Actually, those are not the first ones to be harvested. Jane wanted some to make pickled green chillis, so of course I obliged. Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to photograph that occurrence. Suffice it to say that although 165g doesn't sound a lot, when it's 165g of chillis, then it IS a lot.
The ones in my basket include the yellow "Aji Limon", a couple of "Brazilian Starfish" (foreground, red), one of those weird "Not Gusto Purple" ones, three fat red "Nigel's Outdoor", four thin red "Purira" and one solitary purple No-Name Hybrid. The green thing is not a chilli at all, it is a Turkish Sweet Pepper (a very small specimen, even by the standards of this modestly-proportioned type!).
My batch has been turned into dried chilli flakes, with the help of my dehydrator:
In other news, the "Boltardy" Beetroot is conveniently still continuing to mature a few at a time.
I haven't mentioned Raspberries much this year, because I pulled up most of my plants last Autumn and now only have a few of them. They are "Autumn Bliss" ones.
Every now and then we get a little batch of fruit - just enough to enhance a bowl of ice cream.
My mystery cucumber plant has delivered another fruit this week, its fourth of the season. They are really heavy, dense fruits. I'm not keen on eating them raw in a salad like "normal" cucumbers, but I quick-pickled this one in white wine vinegar, with lots of salt and white pepper and it was very nice indeed. It softened slightly, but still retained most of its texture and crunch.
The skin of these cucumbers is a bit tough and prickly, so before pickling, I removed it.
The Cucamelons are beginning to drop off the plants of their own accord, so I think they must be fully ripe.
I have to say though that I'm not that keen on eating them. The skin is quite tough, they are full of seeds and the flavour is not much to my liking. Still, I can honestly say that I have tried them! I plan to keep these ones in the fridge until next time we see our granddaughter Lara, because she seems to like them.
If you read my blog regularly, you will have seen that I picked a batch of Borlotti this week, amounting to 325g. If you want to read more about Borlotti, there is a link to my post HERE.
My Spring Onions have done spectacularly well this year (by my standards, anyway), and we have been using lots of them in little batches. This particular batch went into a Chinese-style beef and tomato stir-fry dish that Jane made.
This week I have continued to harvest tomatoes - usually a few every day - but I expect that by now you are bored of seeing photographs of tomatoes, so I'll just include this one. It's of "Cherokee Purple" harvested green (just beginning to turn colour) because their parent plant is showing signs of blight infection again. I'm fairly sure they will ripen OK indoors, unless they are already infected.
This week I also want to report one failure. I cut the second of my two big "Gunma" cabbages, but I had left it too late. The inner heart was brown and mushy and had begun to develop its flower! It was so disgusting that it went straight in the compost bin. It should have been harvested two or three weeks ago. Anyway, looking on the bright side, its departure means that the nearby Brussels Sprouts will have less competition now!
This is my contribution to the weekly Harvest Monday link-up, hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.
I think we may try borlotti beans next year. Like you I can say we tried cucamelons and that's it.
ReplyDeleteAmazing peppers! My 'Aji Limon's haven't turned yellow yet, so I'm waiting for that before I harvest them. I think I'm going to put a dehydrator on my Christmas list as it looks so useful for drying all manner of crops and would be useful for my chilli harvest too. How long do you dehydrate your chillies for? I have been growing cucamelons for 4 years now and I think often if people don't like them its because they are harvesting them too big. There is a matter of a dya or two between a dark green cucamelon which is sweet with a thin skin and a slightly lighter one which has lost its sweetness and the skin has thickened. aybe try one at about 1/2-2/3 the size of the ones in your pictures to see if they taste any better? I think for freshness and taste they can't be beaten at this size :)
ReplyDeleteDehydrating chillis depends entirely on the type and size of chilli - usually about 4 - 8 hours in my machine. Re the Cucamelons- I tried some when they were still pretty small, but I still didn't like them.
DeleteI'm still waiting for my Aji Limon peppers to ripen here. I need to make some dried chili flakes with my peppers too, as it's nice to have on hand to give a dish a little spice. Lovely beetroots and scallions too!
ReplyDeleteI think the Cucamelons are one of those love 'em or hate 'em veggies. That's a very pretty array of peppers and you are right, that's a lot of spice! Too bad about the cabbage, it's frustrating to miss a harvest opportunity.
ReplyDeleteA fantastic harvest Mark. You have reminded me to use my dehydrator, I have hardly used it. I have beetroot to harvest and hope to share that next week, as well as some raspberries, if I can get to them before the birds. I've never had a cucamelon and I'm curious to try them, don't think i'd grow them though
ReplyDeleteThose peppers look lovely! At least the cucamelons are very photogenic even if they're not the best tasting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvests - especially those peppers. They are a bit lightweight, aren't they? But a little does go a long way.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar cabbage experience with the napa - in my case, as I pulled back the chewed up outer leaves, the inner ones were simply covered with aphids...yuk!
That chilli harvest is only the first few - hopefully there will be many more to come, since my plants are laden with unripe fruit.
DeleteThe Aji Limon (or at least the Lemon Drops I am growing) are supposed to have a bit of lemon flavor along with the heat. Do they retain that when dried? Nice harvest, and I can not believe you grow Cherokee Purple tomatoes that look so perfect. Mine were always cracked and catfaced.
ReplyDeleteYes, David, they do retain a faint citrus flavour even when dried and powdered. The Cherokee Purple tomatoes are often a mixture of perfect and horrible-looking!
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