Come On Baby Light My Fire!

Playing With Fire

That great British poet once intoned: "Don't Play With Me, Cause You're Playing With Fire." And that's good advice. But what does Mick Jagger know about hot peppers anyhow? Hot women? Yeah, I guess he knows about them. He should. But hot peppers? Please, Mr. Jagger, move aside. Because Bill and the wife that is Venus are ready to "roll those tumblin' dice."

That picture to your immediate right is our latest foray into "playing with fire." This represents the really hot stuff that will be growing in the Bird Back 40 come this summer. We got an early start on these seeds -- mid January to be exact. Because if you want hot peppers in a summer garden? You need to start them in the dead of winter.

Roasted Garlic, Pepper and Heirloom Tomato Salsa

Provided everything goes hunky dory in the summer garden, these seedlings should start delivering a bounty of the "fire hot" stuff by mid July. That's right about when the main crop of heirloom tomatoes will begin to ripen up. So what's the big deal? I'll tell you what the "big deal" is. Hot peppers and heirloom tomatoes are the essential ingredients in the moderately famous and always in demand Roasted Garlic, Pepper and Heirloom Tomato Salsa.

You've got to have a bounty of fresh tomatoes for salsa making in the summertime. And you can't go without a bounty of hotter than hot, burning hot peppers. Because salsa that rocks like Mick Jagger demands fire. And in the Bird Back 40, we play with that stuff (we also wear gloves).

Mick Jagger-Salsa Fanatic

The varieties you see planted under our special grow lights in our home-office-turned-greenhouse include the following: The always popular Bhut Jolokia, also known as the "Ghost Pepper." If you guess that a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper might be a part of this year's mix -- that would be one fine guess. Other varieties popping to the surface include the Caribbean Red Habanero and the Assam Hot Pepper.

There's also a Pasillo Bajio thrown into this year's mix, which isn't really hot, but that smoky flavor adds a lot to the moderately famous and always in demand Roasted Garlic, Pepper and Heirloom Tomato Salsa.

Bhut Jolokia Peppers

This will represent the third year of usage for the Ghost Pepper. These were originally a gift from South Natomas Gardening Zen Master Nels Christensen. Last year we graduated to growing our own, but made the mistake of starting seeds at the same time as the sweet peppers. But this year we followed the advice of hot pepper fanatic Dave Jessee up in Brownsville. Start those seeds early, son.

This photo below, to the right, is from his seed starting setup in early January. Notice the hot stove to provide heat? One of the first things I noticed is the cat located under the hot stove, boiling his brains. Any normal cat would have socked Dave's hot pepper starter plants to the moon and back. But Dave assured us that kitty was at that tender age where all he cared about was lying under the hot stove and boiling his brains.

Dave Jessee Hot Pepper Seed Starting Setup (plus cat)

Mental note: Cats are not the smartest of creatures. But they sure do like hot stoves.

A big test still awaits. Will the Scorpion pepper hold up to the processing time our salsa demands? That processing time includes a steady boil for at least one hour, followed up by 30-35 minutes of time in a pressure canner. Many so-called "hot peppers" turn into absolute wimps when exposed to this kind of abuse -- and that includes the mighty Habanero. The Ghost Pepper held up well to this abuse, which is why we are growing the Ghost Pepper again. But will the Scorpion?

The owner of these Scorpion Pepper seeds assures us that his Scorpion pepper acts like a Timex Watch: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The seeds for this pepper came from Joseph Brophy, an attorney and gardening fanatic located in the great state of New York. How did I come into contact with someone like Joseph Brophy? It's called the internet children, and forums dedicated to all things related to growing heirloom tomatoes.

Scorpion Pepper in a New York Garden

I traded Mr. Brophy some seeds for a champion Black Cherry tomato plant and in return he shipped over his special Scorpion seeds. And if Mr. Brophy can get the Scorpion to not only grow and produce in a place with a shorter than short growing season like New York, can you imagine what this pepper might do in California? The land of nine month summer growing seasons?

OK, so I'm being a tad facetious. But you get the idea. It's not like Sacramento gets covered with a blanket of snow in November. Not hardly. If the Scorpion can produce a bundle of hot peppers in some place like New York, it should absolutely go to town in gardening-friendly Sacramento.

Time will tell.

