Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: GrannieAnnie on October 06, 2015, 17:07
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My beautiful Scotch Bonnet chillies have started to go red at last, but just tasted one and they have no heat whatsoever, they taste more like red peppers!
Reading back on old posts, they say it could be cross pollination. I do have another chilli in the same greenhouse, which was very hot. Can't remember its name now, could it have caused my scotch bonnet to have no heat?
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Did you grow them from your own saved seed or from new shop-bought seeds?
If you seed saved, they may have crossed with any other pepper in the area and while that generation of fruits would have been hot, the seeds you saved could have been mild.
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My beautiful Scotch Bonnet chillies have started to go red at last, but just tasted one and they have no heat whatsoever, they taste more like red peppers!
Reading back on old posts, they say it could be cross pollination. I do have another chilli in the same greenhouse, which was very hot. Can't remember its name now, could it have caused my scotch bonnet to have no heat?
Cross pollination would only impact on the seeds for next year, not this year's fruit. Is the plant from saved seed which could have crossed?
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No, because my own plants didn't do very well, I bought this one at a garden centre. It's a beautiful plant too with about 40 fruits on it! :( :(
I did think that about the cross pollination, but thought maybe I was wrong. Perhaps the insects cross pollinated from one to the other while the flowers were still on but not fruiting yet?
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I'm no chillii expert but maybe leave them till they are thoroughly mature before picking?
Cross-pollination really shouldn't impact this year's fruit, only next year's seed. In the same way that a courgette plant will have normal courgettes an be pollinated by many other kinds, but you wouldn't want to save that seed for planting next year unless you've hand pollinated it or like surprises.
I don't grow scotch bonnets, but my other chillies are only just beginning to turn now. My padrons are too hot to eat though, always happens at the end of the season.
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Did you grow this one from seed or did you buy the plant? I purchased a scotch bonnet plant from B&Q last year because family requested some past the sowing date, however like you the chillies had no heat whatsoever.
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Did you grow this one from seed or did you buy the plant? I purchased a scotch bonnet plant from B&Q last year because family requested some past the sowing date, however like you the chillies had no heat whatsoever.
Yes Grey Scales, as mentioned above. I bought the plant from a big garden Centre. The label DID say it should be hot though! >:(
Surbie, I've tried them green, just red, and the one yesterday was over ripe and starting to wrinkle a little bit! I am really disappointed. I wanted step son to have a lovely hot chilli. Gave him the very first one too. Must ask him if that one had any heat in it! :(
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Were they grown outside in the ground or pots?
I grow lots of hot chillies, and find one's outside are never hot (well not for me).
One's in pots outside slightly warmer, (less water I guess).
The one's in the polly tunnel pot or ground are HOT
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It sits in a very large pot in the middle of my big greenhouse Twitch, so that's another good idea shot down in flames by my non hot, hot chilli plant! ;) ;) :D
I've also been very good with watering, not too much and not too little. It's a mystery! :(
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Hope no one minds, but borrowed this article from Gardening Knowhow to show you, perhaps I was too kind?
"On the opposite side, you may have been to kind to your peppers. Over caring for your peppers through excessive amounts of water and fertilizer will cause the peppers to be over sized and the capsicum in the membranes to become diluted, thus resulting is a milder tasting pepper."
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My scotch bonnets are still to flower for some reason. cayenne chillies are strange this year, off the same plant one can blow your head off another has no heat at all.
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My scotch bonnets are still to flower for some reason. cayenne chillies are strange this year, off the same plant one can blow your head off another has no heat at all.
Awww Mrs Bean, I think it may be too late for yours now :( I've got another chilli plant, which is the only one I sowed from my saved seed, and it only has tiny green upright chillies on it at the moment. I don't think they will get much bigger, but I'm hoping for a bit of heat if they ever go red!
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Hope no one minds, but borrowed this article from Gardening Knowhow to show you, perhaps I was too kind?
"On the opposite side, you may have been to kind to your peppers. Over caring for your peppers through excessive amounts of water and fertilizer will cause the peppers to be over sized and the capsicum in the membranes to become diluted, thus resulting is a milder tasting pepper."
The stuff in the membranes is capsaicin not capsicum. A capsicum is a sweet pepper variety.
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Hope no one minds, but borrowed this article from Gardening Knowhow to show you, perhaps I was too kind?
"On the opposite side, you may have been to kind to your peppers. Over caring for your peppers through excessive amounts of water and fertilizer will cause the peppers to be over sized and the capsicum in the membranes to become diluted, thus resulting is a milder tasting pepper."
The stuff in the membranes is capsaicin not capsicum. A capsicum is a sweet pepper variety.
That wasn't my spelling, I copied it from an article! Sorry didn't notice the bloke who wrote the article can't spell! ;) ;) :D
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Well I have just tasted one of my scotch bonnets and they are unbelievably hot!!!!!! I can eat some pretty hot curries and the like but these things are lethal and I only cut a very thin slice from a green/orange one ... no seeds and it is so hot I reckon one of those without seeds could make 5L of vindiloo type curry no problem. My ones were grown from seeds saved from peppers from Waitrose and grown out doors down here in SW France. I now need to find out what to do with the huge amount I have on the plants. Thinking of making a hot sauce but to be honest I would say that a teaspoon full would blow your head off :) These may even be hotter than the Habanero salsa I tasted a few years back I gave some to a work mate and he went into convulsions !! These could be dangerous and will be kept well away from the normal hot salsa's.
