Smokin'

Brian has wanted a smoker for a long time. A few years ago we got a cheap electric model that didn't work out at all, primarily because there was no way to regulate the temperature. We have a friend who built an awesome smokehouse, so for a while there was talk of us building something too. But that never happened.

Instead we invested in a larger, thermostatically controlled smoker. It requires very little human attention during the smoking process and uses a surprisingly small amount of wood. We tested it out over the last week by smoking some paprika and jalapeno peppers and a whole chicken. So far it's all good. Next big smoked project will be bacon! Mmm...bacon.

Jalapenos before smoking

Paprika supremes after smoking

Produce auction

We've also been taking peppers to the produce auction. Our second picking was over 60 pounds of assorted serranos, sweet spot bananas, cayennes, spanish spice Italian-style roasters, and mucho nacho jalapenos. The pepper patch is also producing lots of sheep nose pimentos and paprika supremes. There will be kung paos very soon too. The tabasco, ancho, and habaneros are not yet ready, but boy are they loaded.

I roasted some of the pimentos last week. Oh. My. The flavor was incredible. I froze that batch and may do some more that way. The only drawback is it is pretty time consuming to pick all the skins off once they are roasted. But the flavor is so worth it! We dried a bunch of the paprika supremes and will have plenty of fresh, smoky paprika to enjoy this winter.

It sounds like a lot of work, but honestly, I love growing hot peppers and drying them. From the first sniff of freshly ground cayenne I was hooked. There is so much more aroma and flavor in our home grown peppers. I was amazed at the difference from store-bought spices. I now make all of my own chili powder, and starting this year, paprika too!

Sunflowers bloomed today

Who can resist a cheeful sunflower?

They are planted at the pepper patch (along with zinnias) to help attract beneficial insects.

The peppers are coming along very well. We took 3 boxes of jalapenos to the auction a week ago and will have more to sell on Friday.

A close-up of the Kung Pao peppers.