Jalapenos!

Earlier in the Spring, Brian bought a jalapeno at the grocery store. He makes a wicked spicy cheese sauce for dipping nachos in.

We saved the seeds and planted them. Surprisingly (only surprising because I have visions of genetically altered produce being pawned off on unsuspecting Canadians when it is filled with seeds of different, yet related vegetables - so who knows what you would get if you used grocery store produce as seed stock) a good number of strong, healthy stalks grew. Even more surprisingly (to me, Brian has more faith) the stalks flowered and sprouted little jalapenos.

We harvested a large, green jalapeno a couple of weeks ago. Brian whipped up his cheese sauce. No zip. No spice. Not even a tickle.

Since Google is our friend, Brian poked around on the Internet until he found some valuable pepper growing tips. Apparently, if you want hot jalapenos, you need to have stressed plants. Then, you leave the peppers on the vine until they are just about to turn red. Only then should you pick your peppers.

So we stopped caring for the plants. No more watering unless it rained. The leaves drooped and wilted. We kept them crowded in the planter. Just yesterday, Brian harvested all the peppers. We seem to be in the middle of a heat wave here in Ontario, however, frost is just around the corner. Better safe than sorry, so we picked the peppers.

Hopefully we left the jalapenos on the vine long enough to get good and hot. I never was one for spicy things, but 10 years with a guy can change you. I don't mind the odd spicy dish to liven things up.