Growing Habanero questions

So I have a potted deck garden that includes one pot with what seems to be a rather healthy habanero plant. I would say there are maybe 30+ peppers on this plant with the largest being the size of a golf ball now. However, they are all green and the largest one has been growing for close to 2 months. Am I correct in assuming they will ripen to a orange/yellow? Anything I should be doing to speed them along? Can they be used green? As of now I have been doing nothing but watering and fertilizer now and then. The leaves are a nice dark green and all looks well. Wish the same went for some of my tomato plants
Jamie

HI,

This link may be more information you want from Texas A&M.

This indicates a harvest date 110 - 120 days (75 - 85 days for transplants). Yields maximized by delaying harvest until 5-10 % of fruit are red (or whatever color your Habanero variety is supposed to be). Remember these recommendations are for Texas, which not only is further south has a longer growing period than us.

As I was looking for a link, I found where Habanero is a registered trademark of the University of Illinois Trustees. I had never heard about this so I investigated further, it helps to avoid putting foot in mouth, it is a computer server protocol.

Live and learn.

Almost all peppers seem to take forever (not really; it just seems that way) to start ripening after they have reached full size. There is nothing you can do to hurry the process: sun, heat and time are required. This cool summer in Chicago has slowed pepper ripening. Growing in containers makes for warmer soil than otherwise and is about all you have any control over.

Picking peppers green will stimulate further blossoming, which may not be all that useful with varieties that mature as slowly as habanero. I have never run across a pepper variety that can't be used green although the flavor will differ from the ripe version.

The only peppers I have grown that ripen quickly are Varengata and the small-fruited form of Thai Hot. Varengata is usually grown as an ornamental plant due to variegated foliage and fruit that runs from green to purple through red. They are edible with heat comparable to Serrano.
The small Thai Hots may be a better bet for container culture in Chicago as the plants mature quickly, are only 6-8 inches tall and wide, produce peppers that can dry on the plant and keep well. The peppers are not as hot as Habaneros but are up there in the heat scale and are so prolific for the size of plant that you may not care. Steeping fresh or dried in white vinegar gives you something with a whallop.

Peppers can be used when they are still green and are usually hotter than fully ripe ones.

we have habaneros growing in a container as well. while you can pick them green and get more fruit, they'll have a grassier flavor than a fully ripened one, for habaneros since one of their main draws other than the heat is their fruity flavor I think you are better off leaving them till mature.

a couple varieties that we're growing that have matured faster are the purple peruvians and chilacas (the fresh version of pasillas), we're still waiting on the facing skyward thais to fully mature but we have tons of chilis.

This summer is too cool. My potted habe

Don't fret. I plucked my first ripe one yesterday. Habs, with their compact and adaptable growth habit, make great - and surprisingly decorative - potted plants; my blossoming/fruiting plant shares a 12" pot with a pineapple sage, a French thyme, and several sprawling morning glory plants, and seems as happy as a very, very spicy clam. P. Allen Smith would be so proud of me.

Funny that right after I posted this question I got some orange on a few of them. Looks like they are starting to ripen as I speak.
Jamie

Same here!

...tolda ya!

Seriously, habs have a very long growing season, but they are fiercely prolific once they've hit their stride. Plus they are ever-bearing, meaning that you'll see mature, half-grown, and tiny fruit on one plant, while it is still flowering up a storm. I only planted one this season, and it is doing yeoman duty as both a chile for comsumption and as a part of a decorative container with an off-beat composition: a robust pineapple sage, a French thyme, and several morning glory vines, a mix of Heavenly Blue and Pearly Gates. Works much better than you'd think - and all save the thyme will bloom til frost.

This, to me, is the best time of year - watching all that hard work FINALLY pay off!

...tolda ya!

Seriously, habs have a very long growing season, but they are fiercely prolific once they've hit their stride. Plus they are ever-bearing, meaning that you'll see mature, half-grown, and tiny fruit on one plant, while it is still flowering up a storm. I only planted one this season, and it is doing yeoman duty as both a chile for comsumption and as a part of a decorative container with an off-beat composition: a robust pineapple sage, a French thyme, and several morning glory vines, a mix of Heavenly Blue and Pearly Gates. Works much better than you'd think - and all save the thyme will bloom til frost.

This, to me, is the best time of year - watching all that hard work FINALLY pay off!

