes rather. That is the time some articles take, and I still have to make the pictures.

Its not only that, but also the tasting, it takes time.
Maybe an apology is in order, for it might be that I make tasting sound so easy at times, or composing a dish. Sometimes it is, but most of the times it is not at all that easy. I know that some sauce makers take over a year to compose a sauce they are really happy with, tasting and re tasting. Adapting it a bit, tasting again. And they don''t give up but make a brilliant sauce at the end. One recipe I had took me a year to make it perfect. 3 years later I made it different, with a totally different approach but the same ingredients, and only then it was superb, and finished. You should have seen the faces here! "What have you done with the original recipe???" And all off them loved it.

So sometimes making a story, tasting some things is ever so easy, and sometimes the taste needs to ripen and the story shelved, just waiting for an other day.

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Overwintering a chilli plant

Some weeks ago I told you about pruning a chilli plant for overwintering. Now I have a good few plants in the house at the moment, all doing fairly well, I am pleased. So I was in the process of tasting chillies again. Now that does take a bit of time as I do have to do some research as well, to try and tell you the most I can. Now with my head in tastes, with the accidental burn at times, I am trying to find words.
At times it is hard to describe a chilli, same as you tasted something new and had to describe the herbs. When I look at Hell’s Kitchen from Gordon Ramsey, I find it most amusing to see wannabe chefs that cannot pick out tastes like peanut butter. Very funny to look at Chef Gordon’s face as well. Sorry I am drifting off topic again.

So when I was staring out the window to get a grasp at a taste, my eye started to focus on a plant..
Good grief, I killed a plant, and then remembered my own tips and tricks. Please excuse me for killing 2 plants in fact, now you see an experienced grower makes mistakes too.

In a post before I told you about the hormone system of a plant. If a plant has ripe fruits, especially a chilli plant, it thinks it is done for the season. So if you pick the ripe fruits, it will ripen off the rest of the fruits. If all fruits are picked the plant will start to flower again, getting in a growing and flowering state again. Now that is all done by the plants hormone system. In fall and in winter it is much the same, with one major difference. If a plant has a ripe fruit on, it will start to die in winter, as it has done its task. How can I forget? Well with my head up the clouds. . .

A plant with black/purple fruits should be observer very good.

So other than the regular tips for your overwintering plant, like don’t overwater; don’t leave ripe fruit in the plant. Now it the plant starts to get in flower mode again, it might drop all its flowers. Now that is a shame if you want to have good chillies early in the year. The main reason for flower drop is low humidity, and there is an easy fix to that. If you do get flowers and the plant is over a radiator or other form of heating, put some water in a pot on top of the heater.
If the flowers open, give the plant a little tap at times or a bit of a shake. The male and female parts are so close in the flower, as said in my post about isolating flowers, it will self-pollinate. But as I do so certainly hope there is no wind blowing through your house, give the plant a shake to imitate the movement of the wind.

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Taste report Cumari se Crescente

I got this chilli from Dilly's Chilis Seed Co in the US to write a report about. In fact I got a good handful off 2 different ones all the way from the US to taste and write about. Now travelling half the world didn’t affect them, isn’t that cool?

the Cumari is below the knife

One of them was a bit of a disappointment, taste wise, but a stunning looker called the Capezolli di Skimmia. But this one is superb. It is a dead ringer for the Aribibi Gusano, but deep yellow. The Aribibi has one flower per axil and this Cumari with 3-5 flowers per axil. So it will give you more chillies, and maybe even better looks. This chilli grows up, erect so to say, hihi.
So I had to taste it and would not make the same mistake with this one as I did with the Aribibi, so I only tasted the very tip of it.

This going to be one short taste report for once, get it, you need this one as bad as you need the Aribibi Gusano.

top Cumari, bottom Aribibi

The taste to the Cumari se Crescente is close as I said, but more subtle. It has the chinense taste I talked about, a hint of citrus and the same heat. If you think the Aribibi is over the top, this is a step down in taste. Odd thing maybe, but I think these will combine with chocolate very well.
Handy little bugger to use, as it is easy to dose in a meal. Never eat a handful though, unless you are Ted Barrus !

