The race for the best chilli, or ?

Hello my good readers,

It has been a long time since I wrote, partially due to pain, and an other part stress. It is hard to stop writing, and even harder to get back to writing. Until I read something that made me mad, pissed off! What better way to get back to writing with a rant ! So with pain in fingers and shoulders, I want to tell you something.

I told you before about the hippy like feel the chilli scene has.
And it has, people share recipe's ideas and seeds.
These chaps help eachother out, if they lost seeds or even lost money or goods.
Sauce companies that were in a storm or in a flood are helped.
Even one chilli lover that lost his house due to a fire, is helped with money.
And money there is in the scene.
Even though we have a crises here and in the US, hot sauce business is booming everywhere. Now don't ask me why, but it is.
Maybe as people want to discover new tastes and new food experiences.
Maybe as people like it more hot than ever.
Sites selling chilli seeds are popping up like crazy everywhere, and not all with the best of products I'm afraid.
Now that comes natural, where there is money there will be good and bad sellers.
But things are starting to smell like fraud and deception maybe.
I hate to say this, but I more and more get an odd feeling really with things that happen.

I have always said the best chillies are not the hottest ones.
True, some of the super hot chillies are great, even if you only use a little, and some are just downright awful.
Didn´t you notice that the hotter the chilli is, the higher the price at a seeds selling store?
If it would be up to me, the best tasting ones would be the most expensive, but they are not.
So,
there is good money in the next Guinness book of record chilli, people want to buy it weather they will eat it or not.
Oddly enough it doesn´t make a lot of difference if it is tasty, the next chilli in the Guinness book of records for being the hottest in the world is worth a load of money.
Ha money, there is the word again that would normally spook a hippy.

Well, there are good few people that are not hippy in this business.
Now I am not saying people should not make a living, but people should not sell a thing based on rumours.
If you say you have the next record holder, show some real proof !
No doubt about it the hottest chilli is the Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T" until proven otherwise !
But rumours oh rumours. . . .
I am not the first person to stumble over these rumours.
Tina Brooks wrote an excellent post about this too.


So I raised my eye brows when last year the new upcoming record holder was presented.
Seeds were sold for silly money, 10 seeds for around 10 dollar, and keeping in mind you can easily get 1000 seeds from one plant. . . .
Need I say more? Well yes, I have plants that gave me well over 5000 seeds in one year.
Anyway, the new Moruga was the hottest, the upcoming record holder. . . .
I tasted 3 varieties, and the Satan Strain Moruga was extremely hot, and extremely tasty !
But I have never seen proof that the normal Moruga Red that would be the hottest, was the hottest.
Seeds were sold in no time though. Next was the Carolina Reaper, the seeds started to be sold a week before the proof would be presented in the US national press released on Monday, August 27 2012.
Needless to say I have neither seen proof or a big national wide press release. All I have seen was a lot of talk about laberatory tests that were never shown, and the rumour that the Guinness Book of Records nowadays asks money for testing a record holder. . . .
I am not contesting that this might be the next record holder fot the hottest chilli, it is just that I want to be sure.
But no worries, the seeds were sold in no-time.

Now I hate it if my friends in hippy chilli land are ripped, and/or if their believe in the hippy like chilli scene is damaged!

The variations in the Carolina Reaper are so big, the so-called stable cross, is anything but stable.
Look at all the pictures, they should be the same chilli!
This is damaging my childish Santa kind of belief in the chilli world, and I am surely not alone in that.
Don't let them fool ye !

Then again, I never wanted to be a hippy anyway !

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer
Pictures by courtesy of Jason Richards

Going green: Composting with worms

Some time ago I already had a few rants about the benefits of using worm compost. It is a bit odd really, that so little people use it.
It would be a bit over the top, but did you know what a wormbin 2 by 3 foot would compost all the human waste a 4 people household produces.

Worm compost or vermicompost is the perfect fertilizer with loads of extras. Worms eat garbage, or bio-waste from anything green, or that used to be green. The best worms for the job are not the normal ones, but you should get manure worms or Eisenia Fetida. They eat manure, preferably horse manure, but anything else rotting will do as well. All our kitchen waste is fed to worms, red wriggler worms or compost worms or simply redworms, and they love it, even coffee grounds, tea bags, cardboard, grass clippings or flowers they love.

