We had a great showing this year by the Yellow Jamaican Scotch Bonnet, Laotian, Louisiana Hot Chile, and Thai varieties.  Other varieties that weren’t as bountiful were the Barbados, Rocoto, Criolla Sella, Yellow Peru, Fatalii, Jamaican Large Red, and Aci Sivri varieties.  And for the most part, the only reason these weren’t as bountiful was because we either ran out of space, not many seedlings survived the greenhouse (i.e., I accidentally planted them in containers or soil mediums that didn’t have proper drainage), not many seeds were planted, they were grown in containers, or a combination of factors.  The only sweet variety that I was able to get a decent amount of seed from was the Tequila Sunrise variety.  BUT there’s always next year! 

In the Y2K Harvest picture below, especially check out the paw paws—yum!  I tried making a paw paw flavored version of my Flames of the Holy Spirit hot sauce this and it turned out pretty good.  I can’t really taste any of the paw paw flavor though.  I’m wondering if the long boiling process I used in making this version killed the paw paw flavor somehow.  If anyone has experience in processing paw paws into other food products and you have some insights on this subject, I’d sure love to hear from you! 

I also made some giardineira this year (1^st time) that turned out pretty good.  My brother loved the jar I gave him.  I usually only use it on Italian beef sandwiches, but it goes well on many other things also.  I used some roasted parsnips in my giardineira.  If you’re interested in how I made it you can check out the thread I started on it in the Chef Talk (www.cheftalk.com) discussion forums/community.  I also made some hot pepper-papaya-mango jelly this year that is just outstanding!

My buddy Chris and I made some salsa this year, one was medium hot and the other was hot.  His wife, Jenell, didn’t want us to make it too hot and kept instructing us to stop throwing in more chiles into the mixture.  Now what’s the sense of making some salsa with Jimmy if you can’t make good use of Jimmy’s Chiles?  Thus I have sound very good advice to all of us salsa maniacs and chileheads who get together to make some homemade salsa:  He or she who does not partake in the FUN of slicing tomatoes, onions, and chiles should not be allowed to have input on the ingredients or amount of ingredients that goes into said salsa.  Okay, so my saying needs a little work, but you catch my meaning. . . 

Special thanks this year goes to my wife Lisa for tolerating my gardening hobby, and who has been mentioning something about feeling like being a “Harvest Widow” on those weekends I’m away harvesting, weeding, planting, etc.  And while I’m at it, I’d like to acknowledge all the time and effort Lisa puts in helping me to utilize this Microsoft FrontPage in developing our websites.  Thanks Lisa! 

How did your harvest turn out this year?  What did you make?  Any Hot Advice for me?

Harvesting Yellow Cherry Tomato seeds:    

Louisiana Hot Chiles:
       

Yellow Jamaican Scotch Bonnets on the vine:

Barbados on the vine:

Jimmy in the Thirsty Turtle Herbal Garden’s gourd patch (see the apple gourds hanging?):

Jimmy with Josie the cat processing some chiles in Rosemont, Illinois.  Did I mention we also grow catnip?

Indian corn with chiles: