Growing Spicy Gold - The Magic World of Jalapeños & Friends

in #theeverydayproject8 years ago (edited)

Handmade things are so fulfilling.

Maybe it´s all due to the fact that I was brought up in a natural environment, that we build sandcastles and water dams, that only our phantasy and our hands were the ultimate source of inspiration. 

No matter why, I just can´t get enough of these green house moments.

Spicy gold 

Making a living from hot pepper seeds is surely not a standard career.

If my father hadn´t entered the market fifteen years ago, I probably wouldn´t have ever come to know the big business behind these small bombs.

A huge wave of chili heat is sweeping over cuisines around the world.  

You just need to look at restaurant´s menus, watch cooking shows or simply talk to people who enjoy preparing and eating healthy food. 

The ubiquity of jalapeños, habaneros, rocotos, serranos and friends is obvious.

Americans, for instance, ate an average of 3 pounds of hot peppers per person in 1980. Today it has become more than double that! Why?

According to the books, humans first encountered hot peppers about 12,000 years ago in Middle-/South America. Originally the pods were very small since they were wild. Sizes like the ones that we find today have been reached gradually through breeding and crossing.

I bet the ones they found them first didn´t like them at all :)

The burning sensation which is caused by the chemical capsaicin is irritating at best or painful at worst. Consumers really have to learn to enjoy them. 

But humans are remarkably adaptable creatures, we can learn to like almost anything.

Once you have learned how to enjoy the heat, you will become addicted. Promised!

Thanks to the global economy a trend that was primary lived in the countries where hot pepper originally came from, has become internationally celebrated. First it was especially used by professional chefs. Later it has even started to enter regular people´s kitchens. 

Nowadays hot pepper has become an essential part of modern an healthy cuisine all over the world. 

"Manual curation" only 

Do you know what I like most about it? 

It´s the fact that every pod in our green houses is grown ecologically and manually. We seed, plant, transplant, pour, crop and select the seeds with our hands. 

We furthermore almost don´t use any insecticides. Everyting is natural. 

Thanks to the tropical climate on our island, the plants can be cultivated in perfect conditions almost 365 days per year. Only winds do disturb the ideal situation from time to time. 

That´s hot pepper´s paradise! :) 

Actually it´s a win win situation. 

It´s not only pepper´s paradise, it´s also mine. That green house provides a magical ambient I haven´t ever found at any other place. 

It´s pure energy, 100% oxigen and 200% life. 

Perhaps if you were brought up in the wild you will end up in the wild. 

I´ve been a nature lover ever since. The fact that I ended up in the hot pepper business actually doesn´t suprise me much. From time to time I need to leave my small island in order to conquer a new puzzle piece of the other side of the world. 

However, it´s always a great pleasure to come back home. 

Thanks for your valuable time.
I hope you enjoyed this spicy piece of content :)
Marly -

Palm tree quote: pinterest.com 

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Ah fantastic stuff. We do indeed learn to love that burn and then learn we can't live without it!!!

I drool. I love it.

  • so much LOL

I kind of knew you´d enjoy this one :) Yeah, it´s really addictive - probably the healthiest drug on Earth.

I would totally agree. I can't wait till my little baby ones are fully grown this year!

I can totally relate, even though "fully grown" means that the hardest part of my work starts (getting the seeds out of them) :-P

i really enjoy your posts, love seeing all your green house moments

Thank you so much @doitvoluntarily! It´s a huge pleasure to share them with all of you :)

I wonder how many fans/followers she got just off the last 30 days of these awesome greenhouse/business/hot pepper posts.

The whole series on these things is just awesome. I love hot stuff, a LOT.

Haha, I had no idea we have SO MANY hot pepper fans here. To be honest, I only knew about very few of them. It´s so great to see all these "hotties" coming out and confessing their pleasure here :D

Always love your posts!

Thank you, that´s too kind and really puts a smile on my face :)

What happiness it is to live there where it's always warm!)

Oh yeah, it definitely is :) I notice the difference when I skype with my brothers who live in Germany and there are like 100 color shades of differnce between their and my skin :D

It is clear) We always look forward to spring, because we have a harsh winter.

I can totally relate! I´ve had them the first 15 years of my life. Now I miss them sometimes, especially during the Christmas period. You don´t really feel "christmassy" at 20 degrees Celsius... But well that´s complaining on a high level though...:)

brilliant meine Liebe, bei "Hot" bist Du schon wieder die No. 1 oben - ist aber auch ein klasse Post wie immer!

