Dear Customers,
As we enter into this, the last week of February, I am heartened by the fact that two-thirds of our worst weather months are already in the books. Sure, sure, Winter began on December 21st and continues until March 21st – give or take a day or so here or there. But I always heave a sigh of relief when the calendar clicks over to Spring.
That doesn’t mean that our weather automatically flips to warm and sunny on April 1st, but it does usually mean that there will be an occasional day like that – interspersed with all the remaining muddy, wet days of Spring.
It also means that, despite my resolutions not to, I’ll be sowing some hot pepper seeds indoors in the next few days. For whatever reason, the really spicy pepper varieties take a bit longer to germinate so I normally start them a month before any other seeds.
Last year, I also planted some hot banana peppers (AKA yellow wax or Hungarian wax peppers) and got a bumper crop. As you probably know if you’ve ever asked for banana pepper rings on your pizza or sub, there is a wide variety of spiciness. You can get banana peppers from sweet to mild to moderately hot. The batch I planted last year would probably be classified as “extremely” hot! They were great for stuffing (tried a mixture of crumbled Italian sausage and ricotta covered with pasta sauce) or as we found with the bulk of the crop, a delicious hot, spicy mustard spread that we canned in pint jars.
While a hot mustard spread might not be your cup of tea, they are absolutely delicious with pretzels and also on sandwiches. I gave away several jars and ate several more! I will share the recipe closer to harvest time in this column– if I remember!