And you know what? A worm bin smells like the forest, I love it !

It is faster than the normal compost bin, even faster than a tumbler composter and gives less to no greenhouse gases such as Methane. Both can be combined, if you just add some worms to the bin, or tumbler. You can find the right worms at shops that sell worm bins, or you can find them in old manure.

left plants in home-made root riot cube with worm compost- right in normal potting soil

Worm compost makes the soil rich with micro-organisms; adding enzymes such as phosphatase and cellulose. The microbial activity in worm castings is 10 to 20 times higher than in the soil and bio-waste the worm ingests.
For your plants it enhances germination excels plant growth and crop yield, improves root growth and structure. The micro-organisms are adding plant hormones such as auxins and gibberellic acid to your potting soil, and the best part, aphids and bugs hate the smell of plants grown in soil with 5-10% worm compost added.

Wormcompost is 100% free of pathogens it is even tested and proven that worms can clean a layer of sewage waste in a matter of 7 days. . .
Now don't think you will catch me defecating on a bucket now.
Then again, some time ago I had the chance to visit a friend in Finland, now that was a vacation ! I have seen soo much on the travel, it was an eyeopener really. In Finland we were invited to stay over a couple of days at my friends summer house. Now I didn't know what to expect, but this summer house is where they have their vacations or weekends fishing, boating and camping out. But let me tell you this really was a house where I would love to live, close to the sea, but odd enough now without electricity or sewer.
The first part I loved, seeing all the oil lamps, but he second part did worry me a bit. I have never seen an out house, let alone did a big one on it. I can't remember playing with poo, so not knowing what to expect I got a great explanation.
If you add some grass and a handful sawdust every time, the ammonia is neutralized by the silicic acid in the grass and the sawdust takes up the moisture. And really that is all to not make it stink. After the bucket is full, leave it for a week and feed it to the worms.
Feed it to the worms was to bury it slightly in a composting spot, spreading it and covering it just a bit. The worms eat it in a matter of days, and after they are done it is the cleanest compost you will ever see.

Sorry, I got carried away a bit. Now I will have to do condense writing. . . .

What you need is 2 stackable plastic tubs 30x45 Cm (1 by 1 1/2 feet), 3 small bricks, half a kg ( 1 pound ) some dried eggshells and about 5 litre ( a gallon ) of fresh compost.

Make 25 mm holes ( 1 Inch ) in the bottom of one bin, and cover with a thin polyester filter cloth. This will see to ventilation from the bottom up. Put the 3 small brick in the bottom of the other, to keep the second one up a bit.

Cover the filter cloth with the compost

put in the worms

add a little ground egg shells

Leave em for 14 days, before you start adding more compostable greens. Now worms don't like: Citrus, onion unless boiled a bit. The wife will not like cabbage off any kind, as that will make the bin smell like mad.
Worms need egg shell every 14 days, they use it in their crops to grind their food, So if the bin slows down, add a teaspoon of crushed or ground dried egg shell.

Take a look at times if the bottom bin is filled with moisture, you can use it as a fertilizer too. The bin should neither be soaking wet, nor to dry, just moist. Give it a try, you will love it, reduce your green wast by 90%, and your plants will love it !!

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Short fast and nice seeds for sale offer

I got a nice offer, 10 varieties of chilli, picked out of this years 110 varieties I've grown. 
I add 2 freebees and a wild chilli for a total of  19,50 Euro or 25 Dollar, including package ( a good bubble envelope ) and posting it worldwide.
So 25 all in, let me know if you want to have it before new year.
 

This is a limited offer !

You can contact me by email via my profile here
Via Facebook
Or Twitter @BartJMeijer

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

Taste review unknown Yellow Crazy Hot,

Now my friend Henry and his friend Beppe from Italy send me one load of chillies you would not believe! They selected the ones I needed to taste, although they have a lot more, they wanted me to taste these ones. So I dug in and as it appears, with the first bite I made a mistake.
Now excuse me please, but I did get a little excited unpacking, and got punished. I unpacked one, bright yellow and a little orange, not pointy but irregular in a funny way.

