ottawa foodies

My bro sent me this video of a guy eating a piece of Jolokia Pepper, which is about 3 times as hot as a Habañero (en.wikipedia.org). Clearly, this man is an accomplished capsaicin aficionado, yet half an hour after ingestion he is still writhing and comparing the pain to that of childbirth. He seems to handle the pain fairly well but you can tell from his swollen eyes and pallid face that he is suffering quite a bit.

Video: www.dailymotion.com

Can anyone imagine a reasonable culinary use for this pepper?

We use both the fresh and dried jolokias in our curries at home. But we only use 1 pepper, cut in half, dropped into the dish while cooking, and then we remove the halves before serving. The aroma and flavour is wonderful, but they do pack some heat!
This pepper is all about moderation. I wouldn't eat a piece straight, and we make sure to wear gloves when we handle them.

Wow. I just watched that video and I can't even imagine as I am allergic to capsicum(sp?), the hot element of peppers.

The only use I would have for such a thing- I had a lovebird that would bite fingers, so I put tabasco sauce on my finger to teach the bird a lesson. I'm sure that this pepper would be a deterrent.

Hey Alley Cat:

Where can I get these WMD's (Weapons of Minor Destruction).

ya hook me up with some of those peppers AC
growing bored with habernero/scotch bonnets and Thai bird peppers
even some recently smuggled "rat turd" chili from Laos is not so challenging any more

*called "rat turd" because they are the tinyest chilis i've ever seen
about 1/4 - 1/3 inch long and packs the heat of about 5 thai bird chilis
and no! they were not brought in by me but were a gift
wish she had brought me some seeds too

You can get "Bhut Jolokia" at Chilly Chiles in Navan, which Alley Cat is always too modest to mention....

I love the place, so I keep bringing it up.

Thank you tre, I truly appreciate the kind comments.
We (Chilly Chiles) do indeed carry the dried Bhut Jolokia pods. The reason we were able to try the fresh ones though were due to an amazingly generous customer who grew some last year, and showed up at the store with a huge box of more than 30 varieties of home grown chiles (and an equally huge box of 30 varieties of home grown tomatoes, and a bag of fabulous fresh garlic) Simply as a gift as he knew we would enjoy them. The year before he arrived with a huge jar of pickled jolokias too. Also last year another customer brought us some exotic chile plants for our garden, including a jolokia, but sadly the late frost destroyed it. He has promised to bring more plants this spring if he is able, so I may be able to offer a taste of a fresh one this year!

Alley Cat - You must love the fact that you have great customers who are willing to share their bounty and knowledge with you. That's cool! (or should I say HOT). LOL

Yes F&T - I am constantly amazed by people's generosity and willingness to share. I only wish I had kept better track of some of the tips and recipes we were given in the early years. My memory isn't always as good as it used to be!

I just tried some Blair's Jolokia Peppper chips. Really good with a real depth of flavour. Be warned though, they are hot. The woman at Chile Chiles said that the heat was not up front and would build. Boy was she right. These are seriously hot and seriously good.

I ordered some beef jerky from a guy in Hamilton who offers a Bhut Jolokia variety (as well as Naga Morich, chipotle-habanero, and others -- he sells the seeds too). I didn't order any of these varieties, wanting to get a taste for his base marinade, but I asked him to throw in a sample or two and he kindly obliged. Pretty excited about trying it out, less excited about the potential for disaster (anyone know of any dry cleaning deals in Centretown?).

Flandroid, who sells this jerky? I've been in the mood for spicy jerky for awhile now and haven't come across anything that I considered hot enough.

The jolokia isn't the hottest pepper in the world anymore:

en.wikipedia.org

My mom is from Trinidad and I've eaten food cooked with the Butch T variety of the scorpion and I can tell you, it's insanely hot. The cooking method is the same as Alley Cat indicated, half a pepper cooked in the food then removed before eating.

can you get me seeds?

... green house is just a month away from seedlings!

Sadly she just came back from a month in Trinidad, or I might have been able to...I'll ask her if anyone is coming back anytime soon and PM you if I get a lead for you.

Not sure if it is possible to have the products delivered to Canada yet the Chili Pepper Institute at the New Mexico State University sells a bunch of chili related products including a vast selection of seeds:

www.chilepepperinstitute.org

The guy I ordered jerky from sells seeds at comparable or lower prices than NMSU, and ships free (not on the jerky, though if you order some get in touch with him, shipping is a bit cheaper within ON/QC). I initially just passed the details to Tunnel B1 in a private message, since I didn't want to look like a shill for posting an eBay link, but I promise this guy isn't me or anyone I know!

www.ebay.ca

Expecting the jerky tomorrow!