Peppers like tomatoes ripen in heat units. A heat unit is defined as 1 hour at 80 degrees. To use an example, the hybrid tomato "4th of July" needs 1500 h/u, and is about the earliest to ripen. The average tomato is about 3000, so the habenero might be 4000. To put things in a local context, my neighbors 2500 unit Early Girls are still rock hard and dark green, as its been so cool this summer.

Anyone have any good ideas as to what to make with all these habs? I was thinking a thin vinegar hot sauce, something that can store for ages in the fridge and be used to spice things up (but not be ridiculously hot).
Jamie

Jamieson22 wrote:Anyone have any good ideas as to what to make with all these habs? I was thinking a thin vinegar hot sauce, something that can store for ages in the fridge and be used to spice things up (but not be ridiculously hot).
Jamie

Cowtown Dragon Turds

Cut a slit in a Han or cut in half. Stuff with cream cheese, sausage, pulled pork or combination of your choice. Wrap with a bacon slice and use a toothpick to hold. Smoke or grill till done. These freeze pretty well too. I would freeze on a tray before bagging.



Smoke then dehydrate and turn into a powder to use as a spice.

Roast and freeze. Peel when thawed.

Here's a nice link Fiery-Foods.com

Bruce, that ABT with a hab just sounds way too evil for me. I came home from the Cubs game on Saturday and grilled up 2 tri-tips for some friends (all who agreed that is their new favorite cut of beef). After a few too many beers I had decided to slice up one of the raw habs I had just picked and give it a whirl.
Mistake...
Couldn't imagine what a ABT with a hab would be like (and I like hot food, just not ridiculously hot I guess)
Jamie

I put one seeded hab in a pint batch of salsa to take to a party Saturday. The guys loved it, the wives thought it was too hot to eat, the kids dared each other to try it. Talk about an endorphin rush!

BTW, I freeze them whole for later use. They dice up very easily while frozen. They are a little mushy when defrosted, but for salsa or chili it doesn't matter.

Jamieson22 wrote:Bruce, that ABT with a hab just sounds way too evil for me. I came home from the Cubs game on Saturday and grilled up 2 tri-tips for some friends (all who agreed that is their new favorite cut of beef). After a few too many beers I had decided to slice up one of the raw habs I had just picked and give it a whirl.
Mistake...
Couldn't imagine what a ABT with a hab would be like (and I like hot food, just not ridiculously hot I guess)
Jamie

They are good, but I can usually only handle one. I saw a tip on the Food Network the other day that suggested taking habs, cutting a slice into it and tossing the whole pepper in a dish such as salsa, chili, etc. When done, toss the hab. Supposedly the flavor is added to the dish but not the heat. You might give it a try.

Chop one up into a couple of pounds of hamburger and make a spicy meatloaf.

Eat! You look so thin. wrote:I put one seeded hab in a pint batch of salsa to take to a party Saturday. The guys loved it, the wives thought it was too hot to eat, the kids dared each other to try it. Talk about an endorphin rush!

BTW, I freeze them whole for later use. They dice up very easily while frozen. They are a little mushy when defrosted, but for salsa or chili it doesn't matter.

I made the above recipe stuffing habs with sausage for my nephews graduation party. He played defensive end and linebacker. Needless to say the football types challenged each other. It was hilarious.

Bruce wrote:I saw a tip on the Food Network the other day that suggested taking habs, cutting a slice into it and tossing the whole pepper in a dish such as salsa, chili, etc. When done, toss the hab.

Diana Kennedy has a recipe for a Yucatecan salsa where you basically cook the whole habanero in the tomatoes and then toss it. She doesn't have you cut a slice in first, but that's a good idea.

Chilies of all kinds really like it hot. We've had a very cool summer and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we get an early frost, so suggestions that you use your habaneros green are probably right on.

You may want to give your peppers a heat boost by putting some clear plastic around them. A good method is to put a tomato cage around the plant and then wrap it in plastic. Leave the top open for ventilation. Or you can make a tent out of plastic above the plants and leave the sides open.

Since your plants are in pots, you can stretch the season a bit. When the temperatures start to drop at night, bring the plants inside at dusk and return them to the sun in the morning.

We really don't have a long enough growing season in Chicago for most varieties of habanero-type peppers to ripen.

By the way, once the plants start to fruit, you want to cut back fertilizer; it encourages leaves at the expense of fruit.