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Taste report Aribibi Gusano

This worm like chilli has been one of the oddest ones I have seen last year. I got this chilli from a friend of mine in Holland as a must taste chilli, and a must see chilli.
He said the tip of it one could eat without a problem getting the full array of tastes it has. Now that is a greatly said but hard to define thing, because how long is the tip of it? This chilli has no tip, but a sort of like butt if anything. Then again its creamy yellowy appearance does make me wonder how dangerous this could be. So I bit the first bit of the top off, and it was great and really a mouth full of tastes. My son had one to, and did the same, no burn. So we both looked like, well how hot can it be and took another bite. . . . . .

So, this Aribibi Gusano is an odd pepper or chilli, weirdest form, creamy white to yellowish like when it is ripe. More strange, it has a list of possible names about an arm long. Scientifically we are talking about the Capsicum chinense Jacquin cv. 'Aribibi Gusano' but it is also known as Aribibi, Aribibi Gusano, Aji Gusanito, Habanero Aribibi Gusano, Aribibi Gusanito, Caterpillar Pepper, Aribibi Caterpillar, Arivivi Gusano and last but not least Turtle Claw. Now this chilli is supposed to be a chinense, but is also called a Frutescens or a Frutescens / Chinense cross. Now, have I lost you? Well only good as that is how I felt after doing a bit of extra research.

Now to make some clear, chinense is a part of the Capsicum family right? So all chillies are from the Capsicum family, and all peppers are too. The Peppers are from the part of the family called Annuum, so are called Capsicum Annuum. For instance you have the Cayenne chilli, scientifically it should be called Capsicum annuum L. “Cayenne” This scientific stuff would not seem important and sounds like jibberish but it is important. Most people like Annuum chillies and they are among the most used ones in the western world. The Chinense chillies are the group of chillies that bring the hottest ones in the world and have a specific taste that you that you may or may not like. People also call it the Habañero taste, but that isn’t really true. My wife doesn’t like the chinense taste in superhots and does like Habañero, and she is picky. . .

Sorry, this was a taste report?

Well, after the first bite, the second bite is overpowering to say the least. It had me and my son running for the milk and peanut butter. This chilli is hot, 150 K scoville easy, but has a matching taste to come with it for sure. It is very perfumy and very rich in taste. If you cut one open and leave it for half an hour, you will smell it throughout the house. It has a lot citrus and sweet wood like a taste that makes you remind of vanilla. The undertone taste that is in the Chocolate Habañero that makes it lovely is the upper tone in the Aribibi Gusano. It is very strong with its Chinense taste and scent, which you will find in the super-hot chillies. This makes this chilli about the most perfect chilli for people that like the taste of the superhots but do not want to go superhot with their food. Due to its size you can dose it very well. I pop 2-3 Aribibi Gusano in 1.5 Kg of Chili con Carne, and 5 minutes later my neighbour calls me he smelled it and if he can have dinner with us! Yes, all in all a chilli that deserves to be in the top 10 for sure !! I do have seeds available, so you can try them too!

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Wild Chillies, chillies gone wild?

Wild chillies, chillies gone wild?

I have rambled a bit before about rather tasteless chillies.

And in fact, there are more than a few rather tasteless chillies, if you ask me.

Especially if you have been surprised with really good chillies that have a certain herbiness or flavour that amaze you.

Sure there is the difference between water grown chillies "hydrophonies", and the ones that have had a real life in soil. I love organic greens for sure, for they have much more flavour.

So as they are way too expensive for me, I grow them myself now.

In the years, since I moved out with my parents, I learned to cook and appreciate flavours.

My mom was not the best cook mind, so I had to learn from scratch.

Hard in the start, but the best way to learn I’d say.

