Fire in the Garden Capsicum, HOY 2016 Charles Voigt University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Technicolor Sweet Peppers Personal Intro to Hot Peppers • 4-H Garden Displays • Supposedly Sweet Banana Pepper • Innocently Picked • Touched Eye • Discovered Capsaicin, the Hard Way! Banana Pepper Basketful of color Greenhouse Assist Aids Ripening • Transplant when nights begin to warm • Chilling will stunt • Should not be blooming • Black plastic mulch will speed even more • Ripened over 100 cultivars this way All Matured in Illinois Quantum Change in My Lifetime • As a young gardener, only Hungarian Wax • Waves of immigrants introduced new cuisines • Hot pepper diversity came along • Americans eat out much more than in ‘50s • Exposed more people to the zing that peppers can bring • Some embraced, others more cautious Gypsy Hybrid, a sweet favorite Why Call Them “Peppers”? • Columbus “discovered” peppers along with Central America • Was searching for western route to the East, Piper nigrum (Black Pepper) • Burning taste sensation similar • Eager to justify conclusion he’d reached India • Dubbed the chiles “pepper” Peppers Spread like Wildfire • Columbus returned to Spain • Brought pepper seeds and dried pods • Only took about 20 years to spread all over the Old World, including Spice Islands • Countries soon forgot peppers not native • “Poor man’s spice” • Most frequently used seasoning in the world • Cheap enough for peasant, complex enough for royal palate Orange Thai What Causes the Burn? • Not a heat like fire, don’t alter temperature • Chemical burning sensation • Caused by 7 capsaicinoids, lumped together and called “capsaicin” • Different modes of action • Bite in different ways • Front of tongue/sneak up farther back One of many cultivars of Jalapeno Scoville Units • Developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912 • Used to quantify capsaicin for therapeutic use • Based on sequential dilutions • Range up from “sweet” with zero SCU • Recently topped 2,000,000 SCU • Pure capsaicin is 16,000,000 • How much higher can they go??? Where Is It Found in the Fruit? • White placenta, ribs or membranes within pepper fruit • Seeds themselves do not produce chemical • Pick it up through attachment to membrane • Neither cooking nor freezing diminish • Removing seeds and veins lowers • Crime against peppers? Bhut Jalokia, The Ghost Pepper What Conditions Affect Pungency? • Water stress can increase • Water excess may lower • Cool weather also lowers • Hot temperatures, bright sunlight maximize • High deserts of the Southwest fiery reputation • Pretty decent levels in Midwest What Will Douse the Flames? • Not water soluble, only spread heat around • Are soluble in ethanol, beer may not • Casein in milk surrounds molecules – Carry them on their way – The fattier the better – Butter, sour cream, and full-fat cheese • Absorbent materials like bread, crackers, and chips soak up and clear the palate Living Pepper Thermometer Valencia, Sweet, No Heat Ancho/Poblano, Low Heat Hungarian Wax, Getting Warmer Very hot for NuMex Type Jalapeno, Most Variable, due to breeding Serrano, Some Serious Heat Thai Dragon, Very hot Charleston Hot, Even Hotter Habanero, Once on Top for Heat Nutritional Benefits • Fresh chile peppers high in vitamin C, 2X citrus • Also high in Vitamin A, folic acid, potassium, and vitamin E • Drying lowers vitamin C, but increases vitamin A • Ripe fruit higher in vitamins Capsaicin Addiction? • Painful sensation causes endorphin production, natural pain killers • Bring on mild state of euphoria • Body gradually acclimates to capsaicin • Takes a little more each time to give same buzz • Hotter and hotter peppers needed to get the same result Handle with Care • Chop or process in well-ventilated area • Never touch eyes, nose, mouth or other moist orifice • Lasting pain may result • Plastic or rubber gloves should help • Wash and scrub thoroughly afterwards • Eye protection also advisable • Super-hot ones can irritate and blister skin Neutralize on Skin • Only on external body parts • Never on eyes or other moist areas • Wash hands in bleach solution – Five parts water to one part bleach – Thoroughly wash and scrub • Rinse with clear water after pain subsides What about Eyes? • Best available is flushing with cold water • Pain will continue, but should subside with no permanent damage • This is the theory for using concentrated pepper sprays in place of mace • As debilitating as mace, with much less chance of lasting damage Deep Heating Rubs • Scoville scale developed for standardizing deep heating rubs for pain relief • Provide warm chemical “heat” • Pain messages overload nerve sensors, which stop sending messages, giving temporary relief Growing Peppers • Perennial in native location • Grown as annual crop