Thanks for the offer Stuart S!

I'm going to hit up the guy flandroid linked too.

(probably both seeds and jerky... lots of options too!)

thanks all

I'll try to remember to bump the thread with results later this fall.

Just received my jerky from Laszlo, it is pretty good stuff, the one-pound bags come vacuum sealed in a resealable zip-top.

The 'hot' variety of his regular teriyaki has enough of a buzz of heat to it that I wish I had a beer at my desk. I will approach the Bhut Jolokia samples he sent with some trepidation, maybe even a glass of milk or some yogurt.

Michael, I found a source for the Moruga variety plant longs locally later this spring, PM me if you want the deets.

You don't have beer at your desk? What kind of cruel place to do you work at, anyway?

I'm going to be placing another jerky order, if anyone would like to hop on and split shipping. It runs $21 a pound, and the way the shipping works is $11 for the first pound, $1 per pound thereafter, so there's considerable potential for savings. I'm ordering two pounds, maybe three, so right off the bat you're at $6 shipping, tops. I'm not looking to turn a profit, just make things cheaper for others and myself.

Laszlo's offerings are in the eBay link I posted a few replies up, pretty straightforward; the only one with extra options is the teriyaki, which is available mild/medium/hot. If you want vials of ground chili (Trinidad Scorpion, jolokia, habanero, smoked paprika, cayenne), the shipping will likely only be a buck or two.

Will likely place the order Friday, so reply or send me a private message if you want in, or have any questions, and I'll go from there. I live and work in Centretown (Metcalfe/Cooper and Metcalfe/Gilmour, respectively), so easy pickup anywhere in the core.

He makes the jerky to order, so the delivery time is 7-10 days.

FF, if you're not okay with this, feel free to modify/delete!

Placed the order today, some eight pounds, so the shipping should be around $2.25 per pound (!). Will message people individually with their actual totals once I get the invoice.

Jolokias are a very long season plant. I typically start my seeds in January and harvest late August into late September.

If you're looking to grow your own for fresh pods, Acorn Creek has been selling Bhut Jolokia plants for the past couple of years. They also have a selection of Trinidad Scorpions (including the Butch T variety) and 7 Pots.

FWIW

Jerky order came in today, so if you joined in, get in touch and we can meet for pickup! I'll try to message each of you, though.

Eight pounds of jerky, a vial of crushed habanero powder, and a little baggie with some seeds in it. Sorry about the crummy picture, but you get the idea.

flandroid ... looks like a drug bust picture.

The street value is always inflated . But when it comes to Jolokia pepper .... the sky's the limit.

I'd be a pretty terrible dealer, I can't resist getting high on my own supply.

First you get the jerky...

Thanks to flandroid's coordination, 6 Jolokia pepper seeds went into my Mom's Aerogarden Garden Starter tray (leftmost column). They joined some sweet pepper, and multiple regular and cherry tomato seeds that are sprouting from being planted a week ago.

2 more Jolokia Pepper seeds went into Park Seeds bio dome..

How do you like the aerogarden? Do you use it only with the starter tray? Or all year round for herbs?

We bought my mom the space saver 6 a few years back and I bought a couple of 3s on sales in the US before shelling out the money for the Elite Plus / VeggiePro / tall garden thinking of growing cherry tomaotes or something other vegetables.

She used it for herb, flower and lettuce for a couple of winters but found it not as useful. The fresh herbs are nice but production except for basil is more limited. Someone else was growing cherry tomatoes in winter and liked that.

This year and last year she just use it for seed starting and really like that. Last year, hhe did a whole tray in the Bio Dome from end of Feb or beginning of March and started the Aerogarden more toward mid-Apr and the aerogarden plants over took the biodome ones.

I'm with foodtravel, I have a 3 loaded up with heirloom cherry tomato plants going right now so I can move into upside down planters if the weather ever decides to let us have spring. I've grown herbs in it over the winter, but its an eyesore so I only use it for starting seeds in the early spring and move them into small pots after 7-10 days so I can get more plantlets going these days.

I mothballed my Aerogarden a few years back because of mixed success with tomatoes. I too have some Jolokia seeds, Food Travel, could you please explain what procedure you used? Thx.

