I like to wait until my chiles get full ripe (red or orange) to pick them. These varieties are cayenne, habanero (the orange one) and Anaheim (the big one). Is my first habanero and I’m a little nervous to try it. This variety is known as the hottest chile pepper in the world!
chile and bell peppers (Capsicum)
harvests from my vegetable gardens
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If your habañero is anything like the ones I have cut and eaten, really, truly, honestly WEAR GLOVES.
I sliced one thin and sprinkled it on pizza, then washed my bare hands with soap and hot water. I washed them well, washed them twice.
Later, well, I had a very bad night and had to do unusual things with milk to make the burning stop.
Sorry to hear of your mishap. I’ll be really careful!!
My habanero plant has produced 40ish peppers. We are going to make hot sauce because who the heck could eat that many habaneros!!
What are you going to do with the cayenne peppers? We have 2 bushes of them all fiery red and I have no idea what to do (mixed up seed back in spring)
jimmycrackedcorn already gave you my advice — WEAR GLOVES. They are really hot and you don’t want to get it on your hands and then in your eyes. We tried stringing them up and drying them last year, but they got moldy. If you come up with a good drying method please share.
Hi Kathy! I’m glad the cayenne plant worked out for you. Just today I picked and ate some lovely orange tomatoes from the plant you gave me. They were delicious with basil and olive oil, plus some local corn! I’ve gotten so busy with my new job that I don’t have much time for plants anymore, but I sure appreciate gardening vicariously through your blog.
Demona – Cayennes aren’t the most useful pepper in the world, since they’re full of heat and not much else. But I like to dry my cayennes in a food dehydrator. They make pretty decorations. And you can snap open a dried cayenne and shake the seeds into a dish for some extra heat. This year I’m also going to try grinding the dried peppers into cayenne powder.
Hi Amelia!
I’m eating my cayenne’s as soon as they turn red. They are nice sliced in almost anything I saute. I’m also saving some seeds from this bush for next year. I could use a few more plants next year. I find the chiles aren’t all that hot, but then I have been throwing out the seeds. (I think the weather also affects how hot the chiles are.) I’ll try using the entire chile for more heat.
I don’t expect to have any to dry, but last year my cayenne’s dried fine just hanging up in the kitchen. I’d still like to try using a dehydrator, but don’t have one yet… Maybe someday.