Recipes

Scotch bonnet is a variety of chili pepper named for its resemblance to a Scottish tam o’ shanter hat. It is native to West Africa. Most Scotch bonnets have a heat rating of 80,000–400,000 Scoville units. For comparison, most jalapeño peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000. This is a pepper I had not grown before in our …

What to do when you have more figs that you can eat? Make preserves. We have two fig trees in our Sunnyvale garden. One is a Black Mission Fig growing in a 66 gallon pot. The other is a Panache Fig (aka Tiger Fig). This is the first time for trying this recipe. The ingredients are simple enough: Figs, lemon …

Stuffed bell peppers, like fritattas, are another of those Anything-Goes recipes. The base is cooked rice, tomatoes, veggies, and cheese. Optionally add ground beef, beyond-beef, beans, corn, or tofu. Season it for any cuisine. Sometimes it is Italian (oregano, basil); Indian (curry, garam masala); or Mexican (cumin, mexican oregano). Many of these ingredients are harvested from our Sunnyvale garden in …

Our volunteer Blenheim apricot tree produced a lot of fruit this year. Last week, at the end of our harvest, I cut down one branch and harvested over 200 fruits. I tried giving them away on Nextdoor but there were no takers. I froze about a dozen bags of apricot halves. I didn’t want to waste the rest so decided …

A few years ago I bought one Red Shiso plant as a novelty. Its foliage was very distinctive and it had the promise of edible pleasure. Now, through the wonders of wind-aided propagation, I have several plants. Searching through the web for recipes, Pickled Shiso leaves is one of the top hits, especially in Korea. Think of it as Korean …

Taquerias in NorCal often have 2 sauces in squeeze bottles: Red Sauce and Orange Sauce. Both sauces often use the same 2 dried chili pods: Guajillo and Arbol. The Chile de árbol is a small and potent Mexican chili pepper also known as bird’s beak chili. These chilis are about 5 to 7.5 cm long, and 0.65 to 1 cm …

I wanted more hot peppers in my Sunnyvale garden this year and I got them: Yellow habanero peppers; Red Savina peppers; thai peppers; and ghost peppers. Now I am trying a fermented hot sauce. If you have ever had Tabasco or Sriracha, then you have had fermented hot sauce. Fermenting is not difficult and it is safe. Lacto-fermentation is the …

So I have a lot of ghost peppers and am always looking for uses. This Beet hot sauce combines roasted red beets and red onions for sweetness, red wine vinegar for tartness and preservation, red bell pepper for mildness and redundant redness, and of course ghost peppers. I only used 2 peppers in this edition. For more info on growing …

I don’t remember ever eating a rhubarb dessert in my life. But the idea was always intriging…A celery like vegetable with a tart taste often paired with sweet fruit like strawberry. A few years ago I purchased a plant as a novelty. I grow it in a large pot since I have limited ground area. Our rhubarb plant finally got …

  DOLCE DE BERGAMO The versatile sweet Dolce De Bergamo chile pepper can be utilized in both fresh and cooked applications. Its thin skin and flesh make it ideal for preparing blistered, fried in olive oil and served with sea salt as a finger food. In my version, after frying the peppers, I grilled some sourdough bread and served with …