While in the US a couple years ago I bought the equivalent to veggiePro and the garden tray and I think a master gardener kit somewhere. They were not cheap but my Mom loves it for starting seeds. I still have a couple of 3s in mothballs and a Space Saver 6 and some flower kits my Mom did not use. Unfortunately they do not sell the space saver 6 garden tray here only the regular 6/now 7.

I bought a whole bunch of plug from Parks Seeds since the Aerogardens ones are kind of expansive, especially in view of the seed starting tray which has 66 holes. If you still have the plastic lid/ cage and some nutrients left and need the plugs, i can give you some. This is what I bought and I also bought some that fits the regular 18 seed starter they had before and it fits if I remember correctly.

parkseed.com

If you have unused seed pods that you don't want, just pick up the seeds from the pods and put in your own seeds(you may have to lift and glue back the paper cover and maybe remove the plug and slice it partially open to get to the seeds if they are not on the surface).

My mom just slice the plug half open on the side and put 2-3 seeds she already germinated usually so that it is in the plug about .5 cm or so(for those she has loads of seeds). Since I got only 8 seeds, my mom end up putting them directly in with one per plug after slicing the side partially open and putting it in about .5 cm so it is barely covered when it is closed.

We use distilled water in the beginning but lately my Mom has been using tap water she left out for about a day. No issues but could not tell you if it grows better with distilled water. Since I got the tall garden which goes to 2 ft, my Mom can leave the seedlings in longer and they get thirsty when they get older and that is a lot distilled water to lug.

The feeds if you still have tablets is 2 small ones for seed starting but you can use 1 large tablet for growing from salad, herb or even flower and tomatoe kits providing they are not flowering nutrients (says on bag).

You need to add nutrients every 2 weeks and if you reset when planting the garden the mutrient light will tell you. I reset it but also circle it on the calendar for my Mom.

Hope you disinfected the aerogarden and the used pods (platic cage) before putting it away. If not or you prefer to be cautious disinfect it again by soak the pods and aerogarden bowl in a weak / diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide (from SDM or other stores).

Hope this helps and if you need more info, send me a PM and I can send you info by email.

Stuart S,

Which color of the AG3 do you have?

I have given some AG3 to a few friends with kids and their kids loved seeing the herbs grow. But from what I gathered they get put away after a cycle or 2.

One of the issue I found with growing herbs are the ones I want are different heights and lights are adjusted for the tallest one. The tall ones like Basil do well and the short ones like thyme or oregano are a bit puny.

FoodTrael,

I have the white one. I got it as a present years ago, but only started using it last year...

A pal gave me some Cajohn's Jolokia 10 bbq sauce. I used it to grill some chicken thighs seasoned with Parrot Rub. The sauce is quite delicious with a subtle up front sweetness and a constant back burn. I am not sure the sauce is hot enough for the chile heads out there but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Only 1 (in aerogarden) of the 8 seeds have sprouted so far after 3 weeks. With 6 in aerogarden and 2 in regular the one that came out in AG is tiny still.

Wondering if others had any success in germinating their seeds and and what the germaniation rate was.

2 new sprout in the biodome and 2 more in aerogarden now take germination rate to 5 out of 8. They take about 3 weeks to sprout.

I was about to reply yesterday and let you know you're still welcome to the seeds I have left (10-12? I can't remember), but got called away. Glad a few more of them sprouted, pretty curious to see how they do outside, eventually.

All my Carribbean habaneros sprouted. The jolokias too but they are a little behind considering that I planted them a week earlier. I used Jiffy Greenhouses...

Tree Pug,

Your jolokias sprouted after 1 week? The jolokias are a lot smaller than the tomatoes they are in the Aerogarden with so the light might be a bit high for them but took about 3 weeks for these to sprout. A picture of the first sprout is in the gardening 2013 thread behind some tomatoes.

Flandroid,

The promise to split the plants with you still stand lol. Do you want a lot of pepper plants? I think I am only going for a couple since they are so hot. Perfectly willing to start it for someone else.

Food travel, it has been almost 3 weeks since I planted the jolokias. I put them in a week before the habaneros.

Photos please when they grow a bit more so we can compare.. :D

Was over at my parents to help my mom transplant the tomatoes which were 2 feet tall to give the remaining peppers better chance to grow.

The 5 jolokia pepper is at the front 2 rows or left side of the aerogarden. First row of 3 germinated in aerogarden, 2nd row of 2 germinated in Park Seeds biodome. The largest is a jolokia 4 leaved one front and center. Hopefully with the tomatoes out, fresh nutrient and water plus lights at lowest level, they will grow faster.

