Pop quiz, gardeners! What do you call a string of dry peppers? These beautiful strings of peppers are called ristras, and we have probably all seen pictures of them if we have seen pictures from New Mexico. This method of saving peppers for future use has to be one of the easiest and loveliest ways to preserve our garden produce.
Our pepper plants yielded well, in spite of the challenging year, and so far we have had the peppers in a basket to decorate our kitchen for the Thanksgiving season. We also have several handfuls of beautiful purple-black hot peppers given to us by a dear friend, and they have been part of our display as well. But now it is time to do something with them, and after making some pepper vinegar, making a ristra is our next project.
Sweet Pea always used to make ristras with the hot peppers that she grew in her beautiful garden. I remember one year we planted several of the cayenne peppers, and they were unbelievable. You know how sometimes plants produce so well and look just like they do in pictures in the seed catalogues? We don鈥檛 know what we did right that year, but those cayenne pepper plants had dozens of long, slender peppers on each plant. We couldn鈥檛 use them all at once, so Mom washed them, dried them well, and strung them side by side on long pieces of dental floss. After they had actually dried, some of the strings got transferred into glass jars and Mom stored them in a cool, dark cupboard. But a few strings hung by the window in her cheerful kitchen, and were handy to just pinch one off the string when we were cooking!
Chile peppers are part of the capiscum family, and have been domesticated for over seven thousand years. Guess what, they are a vegetable when they鈥檙e green, and a spice when they are dry. You might wonder why sometimes you see the name spelled 鈥渃hili鈥� and other times 鈥渃hile鈥�. 鈥淐hile鈥� is the correct Aztec spelling, but the English version ends the word with an 鈥渋鈥�.
When Columbus took the chile back to Europe, it was a sensation that in time spread to various parts of the world, and I read this interesting factoid: that one quarter of the world eats hot chile every day in one recipe or another.
As gardeners it is always fun to try a new variety. I remember Mom tried a variety that was supposed to be very, very hot. I鈥檓 not sure if they were habaneros or scotch bonnets, but they were small, roundish peppers, and indeed, very hot. In the fall, Mom strung them on one string, and they were hanging downstairs for years, forgotten. One day, we were downstairs and Mom said we may as well toss that old string out, it had been there so long the peppers probably had no heat left. I cut the string and slid the peppers off. Awhile later, not thinking,
I rubbed my lips with my fingers, and look out! The heat was there, just from slightly crushing the old peppers and touching the string. Peppers are measured for heat with Scoville Heat Units, and those peppers must have had a high rating! I learned my lesson and handle all hot peppers with great care!
Ristras are supposed to bring us good health and good luck, so if you have any hot peppers, try making a pretty ristra for your kitchen!
The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their AGM and supper meeting on Wednesday, November 20. This meeting is for members only and their guests. Members, if you have any questions just call Liz at 782-2830.
Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a great week!
