March 20th marks the Spring Equinox.
And that means that it's harvest time in my garden!
Today I want to write about the species of pepper that my family grows: Capsicum chinense, a cousin of the widely known Habanero, but a much milder, smoky and sweeter flavor variety widely used in Venezuelan cuisine.
This is a detail of the plant I have in my garden, showing the best peppers in their natural state just before I picked them earlier this morning. This variety is originally from Margarita Island, a tropical paradise island located in the Caribbean.
I own this image.
My pepper plant still has a few other peppers that aren't ripe enough, so I decided not to take a picture of them.
Here is the basket full of today's harvest
I own this image.
As you can see, their colors are bright, varying from dark green to bright red. They are little and quite fragrant.
These peppers are very tasty and make up one of the basis of every venezuelan traditional seasonings for stews and sofritos along with onions, garlic, salt and pepper and their use is widespread for all sorts of dishes, meat, poultry and fish.
This variety is rich with vitamins A, C, B1, B2, and B6 as well as a very reliable source of potassium, magnesium, calcium, fibers and beta carotenes.
This versatile condiment is available in almost every market in Venezuela, and it is even used for some chocolate recipes that give extra fragrance, flavor and body.
If you ever try one of these, before you use it for sofritos or sauces, I suggest you chop a little piece and taste it, if it's too spicy , you can remove the seeds and change it for another pepper. Sometimes this variety turns spicy because of pollinators.
In Venezuela we take pride of our peppers and many people like grow them in pots or in their gardens.
Depending on your location and your season you can buy some seeds from websites like amazon.com also, check this other linkso you can grow them like me, also you can find some
Hope you enjoy them and get to try them.
There's a cool recipe that I like to prepare using the first peppers from the harvest, it's a pepper jam that you can use for sandwiches, barbecues and likes.
You'll need
- 4 cups of sweet peppers chopped finely.
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 cups of water
- A cinnamon stick
- The juice of one middle-sized lime
- 2 cloves (Syzygium aromaticum)
Put all the ingredients in a big pot on middle heat, wait until it boils, lower heat to simmer and let it cook for about 30 minutes or up until the liquid has soft caramelized texture, set it aside in a glass container and let it cool. Refrigerate it. And then eat it!
I love it with bagels and cream cheese!
Thank you for reading my post.
Be sure to leave a comment, and please upvote this post.
Greetings from Venezuela!
Hola Alberto. Un gusto conocerte. También tengo plantas de ajíes en mi casa. Así los llamamos en Anzoátegui, a los grandes les decimos pimentones. Disfruté de tu publicación. Probaré la receta. Te dejo una muestra de mis plantas de ají. Saludos..
un saludo! que bueno que tus plantas estén tan sanas, cuídalas mucho. Dales agua en esa etapa de crecimiento y verás como tienes esos ajíes en un santiamén. Disfurta la receta
Caramba chico ese pimiento es exquisito,también tengo en un matero en mi casa y logre cosechar algunos.Saludos con cariño
espero lo puedas saborear pronto! que viva el ají dulce
Claro que si hermano querido.Saludos con cariño
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Ah cool, a pepper jam! I haven't imagined it before, and really appreciate the idea. Great seeing your harvest there. Yeah, your peppers do look like habaneros–is your variety more or less spicy? Viva Venezuela!
This variety is mild and fragrant, depending on pollinators it can be spicy.
Try my pepper jam, you can do it with regular peppers finely chopped. Enjoy!
Does the flavor of the pepper explode in your mouth like the colors explode on my screen? Great article!
it does! it makes everything so tasty, you wouldn't even believe!
El famoso ají aquí en Venezuela, fácil de cultivar y abundante sus frutos. Muy buena tu publicación
gracias!