Behind are some small hot peppers I bought seeds for from US Thompson and Morgan for my Mom either

1) Numex Twilight chilli pepper that starts as purple with some white streak and changes into a yellow pepper then ripens into orange and finally red
www.tmseeds.com

2) firecracker chilli pepper.
www.tmseeds.com

Wondering who else is growing jolokia peppers. Want to see how yours are doing.

Of the 8 seeds planted, 5 germinated.

* 1 doing well developing its 4th leaf
* 2 have 2 tiny leaves each and
* 2 that started outside aerogarden only have their little seed leaves.

BTW, is anyone getting Trinidad Moruga Scorpion or Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T" ?

FT, I got about 20 out of 24 Jolokia seedlings to sprout in jiffy pots. They all have one set of two leaves each.

Tree Pug,

Your germination rate was better than mine..

Credit goes to Flandroid's eBay seed connection. I just got lucky but it's early days yet...

The guy who was growing the scorpion seedlings hasn't posted that they are ready yet on Facebook, but I'll send him a message and post back when I get an answer.

Tree Pug,

what are you doing with your jolokias? putting them in the ground or putting them in containers / movable planters / hanging baskets?

They are in pots. Here in lower Rockcliffe we don't plant in the garden ;-)

Hanging or regular? and what size?

Regular 8" pots for now. I really don't think that they are going to work with this abysmal weather. Might shine some grow lights on them today to perk them up.

So Tree Pug, are you going to plant them to a larger pot later? Where do you have room for 20 peppers lol

Do you think they'd work in hanging pots? FoodTravel was kind enough to offer me plants from the seeds I gave her, but I haven't got any outdoor space. My options are: plant them in a friend's garden, or from a hanging pot on a friend's balcony (three sides of exposure, a good chance it'd get ~4-6 hours of direct sun per day). The balcony is a LOT closer to where I live, and also belongs to someone who can handle at least as much heat as I can and might enjoy the peppers too, so I'm leaning that way.

Flandroid,

From what I read in the instruction, the peppers need a long growing season. I suspect the Ottawa summer might be too short so in the ground may be risky. The firecracker and the purple to red peppers my mom had were okay since they have a slightly shorter growing season but the regular sweet peppers she had a lot of trouble with and in 3 years only had less than half a dozen peppers total.

I have one now in movable pot and some firecracker in small pot too and plan to bring them in for my Mom later in the fall.

Yeah, I guess I can try the balcony route and take my chances indoors by a sunny window when the summer turns, maybe even get a grow light. I'm going to check out hanging pots tomorrow.

Anyone seen Blair's Jolokia Chips aside from Chili Chiles in Manotick?

I know they have the Habanero ones at Bulk Barn... it's possible they have the Jolokia ones as well.

Food Travel: big leaves on my peppers but I need to know how big the pots should be. I think the 8" might be too small. Thoughts?

I put 1 pepper in a 10 inch pot for myself since I had some those pots with support from last year. They are still pretty small compared to the pot.

I gave a pepper to my brother on a small 6 inch pot since my SIL was going to transplant it.

The 2 for flandroid I have put into some regular 6" pots but might put them in bigger ones soon if I don't hear from him with the final pots.

Tree Pug, how large are your Jolokias now?

Some are bigger than others and my habaneros got mixed up with my Jolokias (gardening cocktails) but most are onto 4 leaves with the biggest leaves being about 2"

I got some moruga scorpion pepper seeds and planted them in pots back in the spring. Took a long time to germinate and the rate was pretty bad (4/20), but I have 4 tiny plants. I will repot them and bring them indoors for the winter. Hopefully I'll have some smoking hot moruga scorpion peppers by this time next year: 2 million scoville units !

Wiki on it here: en.wikipedia.org

Ok, I'm not a gardener. Not by any stretch of the imagination. But now, my back deck is a massive plantation of 2 foot high Carribbean habaneros and some Jolokias ( those would be the small plants wondering what I was thinking trying to grow them in a cold, rainy, Canadian summer). Here's the question; whilst I have flowers on most of them (unhappy Jolokias excluded), will I have time before the cold weather to harvest some peppers? Should I be planning an indoor grow op pepper farm? Oh, and a shout out to Flandroid for the Lazlo seed contact. Thanks!

