Chiltepin peppers ready for harvest!
November 18, 2023
What are you harvesting? 🌶️🌶️🌶️
November is still summer fruit harvesting time in Texas when it comes to peppers! Chiltepin chile, a small but mighty variety of Pequin pepper (Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum) often ripen in the fall, even when light frosts start to hit. It’s one of my favorite edible ornamentals in my garden. In my area (Dallas, TX) this is a tender perennial, meaning top growth will die down in the first hard frost (but often make through the first few light frosts, as this plant has), then reemerge from the roots in spring.
Plants will also seed freely in the garden and I have some nice volunteers. Tiny, berry-sized peppers mature from green to red, and then are typically sun dried, but you can use them fresh or pickle them green! (I’ll be pulling a bunch of green ones to pickle) They pack some serious heat (Scoville 50,000-100,00 unites) but they aren’t really great for eating alone - you usually just get a lot of heat without a lot of pepper flavor. Blend them with other types of peppers, salsas, or other recipients that call for chiles.