in most temperate areas • Jump start indoors helps adapt to shorter growing seasons • Start seeds 6 to 10 weeks before outdoor planting date • Capsicum chinense germinates and grows more slowly Jalapeno Peppers Growing on the Plant Starting Seeds • If space allows, individual cells, 1-2 per cell • Can start in bulk, transplant later to save space • Fine-textured soilless mix, pre-sterilized • Cover ¼ to ½ inch, water • Bottom heat of 75° F will speed germination – Cable – Mat – On top of refrigerator until plants begin to emerge Growing Seedlings • Daytime temperature of 70°-75° ideal • Nighttime can be 5-10 degrees cooler • On windowsill, need to be rotated to even out growth • Inadequate sunlight, add artificial light • Cool white fluorescents hung 4 inches above plants, moved up as plants grow • Should not be lighted 24 hours/day Hardening Plants for Transplanting • Acclimate for a week or more before move • Thickens wax layer on leaves • Helps withstand full ultraviolet, wind, and temperature fluctuations • Plants moved too soon into cool garden will be stunted • Later transplants may grow faster OK to Plant Deeply • Transplants held too long may develop long, leafless lower stem • Nightshades like peppers and tomatoes can be planted deeper to allow this stem to root • Usually planted at an angle so existing roots not buried too deeply • Angle all the same direction for cultivation Planting Holes • Dig holes to desired depth, up to first healthy leaf • Fill with water, may add dilute starter fertilizer high in P to root in faster • Feather out roots so they don’t stay circling • Cover with mud in bottom of hole • Cover with soil, do not water from above • Minimizes evaporation initially Fertility for Peppers • Should be well balanced • Soil test may help insure proper amount • Too much N may make plants large, brittle • Still will set peppers • Can use organic amendments • Staking, caging, or other support may help • Many types will not set fruit above 95° F Spacing • Varies with species and cultivar • Can go from 1 foot to several feet high • Offset double rows grown commercially • 15-18 inches works for most common peppers • On raised garden beds, evenly spaced in all directions • If too tightly packed, may encourage disease Habanero Plant Rooster Spur Cayenne Mirasol, Facing the Sun, Above the Foliage What Happens Next? • Transplant before plants bloom, remove any precocious blossoms • “Keeper” blossoms should appear soon after transplanting • Any fruit should be removed at transplanting to promote vegetative growth • First set should be down in center of plant, others follow farther out on branches “Red or Green?” • Ripe fruit has more sweetness, fruitiness • Green has more tannins, bitterness • Sweetness may temper the heat a little • Ripening fruit take longer, more energy, so total yield less • Fruit should be cut with pruning shears to avoid damage to the plant New Mexico Salsa Chile What Diseases? • Seedborne are annoying • Include bacterial spot, anthracnose, & viruses • Reliable seed sources do seed treatments, testing • Tobacco mosaic virus can be spread by handling tobacco • Scrub hands thoroughly before handling plants Blossom End Rot • Necrosis at blossom end, like tomatoes • Problem of calcium mobility within plant • Calcium travels with water • Anything that stops water flow stops calcium • High heat and drought can intensify • Mulch evens out soil temperature and moisture • Calcium chloride on foliage may help • Will not cure, only new fruit benefit Insect Pests • Aphids, cutworms, corn earworms, European corn borers, tobacco hornworms, flea beetles, and spider mites sometimes attack • Cutworms attack transplants, cut off • Collars prevent caterpillars from getting to stem • B. t. sprays may help with foliar caterpillars • Hand picking for hornworms, also wasps • Insecticidal soap or just water jet for mites Preserving Peppers • Thin-walled varieties can be air dried • Thick walls, like Jalapeno smoked – chipotle • Dried poblanos are called anchos • Small home driers can help, where too humid • Can also be pickled • This may really accentuate the heat Five Domesticated Species • Capsicum annuum • Capsicum chinense • Capsicum frutescens • Capsicum baccatum • Capsicum pubescens Capsicum annuum • By far the most common species grown • More cultivars than other 4 combined • Name technically incorrect, not annual • Flowers usually white • Fruit usually starts green and goes to red, many other colors, though • Common varieties include: Jalapeno, Poblano/Ancho, Serrano, Cayenne, Anaheim, Pepperoncini, and Sweet Bells Standard Hot Pepper Really Poblano, Ancho Dried Standard Midwest Hot Banana Large sized cayenne version Smaller, Hotter than Jalapeno Salsa type, chased my taster out of the field for relief Different than