The paper next to it said Cornetto Calabrese, so not knowing it I was taking good care but took a rather large piece from in between the seed lists. I felt like a chilli rookie again, man that pepper had me sing. Good grief it was hot, but tasty never the less, but boy did I sing. So I asked Henry if they always are that hot. Well then I understood I need to learn to speak and write Italian. Who needs Latin?

So, I thought I’d better taste on, I will get it later. The scent of this chilli is great, perfumy chinense, with fruits and sweets. The chinense part that sometimes has an irritating overtone in both smell and taste is not there, it is in balance. So tasting again, but more, much more careful. Tastng and smelling I get a scent and taste from Tea Rose, perfume. In the middle there is no sweets, no paprika but fruits and a bit of metal like bleeding. You get that in times if you eat superhot chillies like these. Rinse with milk and get back at it, smaller bits I take. In the tip of it I find a bit of sweet and tastes like pineapple. A little piece from the middle does give me a bit of a bitter, but not irritating as such, and again the tea rose and the perfumy chinense. At the top however I get apricot and tea rose as well as some paprika taste. This is one weird lovable chilli that is extremely hot, far hotter than a Fatalii.

So again I have a chat with Henry from Italy, asking what it is. In the end I show him the picture and the label that I thought belonged together. “Ah” Henry says “that is a Bhut Jolokia Yellow, and the best he has selected over more than 10 years”. Every time he only takes seeds from the plant he likes best, and sure did one great job. This my good readers is one chilli to respect, not feared, but used in little bits if you don’t want to be scorched. But this is a chilli that makes me think of a great Chili con Carne, that is subtle on the herbs. Good grief Beppe, I am so digging in the next one tomorrow. Thank you ever soo much, this is a superhot chilli I love !!

Yours sincerely,

Bart J Meijer

Chilli taste revies, the Purira

This is one extremely lovely chilli to look at, amazing colours and growth and nice white flowers.

The question however is, what this chilli is, a frutescens or a annuum? I have seen a load of debate about it, and no real outcome. Ah who cares, it looks stunning. I almost thought it was a snack pepper.

I have had these from a facebook friend in the Netherlands, and I took a look at all the pictures and really, it is stunning. It seemed to ripen off a bit late though.

Cutting this one open gave a lovely sweet smell and you could smell the heat. Other than sweet and hot they don't have a smell. So, in you go, and out again ! Good grief, that is one freaking hot pepper.
I read it being between 50K scoville and 400K scoville units the upper end being a nasty surprise from one plant to an other. If one is that hot, all at the same plant are that hot. Other than that first micro second of sweet I got no taste out of it at all. I cut between the seed lists, and just hot ans sweet. It is a perfect looker, and brings heat, no taste at all. One plus is, no taste is not a bitter one too. Great looker, but no thanks ! Great that you send them though Catharina, glad the next one was a load better !

Yours sincerely,

Bart J Meijer

Growing chillies: Germinating chilli seeds.

To have chilli seeds to germinate, is one difficult business. It is an art really. So hold on your socks, and get ready! There are many many ways to do that, and I will walk you through a couple. You can germinate them on wet tissue paper, in ziplock bags. I do that to check the germination rate, it works wonders. Then again, if they germinate and you want to transplant them to soil, you are bound to damage a few. After checking the germination rate, I throw them away.
You can also germinate them in moist cotton wool, and transplant them top soil if they germinate, again a good few will be damaged. You can also germinate them in wet sand, but that at times seems to suffocate the seeds. You can also germinate them in diatomite, if you want to grow them hydro, but I don’t. And last but not least, you can germinate them in gel from pampers, works great as they give off water at a slow rate and it is sterile.

You can also seed them in soil, rather funny that people do a lot of different miraculous ways of seeding, while most seeds are made to germinate in soil. I am not sarcastic, but I know there are a load of good ways to keep you and me paying a load more, for not a lot more. Last time I looked at seeding soil, which actually is normal potting soil, only run through a sieve. Well, I can so that myself, without paying 5 to 8 times as much.
So what do you need is moist loose potting soil(compost), 100% humidity for the time until you see the first leaves, and a snug temperature from 24-26 Celsius. To do this you can use fancy propagators with heating, common propagators put over the heating or radiators, you can even use takeaway boxes. And that is what I do.