Haha, hot ist der Artikel auf jeden Fall :D
Danke für die tollen Worte, Uwe!
Hast mir gerade ein riesiges Grinsen aufs Gesicht gezaubert. Priceless! :)

Gerne, wobei ich nicht sicher bin wieso das Grinsen :-) you are priceless

Na, wegen der lieben Worte! :) Besito

okidoki - Bin echt froh Dich via Steemit kennengelernt zu haben! Eine "kleine" wellenbewegende Bereicherung meines Lebens, danke dafür!

Same same, Uwe! Toll, dass wir uns hier gefunden haben :) Danke Dir auch!!

lol - sorry, musste ich hernehmen :-)

Yumm! lots of hot peppers here to see :)

Oh another hot pepper lover?! Great!!! :)

I love reading your spicy stories as you know!

This is a good overview too, of the spicy life for people that are not in our camp yet hahaha!

IDK if you care to share or have in the past, but I have no idea where you live, I did not know you are on an island, I do not know too much about you, TBH.

Yeah, I know you are part of the hot crew, too! :D That´s nice!
I live on Canary Islands which is an archipelago formed by 7 islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean close to Africa but territorially belonging to Spain. The climate is outstanding here. It´s very smooth, temperature is not changing actually during the whole year. A lot of people who suffer chronical diseases come here to recover. I´ve never lived at any healthier place. Since I am living here, I don´t even get a cold anymore. It´s kind of magical...
A good place to grow chili .... and people :)

Those are great explanations, for sure.

Are you german, or what is your heritage? You seem to speak german or type it here with people.

It sounds awesome where you are, I would hang a hammock and sleep there 6 nites a week for sure.

I spent a lot of hammock time as it is in Canadastan LOL

Yip, I was born in Germany a couple of years ago :)
And you, where are you from?

Born in Canada, east of Toronto. Still out this way.

Oh nice, that is one spot which is on my list of places-I-wanna-visit-soon :)

Come visit. Sometimes, I have vacant rental units and you can have the whole unit to yourself.

Fly into Toronto, I am about 90 mins East of there.

  • Summers are nice here and you can keep the tan up that way and we can eat spicy things every day together!

I found you ! LOL

Neat, I like learning things and the part about the climate helping people I really can relate to, that was good of you to explain today to us here.

Haha, yeah there I am! :)
You are welcome. I very much like learning, too. So it´s give and take, one of the best characteristics of steemit!

- personally, I am glad we "met".

I like the atmosphere of your blog. I always enjoy. Followed. @surfermarly See you! :)

Oh that was probably the cutest comment I´ve ever received. Thank you so much!!! ❤️
Strange that I haven´t been following you yet. Your blog is very colorful and powerful, too. Well you´ve got a new fan now :)
Thanks for stopping by!!


Hi @surfermarly, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.

That´s too kind @shadowspub, thank you very much!!!
I´ve just seen that your birthday post found its way to the trending page, very happy for you :)
Have a wonderful day!

oh cool. I hadn't noticed that. I don't often look at the trending page. I usually hunt for the hidden gems :)

Yeah I know, and you do very well :)

Thanks for your great support, Randy! I hope the spicy stuff will bring some traffic to the platform :))

They grow so well here in the warm climates. I threw some seeds in our growing area and we had enough to feed the neighborhood for months.

Haha, I can imagine! Sometimes they grow even too quick. We are transplanting about 200 tomato plants currently (into bigger pots), and that´s really tough work... Thanks for stopping by! :)

Great post! Love the hot peppers!!

Thank you!! Me, too :D
It seems that there is a huge fanbase of hot pepper lovers here on steemit. Really nice to know that ;)

Gotta love those hot & spicy chili peppers. Guaranteed to always lighten the mood and make you feel alive.

I couldn´t agree more! There is no such feeling than the one when pain disappears :D

Well said, and a dose of spiciness helps facilitate that every single time.

It helps to facilitate so many good feelings actually! :)

Do you is a success girl... :)

Maybe a lucky girl, yeah.
Estou muito feliz :)

And this article with the picture would be awesome too!

It´s yours! :) Thank you for considering me!!!

Are you kidding? It's only that I didn't know you before that I didn't make a splash of you on my last milestone :) I adore positive people, I'm drawn like a magnet!

Haha, no I am not! :D Cool. I like positive people, too!! :))