Those Peppers Better Turn Red

The days are getting shorter and keeping an eye on the peppers is important right now. Our holiday gift to friends and family each year is homemade pepper jam. Consumption has become a New Year’s Day tradition and typically the day is filled with people sending photos of how they are enjoying their jam (we also send a mix to make Johnnie Cakes). The key right now, aside from collecting seeds, is for the peppers to turn red. We have quite a variety — jalapeno, lipstick, serrano, sweet banana, Fresno, poblano — each year it’s a little bit different medley. One thing I learned is that peppers are frisky and like to mix it up. They will randomly cross pollinate, so we have ended up with some we call poblanos - or anchopenos - because our poblano peppers and jalapenos evidently were planted a little too close together. Nonetheless, the peppers are delicious if not slightly odd in appearance. Hopefully, we will start to see waves of peppers ready for the pot before too long.