We Like It Hot, Hot, Hot!!!

I’ve come to realize that I am terrible at blogging. April 15th was the last blog post and that’s just not acceptable! The silence hasn’t been in vain though! We’ve been working on some exciting projects as the operation grows. We’re continuing development of a purple sauce, our own grown peppers, and new sauces.

Purple Sauce Update

So back in April we started working with blueberries to make a purple fermented sauce. The original and second batch have both turned a brownish purple rather than the vivid purple pictured in the last blog. I think for the next batch we are going to try a non-fermented version of the sauce. Unfortunately, blueberry season won’t be back until next spring/summer so I’ll be limited to store bought experiments. The upside is that the sauce had great flavor. I’ve just got to work towards capturing both the flavor and the color together!

The Green Thumb Project

One of the things that has been a huge focus over the summer/fall has been the research and development of growing our own peppers and tomatoes. We originally started out with 16 plants – 4 Jalapenos, 4 Serrano, 4 Habaneros, and 4 tomatoes. They had a great start but didn’t live during the transition from indoors to outdoors. I went back to the drawing board and worked on developing my agriculture knowledge. In late August, perhaps the first week of September, 18 Trinidad Moruga Scorpion plants practically fell in my lap. They were still very young which doesn’t bode well so late in the season. Deciding the worst that could happen is they die, I took them! They were all still in their starter pot and have since grown to their flowering stage. So far I’ve got 1 pepper but many more are starting to crop up! While their future is still up in the air, I’m letting myself hope that more peppers will make it to harvest before the cold takes over.

New Sauce

The newest sauce that is making its way through testing is the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) sauce. To date, it has seen the most positive reviews from my guinea pigs! (Mwahaha) It’s also the first sauce that I’ve introduced a new sample bottle for. The new sample bottles are 1oz glass woozy bottles and have been great for tossing in the lunch sack. With the great positive reviews, the new sauce will most likely take over the green sauce as the brands flagship. While I don’t plan on stopping the green sauce production, the Bhut Jolokia has just been that good! It combines great taste and tantalizing aromas with a vivid orange-red color! It’s my new favorite and I can’t wait to share it with more people!

Upcoming Pepper Experiments

We’ve got a pretty solid lineup in the works for some experimental sauces this winter. Perhaps the most exciting is our upcoming Carolina Reaper sauce. I’ve got a tiny batch experiment sauce that made it’s way through the initial testing to greenlight a full test batch trial. Aside from being the hottest pepper on the planet, this pepper has some great flavors and color. I think the sauce we’re working on will be an instant hit with all of you pepper heads out there!

The Carolina Reaper isn’t the only pepper we’re working with. We’ve got some Fatalii peppers, Trinidad Moruga Scorpions, and a medley of low Scoville Rating peppers. Never heard of those peppers? Get some quick learning below!

Fatalii peppers –

A yellow pepper approximately 2-3 inches long. It has a fruity, citrus flavor with a searing heat comparable to the Habanero. 125,000 – 325,000 SHU.

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion –

Once a world record holder, this pepper is extremely hot with a building heat that doesn’t stop. Its super heat and its fruit-like flavor combine to make an insanely hot treat. It has a 1,200,000 average SHU.

Carolina Reaper –

The current world record holder, this peppers heat range nearly doubled that of the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. It doesn’t just have high levels of heat, this pepper looks mean! It’s skin looks blistered and it features a “scorpion’s tail”! Surprisingly, it has a sweet and fruity flavor before the insane heat levels kick in. It has a 2,200,000 average SHU.

What Happens Next?

Winter is the worst month for making sauces as the pepper supply dwindles dramatically. In the down time, I plan on designing and building a new grow area for The Green Thumb Project. Ideally once built, I will be able to grow peppers year-round. I’d like to document the build and grow progress in both blog and vlog formats. More on that will be coming in the next few months.

Going forward with the blog I’ve decided I can’t just wait for a bunch of things to happen to update. Waiting got me in this near 7-month post drought. I am aiming on a blog post monthly to come out the first week of the month. I don’t plan on limiting it to just once a month, but that’s the schedule goal at least until it becomes second nature.

Thanks everyone for your support!

-Zachary

#GhostPepper #BhutJolokia #Hotsauce #Sparks #GreenThumb #CarolinaReaper #Fatalii #TrinidadMorugaScorpion