It might still be a touch cold outside -- but be assured of this: It's hot pepper season in Sacramento. Let the summer growing season commence!

A Ghost Rises

The Ghost Rises

There's something mighty special taking place in one corner of the North Natomas heirloom tomato farm extravaganza belonging to yours truly -- and the wife that is Venus. Plants are just popping out all over in anticipating of the onset of spring -- and that includes the Bird 2014 heirloom tomato and pepper summer garden.

 

The most interesting item to emerge this morning? That would be it -- pictured above right. That, my fine gardening friends, represents a first for the Birdhouse. It is truly something special. It's called the Ghost Pepper -- and it's become a somewhat special and legendary ingredient in the moderately-famous and always in demand Roasted Garlic, Pepper and Heirloom Tomato Salsa.

 

Ghost Pepper Seeds

The Ghost pepper -- my friends -- is a hands down winner. But I don't recommend that you sample one fresh from the garden. That might cause a bit of indigestive pain -- if you get my drift.

 

You see -- the Ghost Pepper -- also known as Bhut Jolokia -- is a rather warm pepper. I say this facetiously. The Ghost Pepper was once know as the hottest pepper on the planet, bar none. It's since been surpassed by others -- but that Scoville unit rating of one million is still nothing to be laughed at. The Ghost Pepper produces a taste that is so stinging hot, that it rates just a notch below standard police-grade pepper spray.

 

Bird 2014 Summer Garden under Shop Lights

None of this matters to the wife that is Venus. Once she discovered my plans to grow the Bhut Jolokia in the Bird Back 40, it's been "GAME ON." You see, the correct pronunciation of this pepper might be something akin to "Boot Holoka," but when it comes to the Bhut Jolokia the wife that is Venus suddenly reverts to the tender age of ten.

 

Which means I become the "Bhut" of all jokes. Bhut Jolokia has suddenly become my second name. Or, if I'm doing something to annoy her (which is quite often), I am nothing more than a "Bhut Jolokia."

 

Pick a Peck of Peppers

We were warned -- before planting our pepper and tomato seeds two weekends ago -- that the Ghost Pepper could take a rather long time to germinate and emerge from the soil. Germination can sometimes take up to a month. But this morning -- barely two weeks after planting -- the first Ghost Pepper seedling emerged. I'm sure it will be followed by others.

 

The emergence of the Bhut Jolokia actually beat out a few other pepper varieties -- which concerns me a tad. We didn't buy any pepper seeds this year -- other than the Bhut Jolokia of course -- because the gardening seed box (a repurposed box that once held a pair of size 13 sneakers) is jammed with pepper seed purchases made in previous years. Planting pepper seeds that are more than two or three years old is akin to rolling a pair of dice. Sometimes it comes up sixes. And sometimes it's snake eyes -- as in no germination at all.

 

Venus Plants Tomato Seeds

The Ghost Pepper has another thing going for it. Unlike our previous experience with other hot peppers -- the Bhut Jolokia does not lose its mega-byte of hotness after cooking for a solid hour or processing in a pressure canner for 30 minutes. We experimented with this pepper quite a bit last year, thanks to the generous donations of South Natomas gardener Nels Christensen.

 

The last experiment turned out to be the best: Four Ghost Peppers in a batch of salsa that resulted in eleven one-pint jars. Named "Ghost to the Post" in honor of former Oakland Raiders tight end Dave Casper (and the Ghost Pepper, of course), these eleven jars resulted in the best salsa we've ever created in the Bird family kitchen. Finally, after years of trial and many errors, we've produced something with a real kick.

 

Grow! Grow! Grow!

I look forward to this summer when we can hopefully combine ripened, red hot Ghost Peppers with the fine tomato selections offered by Brad Gates and his Wild Boar Farms. Peppers -- especially hot peppers -- are an essential ingredient in not just salsa -- but the many brands of tomato sauce that we create and can for winter use. Why confine yourself to a store purchase of tomato sauce mixed with one kind of pepper and one kind of basil -- when you can have six?

 

And so my friends, while I do recommend the Bhut Jolokia for your backyard pleasure, I also preach caution. Because this pepper has a real bite and kick to it. Treat it with the respect and care it deserves. Because if you're not careful, the Ghost Pepper just might kick you square in the Bhut.