What you need:
Good potting soil, not super expensive stuff.
Worm compost if possible
Takeaway boxes with lids Some water
Good seeds
A warm spot
If in doubt over the seeds, some tea and some chamomile tea

If you want your seeds to be fast, or if you are in doubt about the seeds you can several things. You can soak them in germinating solution that will cost you good money, and doesn’t really do a lot. You can also soak them in weak tea, or rather a weak tea from 50 % tea and 50% chamomile tea (also spelled chamomile) If you do half and half chamomile tea, you got the advantage that the chamomile is anti septic. It will keep the seeds from getting mould. It will break down the hull or seed skin a bit, making it easier for the full seeds to pull out.
So, put them in a mug or a ziplock bag for 8-12 hours with the mixed tea.

Now for the takeaway boxes, they need to be ultra clean, I fill them with washing up water, and put them in the microwave for 30 seconds without the lid. The Lid I clean apart, and put some holes in it with a perforator. Then again I put them with a little water in it, with the lid on for 30 seconds in the microwave. This will make them sterile. A run in the dishwasher will do the same.

So, put about 25-30 mm moist soil in the takeway box, without chunks or hard bits. Put in the seeds, marked if you do multiple varieties. Put them under the ground as much as they are in size, so that they are covered with about 2-3 mm of soil. This will make it easier for the first leaves to totally get out of the seeds skin.
If you have it, worm compost or compost from a compost heap that has worms is a great thing to add. I have my own wormbins, and add 10% cleaned worm compost with the potting soil. Sometimes I add just one little worm. The worm and the life in the worm compost will eat mould if you get it. Seeds that rot will be eaten too. And that is a good thing, to get rid off before it affects the other seedlings.

Normally I cover the seeds with 2 mm of soil, not this time for the picture.

Put them at a warm and snug place, over the radiator or the central heating, or on a modem or computer. I use my computer for it all the time as it has the right temperature. Some people advice temperatures of 28-32, but that has a downside, moulds or bacteria will grow at a much faster rate. So 20 C will do, 23-26 much better, higher will have things speed up with a load as well as the risks for mould or fungus.

If they are up a bit they need light ! So a dark spot is not too good, however you can put a simple led spot over it, or a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) The colour if possible should be 6400-6500 K.

Now leave them alone, or sit and watch. Keep them moist only, not wet, and keep the lids on to keep the humidity at 100%. It will take 5-10 days for them all to be above the ground, and a couple of days to get rid of the hull or seed skin. There are a few exceptions; wild varieties can take up to 2 months. When they all have shed their seed skin, it is time to take the lid off and get them used to lower humidity levels. Ok, in about 14 days I will take you to the next step!

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer

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

Pruning and making cuttings from chillies

If you prune a chilli plant, or if a branch breaks off, nothing has got to go to waste.
You can eat the leaves, stir fry the leaves, or boil them like spinach.

But that, my good readers is what we are not going to do. No we are not going to waste a good part that can be used to make a new plant or clone if you like. A lot of readers would ask why on earth would you take a clone from a plant that is being regarded as a annual plant. It is soo much easier to seed is spring and not bother with cuttings, rooting medium and rooting hormone.
Then again, if you have a plant that is great, is pure, and tastes like heaven. .
But the plant is 1 meter high, your wife could say yes to a cutting and no to half a rainforest.

Now how to go about things. There is rooting hormone available, good and pricey, and works like a charm. It is also said that Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) works like a charm, and the answer is no, it helps the plant not to mould. Honey diluted in boiling water, and cooled would work too, and again the answer is no. Both honey and aspirin are antiseptic, so they keep the cutting from moulding and rotting, and this might result in the cutting to be healthy enough for time to get it to grow roots by its own. Chopped willow leaf is told to be a great rooting hormone, and again it is not, as even willow leaves do not grow roots. Even worse, leaves do have a hormone in them, to keep roots from growing and get roots to accumulate sugar for fall.

