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| Picante Ground Zero |
The chile pepper harvest has been
accelerated this year by
Hurricane
Sandy. I usually wait until just a bit later in the year to take the last
fruits — usually on the evening before the first real freeze of the season I
find myself out picking the last of the green peppers with frozen fingers and
steamy breath — but this year I was assured by the
National Weather Service that the
end was nigh; that Sandy’s fury would descend with darkened skies and howling
winds and we would be lucky to survive the deluge even in our snug little brick
house; so what chance could my poor tropical
capsicum plants have out in the
open? Consequently, in an uncharacteristic display of good sense, I harvested peppers before Sandy had a chance to gobble them up.
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| Habaneros - Yucatan green |
So this year there will be lots more
green sauce than usual. That should be a nice change from the sweeter sauce I’m
used to focusing on. The green keeps that spicy vegetal character, the spicy bell
pepper quality. So as we hunkered down over the last two days to wait for the
end of the world, at least I had the warming company of some delightful Yucatan
sunshine to see me through. I got through a couple of dozen 5 ounce bottles
yesterday and hope to put by another couple of dozen in the next few days. Then there’s just
labeling, packing and world-wide distribution.