Tree Pug I suggest that if you have some room indoors and a bright sunny window then you could plan on bringing in some peppers and you my see fruit on them this winter. We could get frost any night now (we were 6 C yesterday morn) so keep an eye on forecast lows and bring in those you want to save when frost is forecast. Covering them with a tarp or sheets. etc is also good for a very light frost if well-protected. Any that you bring in should continue to grow, and may flower and fruit eventually if they aren't already, and can make it through the winter with some care. Hopefully we won't get a frost til late Sept. and a killer frost til into Oct. or Nov. You may yet get to harvest some peppers - I often get anchos, crimson hots and jalapenos into Oct. and they will often ripen after being picked.

Treepug

If you atre only getting flowers now you should be planning ro bring them in for the qinter.

Grow lights? Heat lamps?

Bring them inside. Actually peppers produce more in the second and third year, but never get the chance in Canada - unless you put them in pots and bring them indoors in the winter, then back outside the next summer.

I would auggest grow lights since the days are short in winter. I lnow the plants were much happier under or near the grow lights

I just brought my huge fruitless pepper plants in for the next few nights.it's gonna be cold...

Jolokias are now available at Loblaws according to their flyer...

urggg.. and spend so much time on the plants lol.

Ok, so I made a chicken and mushroom curry using a couple of whole Loblaws Jolokias. 2 lbs of chicken plus 2 lbs of mushrooms plus spices. Nice heat, great flavour but more madras like heat and not what I was expecting. I tried a few peppers on my chile head friends earlier this week and they didn't get the heat they were expecting from a Jolokia. Just so you know. Tasty but tame.

Really? I wonder if it is due to where Loblaw source their peppers they pick it a bit younger or something to keep the heat down?

Anyone have any tips about overwintering pepper plants? I read that when the plants go into dormancy, you should prune them almost right down to the soil. Seems drastic to me but, if that is the case, do you wait until they drop all their leaves?

uhmm I have to ask my Mom that question. I only kept 1 plant for myself and there was another 2 of which 1 died. So a lot of work for 2 plants from about 8 seeds.

Tree Pug, what was your ratio for the Jalokias for germination and survival? How big are they right now?

Well, as I said before, an unfortunate gardening/ cocktail moment got my Carribbean Habaneros and Jolokias mixed up. If I had to guess, the Jolokias would be the smaller plants at about one and a half feet high completely bereft of fruit. The rest are over 2 feet tall and have varying amounts of pods on them. I have only harvested one (not very hot) with about 10 more still ripening and maybe 10 more nubs (I'm not a gardener). 14 plants in total.

Damn.. You are doing much better than I am. One of them had some flowers but they got a little cold before being moved in and dropped off...

I got some excellent advice here on Foodies and on the internet. The plants will go dormant and drop all their leaves ( funny that I have raked more leaves in my house this fall than on my yard). They should come back and be more fruitful next year and the one after. Not sure how I should prune them however.

A friend of mine (who runs West End Chiles) gave me 2 ghost peppers yesterday.
They are wrapped tightly to keep me from touching them.
He's no dummy.

One is to add to my next batch of Hell Ya! bitters.
What should I do with the other?

His wife said that when he was drying out a bunch of them in the oven last week that her whole face started to run, from the bedroom, on the other side of the house. I have a feeling these are going to be nasty.

Cedars grocery on Bank st Has some fresh exotic peppers last week.
Ghost peppers and a couple other kinds.
I am prob going there tommorow and will try and check what they have.

For growing plants indoors I used to use my stovetop light- I removed the cover and it is quite warm and worked well.

Also my kitchen has a large fluorescent? light fixture that takes these long lightbulb tubes and I put plants under that and give them fruit and veg fertilizer and in a week or two they grew like crazy.

-next thing I'm growing is some bamboo plants (not to eat).
Not sure if I can post the link here, but you can get 2 mini bamboo plants in a keychain (with growing gel) for $2.50 shipped from China.
I got them from miniinthebox.com
mine should be here next week!

Just ordered some Carribbean Habaneros from Lazlo's. Trying to get a head start so i get a harvest of more than one pepper this year ;-). So, gardeners, when should I plant the new seeds?

I've not grown habaneros but my experience with peppers leads me to suggest planting some seeds asap, with more in early Feb. and maybe more near the end of Feb or early March. Peppers, especially hot ones, seem to be slow to germinate sometimes and seem to be slow to grow. Good luck with the habs! uh and Go Sens!