Fish Peppers

Here is a plant that you will want to grow in your garden this year; this gardener’s pick deserves a whole blog.

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I hear about the Baltimore fish pepper years before I mature it ; having hail across it in a reference point when I was researchingThe Chile Pepper Bookwith Carolyn Dille . Then I take about it again in William Woys Weaver ’s impressiveHeirloom Vegetable Gardening , which I purchase in 1997 when it was print . He describes this African - American heirloom as a variation of a serrano black pepper , which predates the 1870s . His grandfather , Horace Pippin , was given the seed , which total from somewhere near Baltimore . Fish peppercorn got its name because it was used with Pisces and shellfish . In the latter part of the 19th 100 and early twentieth 100 , it was grown and used by African - American Cook for purpose with seafood – from crabs and oysters to terrapin – most peculiarly in pick sauces . Weaver explains , “ It was one of those “ secret ” ingredients favour by cooks and caterers to spike a recipe with invisible heat , for the Fish Pepper was used in the first place when it was white , and it could be dried to retain that colour . ” The chiles were grown from Baltimore to Philadelphia , in the Mid - Atlantic and the region ring the Chesapeake Bay . Sometimes this chile is referred to as the Baltimore Fish Pepper .

Pisces black pepper are report in the Monticello catalogue , “ Named for their enjoyment as a seafood seasoning in urban regions of the mid - Atlantic realm , oral traditions draw the Fish Pepper to 19th hundred African - American gardening and culinary employment . Although it was bring up in legion cookbooks of the early 1900s , it fall out of favour during the mid 1900s , and now thanks to the promotion of roll up and saving of heirloom ejaculate , it is available again . It was first offered by William Woys Weaver in 1995 through the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook .

I had been think of produce some seed for Fish Peppers ever since I try , and have now squander legion bottle ofSnake Oil , Woodberry Kitchen ’s version of spicy pepper sauce made with topically grow fish peppercorn , elderly and made on the premiss ( www.woodberrykitchen.com ) . This pungent sauce is addictive . I spoke with one of the grower , Denzel Mitchell of Five Seeds Farm , who allow Woodberry Kitchen with garden produce and some Pisces the Fishes peppers . He first originate them about 5 years ago with seed from Landreth , in his garden plot of ground in Baltimore and trade about 15 pound of them to WK . This year , he expanded his farm and he grew over 300 pounds and Hope for 500 pounds next season . So , last summer , I was delighted to find my neighbor , Denise Sharp of Sharp Farm rise the plants for sale , and I transplant four of them in with my other hot peppers .

The plant life were planted about 18- to 24 - inch aside in full sun in loamy garden ground . They were staked , like the rest of the chile capsicum pepper plant flora in the garden and grew to be about 2 - feet tall . The plants were a bright spot in the pepper garden with their motley , green - and - white - mottled leaves and colourful chiles . Vigorous growers , they produced a bountiful pepper harvest . Upon inspection , the chiles start off a creamy , wan yellow with light green stripes , then they get dark yellow with green stripes and some appear limey jet . They move onto orange with dark green chevron and in the end red , when fully matured , most recede their stripes . Peppers are about 2 1/2 to 3 - inches in duration and are of a intermediate hot sharpness ; I ’d say they are a number hotter than a serrano .

If seed seed , start them 6 to 8 weeks before the last Robert Lee Frost ; they take about 80 day to maturity . Since fish capsicum pepper plant baffle easy as do most capsicum , if saving seed , William Woys Weaver suggests “ Keep the plants within 15 feet , or good , plant them 3 feet aside in a square so that there is maximum cross pollination … Keep it at least 500 feet from other peppers in the neck of the woods , and select plants from thelastseeds to bourgeon . ”

“ capsicum pepper plant annuumvar.annuumis available from the follow seed companies :

Baker Creekwww.rareseeds.com

Burpeewww.burpee.com

Landreth Seedswww.landrethseeds.com

Local Harvestwww.localharvest.org

Monticello Catalogwww.monticellocatalog.org

Seed Savers Exchangewww.seedsavers.org

Sustainable Seed Companywww.sustainableseedco.com

For plants in the Baltimore orbit , striking :

Denise Sharpwww.sharpfarm.com

Denzel Mitchellwww.fiveseedsfarm.com

Whether you grow these chiles for their pungency , for their variegated foliation , as a showy and colloquial container plant , or out of curiosity , you will be glad that you did !

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Fish peppers start out creamy yellow or pale green in color. Of course, the red ones are mature and contain the most pungency. Click on other pix to enlarge and read captions.Photo/Illustration: susan belsinger

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