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In caribean cooking, you put them in whole to wet dishes and be careful not to break them open, then fish them out before serving. You get the lovely fruity hotness that way, but the food doesn't blow your head off. Its worth trying as they have a flavour unike most chillies :)
I grew some one year and the ones we couldn't use fresh were dried. Then I pulsed them in the food processor to make chilli flakes. It nearly felled me when I opened the processor lid and I had to leave the back door open for quite a while for the fumes to clear :lol: The jar of chilli flakes lasted me about 3 years, as only a tiny amount was needed each time.
These could be dangerous and will be kept well away from the normal hot salsa's.
Unless you are a real chilli fiend, that's a good plan :lol:
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Firstly I must admit that I am a chilli head, I must admit this year has not been a good year for growing them I just think it has been to cold, We had our chilli testing down at the pub the other day, the Scotch Bonnets were hot but not as hot as usual still a good kick I must say. I grew some other super hot ones this year including the 7 pot chilli and the Carolina Reaper. As for the reaper this is insanely hot My tongue even swelled up it was like chewing a soldering iron, I just don't know what you would do with something this hot :ohmy:
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Well thank you Jambob and MarkW. that makes me feel even worse! :lol: :lol: ;) ;)
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I reckon you were sold a dud ;)
When I grew Scotch Bonnet chillies, the plant was in a pot in the greenhouse, just like yours and got watered and fed the same as all the other peppers. I can't see you did anything wrong. Even if you really pampered the plant, it would have only got a bit milder. In a Scotch Bonnet that would just bring them down from volcanic to normal hot chilli heat.
If the nursery that grew the plant had some dodgy seed, that would account for it. Not much help I know, but at least you can blame someone else :lol:
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Well I would admit to liking hot food but there is a limit to what I would call enjoyable :) although it is well know that capsaicin is very much a drug that one becomes desensitised to in fact I have no doubt that I myself have become as such but the heat of these particular peppers takes things to another level for me. I have been online and got some very tasty sounding pepper sauce recipes so am going to go for a couple and give them a go what is there to lose other than my taste buds :)
this recipe took my fancy but I cannot help but think there is a lot of macho bravado involved in chilli sauce eating :) going to go with this though it looks great in the jar and I like a kick to my roast beef sandwich LOL :)
KyfhExFnRok
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That looks very colourful Jambob! In fact, although it was made with only cayenne and apache chillies, the recipe for Thai hot sweet chilli sauce that one of our old members put on here was delicious, and I make it every year (perhaps not this year though with these scotch bonnets! :nowink:)
Recipe for Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
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Sent in by: Grannieannie (recipe kindly donated by 'Boscombe')
Ingredients
2 ounces fresh red chilies, roughly chopped (remove seeds if less heat is desired)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup white vinegar
4 ounces sultanas, chopped (white raisins)
1-2 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1/2-1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
Method
Place chilies in a food processor with half the vinegar and process until the chilies are finely chopped.
Do not be concerned if the chili seeds remain whole.
Combine the chili and vinegar mixture with the remaining vinegar, and all other ingredients, in a small stainless steel saucepan (take care adding the salt- you can always add more later if you wish).
Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves, bring to the boil briefly, then reduce temperature to allow the mixture to simmer gently until the chilies and sultanas are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.
When cool, puree until almost smooth.
Pour into a suitably sized sterilised bottle and seal.
And one day I'm going to try this one by Aidy, one of our original member who is big on chillies too! ;) ;)
Aidy's Firecracker Sauce
40 Firecracker Piquin chillies (chopped)
10 Red Jalapeno chillies (chopped)
10Green Jalapeno chillies (chopped)
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Garlic powder
3 Tsp Onion powder
2 Tsp Paprika
1 Green Bell pepper (chopped)
Juice and zest of two limes
30 good size sprigs of Lemon Thyme (leaves only)
1Tblsp olive oil
6 Tblsp red wine vinegar
2 Tblsp sugar
680g tomato ketchup
1 tin of plumb tomatoes
Gently fry the chillies for two minutes, add the tomato's and other ingredients and simmer for 20 mins. Using a blender or hand blender whizz everything up until smooth, continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. Sterilize bottles and then fill with sauce.
This is a pretty hot sauce but has loads of flavour, I use old ketchup bottles.
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Watch for splatter and steam if using a stick blender on really hot sauces. A food processor may be safer.
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Good idea! It's not often I need to blend though.
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Thanks for the recipes they look good also... so having plenty of Jalapenos and scotch bonnets as well as some nice sweet red peppers I am going to fashion something similar to these two above.
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Thanks for posting the recipes I will be having a go at making some of that good looking sauce.
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The Thai sweet chilli is my favourite, and also everyone else who have been given jars over the years! LOL And of course, the hotter the chilli, the hotter the sauce! So mine won't be very hot this year! ::) :wacko: ???