Time of the season

A cold bastard of a front blew in from the American Middle West last night bringing with it a number of the usual seasonal associations: get a-rakin' Son, clear the gutters and do any pruning in preparation for snow, time to prepare for the annual deer hunt. But first I gotta bring in the chiles before a real freeze comes. The first real freeze looks likely to be next Wednesday, so I spent part of the morning harvesting.

Last peppers of the year come off the plants

This season's weather was odd; way wetter than usual. Consequently the selection of peppers is going to be different from previous years. Typically I would have a lot of long, slender, cayenne-type peppers, lots of little Bolivian Rainbow peppers and a bunch of Habaneros. The purple peppers came through, but there were very few Takanatsumes and only four, count 'em FOUR Habanero peppers.

Mutant Trinidad Moruga Scorpion peppers

What did produce well, for the first time ever, were some chiles that were sold as Trinidad Moruga Scorpions. They're not actually pure Morugas though; they were from seeds saved from the 2017 season and look more like Ghost peppers. They're certainly blisteringly hot, but they don't seem to be that much hotter than Habaneros. One chile will light up a chili con carne. Whatever the case, this year's picante sauce will be made from either Bolivian Rainbows, bastard Morugas or a blend of both.