Chilli recommendations?

[roots]

Padron Addict

I would recommend Pimiento de Padron, if you harvest them when they are about an inch long you can fry them whole with some olive oil and flakey sea salt, very popular in spanish tapas and absolutely delicious. When the fruits are small they have no heat apart from the occasional one ( bit like chilli russian roulette!) very easy to grow and if you keep picking the small fruits they will continue cropping over a very long period. Im growing 50 plants this season in my polly tunnel, we are addicted to them! Plus if you leave the chillis to mature on the plant they will go red and all develop good heat so a great all round plant.

[bazzaboy]

Roots, "Padron Addict":

I would recommend Pimiento de Padron, ............ Im growing 50 plants this season in my polly tunnel, we are addicted to them!

Liking chilli is evidently a "reverse addiction".... Interesting article at
Foodie's Corner

b.

[shirlthegirl43]

Shirl, what's the best way to self save seed, do you do it from freshly picked or dry them first or doesn't it make a difference? I grew 4 kinds of chillies from stuff I bought last year, but would love to start some more from their seed.

I left the fruits on the plant until they were really red, cut them off and put them in a bowl in the kitchen to dry - stirring them round regularly. When they were dry they got put in a tall pasta jar. I just shake out seeds as required now. I made chilli powder with some of the fruits and they are way too hot for our tastes though dedicated chilli fans say they are quite mild. Sorry for taking so long to respond to your query

[cupcake]

I collect seeds from fresh chillis and dry them, or I string the chillis up and let them dry and then collect them. Or acquire them from kind chilli heads on chilli forums who are very generous! Oh and I got a packet 1/2 price from T&M when they had their sale at the end of the season last year (go to their website, sign up for their emails and you get 1/2 price seeds x 2 yearly. And sometimes you can get free postage, very useful for seed potatoes! and the most expensive packet of seeds is free!)

[stace]

i would agree with roots, i lived in spain for 9 months and the padrons are used alot and are amazing!! when small and green they can be fryed and eaten whole as are still mild it is a very popular dish!,but when left to ripen more and are red they become hotter so are really versatile!

[greenreaper]

i have to say the best fruiting chilli i have ever seen was my f1 Apache red hot last year hundreds and hundreds of fruits from quite a compact plant its definatly one of the best and the fruits are very easy to dry if you want to keep the pods.