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Charleston Hot cayenne
Good for fresh eating, drying and pickling
Photo by Scott Bauer/Wikimedia Commons
2 of 5
Poblano (ancho)
Good for drying and stuffing as chile rellenos
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
3 of 5
Jalapeno
Good for fresh eating and pickling
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
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Tabasco
Good for pepper sauces
Photo by USDA
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Tanner pepper jelly
Mix up a batch of the Tanner family’s favorite pepper jelly with your garden produce, and serve with cream cheese and crackers. See recipe below.
Photo by S. Cory Tanner
Hot peppers, also called chili peppers, have home gardeners fired up. They’ve attracted a strong cult following, including quite a few gardeners—mostly men—who grow hot peppers exclusively. Maybe it’s the gardening version of stock car racing—add a little danger, and guys can’t resist. And the race for heat is on like never before.
A South Carolina pepper breeder, “Smokin’ Ed” Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, is responsible for the pepper currently ranked hottest in the world, according to Guinness World Records. Appropriately named Carolina Reaper, it has a searingly high rating of 1,569,300 Scoville heat units, about 300 times hotter than a jalapeno. The Scoville scale indicates how much agony a pepper is likely to inflict when eaten.
The variety of hot peppers available to home gardeners includes heirlooms, tried-and-true hybrids and exotic newcomers. Most people are familiar with jalapenos, cayennes and banana peppers, but more exotic types are increasingly common, such as poblanos, serranos, habaneros, and bhut jolokia (the infamous ghost pepper). You can find most pepper seed through a typical vegetable seed supplier, but for rare, unusual and stupidly hot varieties, try a specialty pepper-seed company.
In the garden, there’s not much difference between growing hot or sweet peppers. Most are perfectly suited to the state’s climate and abundant sunshine.
Common varieties should be available as transplants at your local garden center. Look for stout plants that aren’t too big. A 4- to 6-inch plant is preferable to larger ones. Avoid the temptation to buy plants with open flowers or fruit on them, because they’ll be especially slow to establish and grow. For rarer varieties, you can start seeds indoors six to eight weeks before your desired planting date. Pepper seed can be slow to germinate, particularly in cool soil, so be patient, and provide plenty of light once seedlings emerge.
Set out plants once the soil has warmed; they’ll languish in cold soil. Piedmont gardeners should wait until May 1; most of April offers sufficient warmth in the midlands and coastal regions. Select a full-sun location with well-draining, fertile soils. Peppers prefer a soil pH of 5.8 to 6.5. A soil test will tell you if you need amendments. And be careful not to over-fertilize. Too much nitrogen will yield beautiful, lush bushes at the expense of blooms and fruit.
Peppers can suffer from blossom-end rot if a lack of soil moisture prevents them from taking up calcium from the soil. I use drip irrigation to maintain even soil moisture and also to reduce leaf wetness, preventing both blossom-end rot and foliage diseases.
Hot pepper plants don’t enjoy summer heat as much as you might think. In my Upstate garden, they typically stop producing during the hottest spells in July and August. But don’t give up on them—production ramps up in the fall, and I often have plenty of hot peppers well into November, when the first frost takes them out.
Wire tomato cages provide near perfect support for pepper plants. Simply tuck the main stems up through the cage to prevent branch breakage under heavy pepper loads.
Peppers are also excellent for container gardening on a sunny deck or patio. A large container, filled with high-quality potting mix, offers plenty of space for roots and reduces how often you have to water.
I like to underplant my peppers with fresh herbs. Cilantro, in particular, seems to appreciate the summer shade provided by pepper plants. Plus, it’s an essential ingredient for that fresh, hot salsa you’ll be making with your peppers.
S. CORY TANNER is an area horticulture agent for Clemson Extension based in Greenville County. Contact him at shannt@clemson.edu.
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Tanner family favorite pepper jelly
Makes about 5 half-pint jars
4 or 5 hot peppers, cored and cut into pieces
4 sweet green peppers, cored and cut into pieces
1 cup white vinegar (5 percent acidity)
5 cups sugar
1 pouch liquid pectin
Green food coloring
Note: Be sure to wear clean rubber gloves when working with hot peppers. Remove seeds if you want to tone down the heat of the jelly.
In a blender, combine half the peppers and half the vinegar. Cover, and process on liquefy setting until peppers are liquefied. Pour into large saucepan. Repeat process with remaining peppers and vinegar, and add to pan.
Add sugar to the saucepan, and boil mixture slowly for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in liquid pectin, and boil hard for 1 minute. Skim foam off top and add a few drops of green food coloring. (If you use red, yellow or orange bell peppers, use red or yellow food coloring.)
Pour hot jam immediately into hot, sterile canning jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims, and adjust lids. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling-water bath.
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Related story
Man on fire – “Smokin’ Ed” Currie holds the Guinness World Record for his insanely hot Carolina Reaper chili pepper—and he’s just getting started.