Hot Peppers are Awesome

I can't remember a time when I didn't like my food spicy. Chicken wings, hot and sour soup with extra chili sauce, spicy pepperettes, curries, and all forms of commercial hot sauces available on the table at restaurants. That tingly feeling, the burn, the burst of flavour to an otherwise bland dish, is one of the best experiences.

Then I discovered that I could grow my own peppers. My father-in-law used to grow jalapenos and habaneros and any other random hot peppers his friends left for him, right as the world was popularizing the ghost pepper. So I spent a few seasons with him learning his tricks and getting tips, seeing the whole process from seed to table. His decades of English gardening knowledge were invaluable in getting me started down the path to this little venture. He's no longer with us, but every year, we remember what was taught and carry on his methods.

Once I had my own small garden plot, the perfectionist and nerd in me began researching peppers, popular and obscure, looking for great heat, great flavour, and how to best grow them here in Toronto. Being able to experiment with a wide range of varieties and having a penchant for kitchen experimentation almost always leads to something yummy. I started making sauces partly because everything I could buy just got boring.

I've tried a number of peppers in my garden, some more successful than others. I grew the supposed 'ancestor' to all modern peppers, the chiltepin — our growing seasons in the GTA are far too short for this Peruvian pepper, so my first year it only grew to about 8 inches with no peppers. The second year, with full afternoon and evening sun, it grew to 3 feet by 3 feet and produced several hundred tiny peppers that popped with heat and flavour. I've had mediocre success with rocoto and aleppo too, and tried Mme Jeanette and Aji Limon (lemon drops) — flavourful, good yield, but I still haven't landed on the right recipe for them.

Some of my favourites that I've grown over the years:

Datil, used in Sun Stroke — on the small side for a saucing pepper, but beautiful bright yellow fruits with a zing of citrus and a nice kick of heat. Mid-summer, I like to just brush my hands along the plants and get that hint of citrus smell in the air.

Fatalii, used in Death by Chocolate — big pods with big flavour. I particularly enjoy the chocolate ones for my sauce, but they all have great flavour and are nice to work with when seeding.

Our family favourites, both used to make up Chili-Relentless, are Poblano and Jalapeno. A little bite of heat that everyone enjoys — big dark green pods that ripen to red with great sun exposure. We roast them and add them to soups, or drop them in a cream sauce to poach eggs in. And there's something about being able to go into your yard and pick a jalapeno off the plant and cut it up fresh for lunch that just makes it taste that much better.

Here are some of the books I've studied and still refer to when looking for new varieties: The Pepper Garden by Dave DeWitt & Paul W. Bosland, The Complete Chile Pepper Book by Dave DeWitt & Paul W. Bosland, The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia by Dave DeWitt, and Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums by Jean Andrews — this last one has the most stunning drawings of a variety of peppers at each stage of growth. Informative and beautiful to look at.