Sunday, August 10, 2014

Datil peppers, Roscoe garden

This last winter's cold snap killed all of my three year old datil peppers. Very sad. I replaced them with seedlings and resigned myself to a pepperless  summer. Datils have always been slow to fruit for me. This year I planted them in very big pots with new soil. They were just starting to flower when we went to Provence. Six weeks later we returned to this! I have never had a flush of growth like this. My neighbor, Clyde, watered while I was gone and must have a magic touch. They also received much more direct sun than previous years.

The datil is a fairly hot pepper. Not as hot as a habanero , but quite a bit hotter than a jalapeƱo. The part I love about them is their smoky flavor. My daughter Kate, who loves hot peppers, does not like their flavor. My other daughter, Jenn, loves them. They were brought to this area by Minorcans, who settled in the St. Augustine area. For a long time they have only been grown and consumed in our small corner of Florida. I believe that now they are a known pepper.

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