Hot Peppers Add Incomparable Flavors, Aromas to Meals
Posted in Exhibitions, Programs and Events, The Edible Garden on August 11 2009, by Plant Talk
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Maricel E. Presilla is a culinary historian specializing in the foods of Latin America and Spain. She will be presenting at this Thursday’s Edible Evening. |
Unlike most Cubans, I adore hot peppers—in every size, shape, and form. When I first introduced them to my garden I started cautiously, first planting the hot cultivars that I knew would grow best in the warm, humid summers of New Jersey, where I live. But soon I began to scour the Internet for new sources of pepper seedlings, seeds, and whole pods, discovering that a single keyboard’s click could take me to a treasure trove of peppers, both hot and sweet, at online sites.
After three years I had graduated to about 100 cultivars from seeds and seedlings obtained in the U.S., with at least three seedlings of each specimen. (My collection represented the five domesticated species of the genus Capsicum: Capsicum annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, C. frutescens, and C. pubescens, all New World natives originating in South America.)
The peppers occupied not only every sunny patch of soil in my backyard but also an array of containers set on our brick patio, perched on garden tables and chairs, and overflowing onto the three garden tables I’d improvised from long planks of Ipe wood resting on metal sawhorses along our narrow driveway.
In return, by October I had vistas of beautiful, thriving plants with fruits of all colors and shapes, shining like miniature Christmas trees. What is best, my edible gardening project became the foundation of a pepper glossary for Saveur magazine appearing in the September 2009 issue (A World of Peppers: Chiles Bring a Lot More to the Table than Just Heat).