But having others eat my food, and done more than a few taste sessions for wine, I learned that I have more than just great palate.

Capsicum Eximinum flower.

So I boasted to one of the lads at www.wildchilli.eu that I have great palate and would love to taste wild chillies.

That after I have noticed that none had a description of taste, and nobody did really seemed to know how they tasted. . . .

So I was challenged, and I do have to say I was surprised about the taste.

Really, in the wild chillies you can find the mother of tastes for all chillies and peppers.

First off, I got 3 sorts to taste, and wrote about it in a post.
A question of taste!! The readers loved it, and I loved tasting them.

I got loads of readers there, and got more and more chillies to taste.

Dried berries I had to taste, minute things, with loads of taste that surprised me.

I am picking 2 to describe and will tell you more about others in posts to come.

First off, was one that sounded great, the Capsicum galapagoense.

A species endemic to the Galapagos Islands, doesn’t that sound posh?

First taste is sweet and lovely, and a fruit like..
I would say bell pepper like, without the bitterness?
I loved it, so I licked a little piece from my hand, but it got stuck to my upper lip.
Got just a bit of direct heat but not sure about the taste, so I popped in another with it. . . .
Licked my lips as well, still not feeling any heat.

Definitely sweet bell pepper, the yellow one, even though this berry is red.

Sweet and lovely without the bitterness, I loved it !
The heat started building a bit after the taste faded out, and kept on building.
Not in the nose at all, just tongue and throat
Good grief, I really started sweating, having a real heavy reaction.
My lips started burning hard, and so did my mouth.

My ears even felt like I was going deaf or coming down from high altitude.

They started ringing even.
After 10 minutes the heat was calming down, also on the lips, still sweating though.
I hate this one, for having this fierce afterbite, and yes I am bitten by this one.
This one is weird !
20 minutes now, and the heat is almost gone and I have come to hate this one.

I have had this before with certain chillies, but for the life off me I would not know which one.

Chris Fowler heard of my quest to find the mother of tastes. So he was so kind as to send me a first timer.

He sent me a really fresh wild chilli, a Capsicum Eximium. An end of season fresh, Eximinum, perfectly round about 4 mm, dark red.

I opened it with a knife, and there was only one seed in it.
But this berry was very fleshy, thick skinned, and really looked like a berry.
Not a lot of air or open space, just like a blueberry or fox berry.

So, let’s go, my first fresh wild chilli ever !
I hoped to get some taste with this ini mini berry.
First taste was sweet, and then whammaaa the heat kicked in.
Most of the heat faded really really fast, weird.
As soon as the heat started to vanish ( in seconds really ) my mouth was able to taste.
A crazy sensation of a total overload in tastes, so hard to describe really.
20 or 50 times as much taste as the dried one for sure!

So I was sitting there with this mouth full, or more, with taste from this tiny berry in utter amazement really.
Just mumbling and being amazed, I sat there.
So my wife asks: Are you all-right luv, or are you burning away?
I just nodded.

After 5 minutes the taste slowly died, or I got used to it.

Sweet, fruity like apple maybe, berries, liquorice, almost overblown by the other tastes.

Definitely salt or umami as an after taste, broth like.

The only way I can explain how much taste, and how blown away I was, is this.
If one imagines an astronaut’s pill with everything in it, it is this berry.
In one pill the taste of:
5 apples
a handful of berries,
a small piece of Liquorice,
a pinch of salt
and some meat essence.

Crazy, so much taste!
I will never eat one again for fun, but could imagine me putting just one in a glass of tomato juice ( horrid stuff )
That mini berry, just one, would make tomato juice more than drinkable.

Now, seeds for wild chillies are not widely available.

Then again, I told you about the hippy like share culture amongst chilli lovers.
If you join a forum or a facebook group for chillies, share and re-share.

Do ask; maybe someone loves the wild chilli as much as I do, and shares.

Yours truly,

Bart J. Meijer

Courtesy to Chris Fowler  for the images!