What does work as a charm are willow branches, they root like crazy in nature, and that is not strange.
Salix (Willow, Osier and Sallow) Salix Alba (White Willow) Weeping willow, or any willow that shoots a root easy, ones not to use are the goat willow (Salix caprea and Salix caprea pendula) and peachleaf willow (Salix amygdaloides). These are the varieties that are grafted normally.
The branches have Salicylic acid (natural Aspirin) with the antiseptic properties, and the growing ends of the branches have Auxins in it. The Auxin in this case is Indole-3-acetic acid, a hormone promoting rooting, which is an ingredient of the store bought rooting powder. Taa and the circle is round again. Now chew a piece of this years willow branch against the headache from reading this last bit and chop the rest up in small pieces. Soak the chopped branches without leaves for several days and you got brilliant rooting agent. The longer you leave the branches in, the better it works, up to 9 days. If you want to be faster, poor boiling water over fine chopped branches including the very fine ends of the branches. Do it this way that the chopped willow branches are just about covered. Let it cool over night and you can use it within 24 hours. Both "tea's" can be stored in an air tight container 2 months if cooled and dark in the fridge.
For those of you that like using dried coco peat or coir, you can soak it with this tea, and you won't have to bother dipping the cuttings. Just plunk them in the coir !

So how to go about making cuttings? Get yourself a good cutting or crafting knife. As you can see I have 2, one from carbon steel to do woody stems and one stainless for if they are soft or medium.
If you have a broken branch, of if you have pruned your chilli plant, you can put the branches in this willow root hormone, as you in the second picture. The will already get some of the hormone and will not dry out.
Then make cuttings from a piece of stem and at least one node with a leaf. Cut a fine strip from the bark and stem lengthwise down, and make a sort of wedge at the end..

Now you can soak them in the willow root hormone again. In my case I still had store bought root hormone powder, so I dipped them in that. Need to finish that stuff, or it is a waste of money.

Now you might notice, I cut one of the leaves off, and left the leaf stem. Now that I do, in order to keep the cutting from drying out. Plus it is a good way to see if the cutting is picking up. If it is doing well and getting roots, it will drop that stem from the cut leaf.

Now as I work with a double tray, a bottom and a rootcell plate, I fill a bit of water in the bottom for I will keep it on a heated spot. This water will keep the cuttings from drying out.

For the picture I took off the cover.

Now the warm place I use is the computer. I have the rooting propagator on top of my workstation. And as it rather early for cuttings, they need a warm place and some good light. So I have a 8 Watt 6500 Kelviin daylight fluorescent light above it for 14 hours. And that works like a charm! Keep the cover on for 14 days at least ! After signs of rooting you can take it off.

You can use this method with all kinds of plants and bushes, even with pot plants and cannabis!
No go out to get some willow !

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 review Monkey Face chilli

The Monkey face chilli was a medium hot chilli everybody talked about last years, so it was a need to have chilli for me. It was a bit of a slow starter, but that might have been me. I was sort off sold, when I heard it would be a great base chilli for sauces, so well a had to have. Now the plant has a lovely form, grows a bit like a tree. I like that, but I am not in this for looks, I want taste.
It is supposed to have sort of a Monkey Face in it, and I did see a few good photographs, but I didn't really get a good one. So not really a monkey face. Still the somewhat odd form and looks make it to be a great looking odd chilli. Sure I do like a good looking chilli, but I love to have a good taste as well. Now I heard that it was a good one to over-winterer as well, now that were all the pro's known to me.

So I had it grow for a year and last month I had one to taste. It taste is a bit complex, and I had to taste a few before I got it. The heat is direct, no surprises no build, no. You know what you are eating the first bite, so that is good to work with.
Basically it has sweet, a touch of bitter some herbs, fruit, and a wood like tone. Some say it would taste like mango, but then I would rather say a touch of pineapple as it has that wood tone as well. In my terms I would say, it has the sweets of a yellow bell pepper, the pleasant light bitter a red bell pepper has, and some herb with a wood like tone. Herbs between Coriander seeds or Turmeric. It is odd, this is a complex chilli with both fruits and herbs, lovely indeed. Now at the time I don't really know what to combine it with, so I left them to dry.

Dried they are a different ballpark, whole new story indeed. If you have them sundried or very slow natural ripened, they are out of this world !
They will get the sweet taste of sundried tomatoes, the sweet will also start to top over to the liquorice taste that you get in slow natural ripened chillies. The taste will stay complex and lovely and make you wonder what it is you are tasting. Really stunning, like this they can stand on their own making a great powder of flakes, or add them to your table salt grinder. The pleasant taste will linger on for at least 10 minutes, just lovely.

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

Korean chillies, forgotten fruits? Part 2

A good friend of mine from Korea Mr. Gunsoo Lim and I am sending seeds up and down the world.

He is keen for superhot chillies, and I am looking for the ones that have a story to them or that have history.

It is not only that we send chilli seeds over the world; we also try to learn about each other’s culture through our food and recipe’s.

So I have gotten seeds from him from herbs, medicinal and for the kitchen, or a combination of the two.

That is where we differ in culture too, for me Endive is a green, good cooked and raw.

For my Korean friend, his food is both food and good for something, be it health or garden anything.

He got me Garland Chrysanthemum or Golden Daisy, as a green to eat raw, be it good for anything, I hate it.

The flower is superb looking, good and healthy an all, not food in my mind.

However, I got Korean Perilla from him as well, good for the soul and for the stomach.

The seeds are used for oil, and that oil looks a bit like sesame oil, that is why this herb is called sesame leaf.

The leaf however does not taste like sesame at all.

Now sesame leaf is an herb one shouldn’t miss out off, it is superb to drop in your stir fry at the last moment, and has a fantastic smell and taste to it.

Hard to describe, I would almost say it is peppermint, without the pepper. Sort of like the menthol is skipped in the herb, and the tastes behind that in peppermint has gotten stronger by 5.

It has a bit of sweetness about it, that you taste when it has just touched the pan for a bit, raw it is more strong of taste.

My friend showed me, they eat sesame leaf raw, folded as a parcel.

In this parcel, there is a clove of garlic, a piece of chilli, and a spoonful of soy pasted.

Have to try that this year, a bomb of taste for sure!

Man this is getting long, and I even haven’t started about the Korean chillies.

After months of searching, my friend Mr. Gunsoo Lim had found 2 rare Korean chillies and send me a note that he had something special, not saying what.

Another month later, he told me he had asked two farmers to send seed from special chillies, which are not even for sale in the market or at seed stores.

To me it sounded a bit strange, but later he told me, there were just a few farmers left that grow them, as they aren’t commercial enough these chillies.

Ha, now we’re talking aren’t we?

So he had these farmers send seeds from east to west in Korean, from a very isolated area, and that took its sweet time.

Waiting is half the fun, so I read up on where these chillies come from.

The soobicho pepper (Soobi cho) and the chilsoungcho (Chilsoung Cho) both come from a county in the Gyeongsang province.

They come from the Yeongyang County (Yeongyang-gun); This an inland county in the north-eastern area of North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.

The soobicho pepper is cultivated since the 1960s, with a hot and sweet taste.

These chillies are susceptible to pests, so must be grown with great care.

They have a low yield, and are now only grown in low numbers and small areas.

The chilsoungcho chillies were popular in the 1980s, and lately are hard to find.

Its chillies have the form of a Crucian carp. The taste of this pepper is mild and sweet.

These are the 2 very rare chilli seeds that came to me now about 2 months ago, and almost proud to be here in Holland, they grow big and proud, and are the largest plants I have now.

Chillies from Yeongyang, where people sing about their chillies, not joking it is true !

An isolated area difficult to access, Yeongyang is sometimes called an "inland island". The county has the lowest population of all counties in North Gyeongsang Province, being mountainous with deep ravines, and only 10 percent of land is cultivable. The county is famous for its apples and chili peppers, and is home to the Yeongyang Chili Pepper Experimental Station. From 1984, the county has elected a "Miss Chili Pepper" to represent Yeongyang chili peppers.

The area is also known as a centre of literature, with the tradition of scholars reading and reciting poetry deep in the mountains. I love poetry!

Writing this down, I see myself discovering this regent, eating their apples, chillies and tasting their recipe’s.
After experiencing their great hospitality, and good food I will climb a mountain there.

I see myself reciting my poetry, in the woods on the mountains in Yeongyang!

To my wife;

Tell it to the mountains,

tell it the trees,

tell it to the birds in the trees,

and the playful young foxes on the ground,

but tell it no woman,

or,

tell it to no man,

how much I love you.

For men can not believe,

that a man loves a woman,

like the way,

I love you!

Yours truly,

Bart J. Meijer