Hot Hot Hot

It’s at this time of year when all of us in the garden have been beaten down by the elements.  Gardeners and garden alike are ready to turn the oven off, take a break for a few days, then start planting the fall garden.  Well, not all the garden is ready to toss it all in.  The peppers are in their element.  It’s as if they are collecting the heat of summer into those waxy capsules of ay carambaness.

The Black Hungarian Peppers come in shades of green, red, and black or more like a deep purple.  They are a variety I’ve never tried before because I had never heard of them prior to reading the Baker Creek catalogue.

For the most part they are all a deep shade of purple.  They are hot enough for me.  Farmer MacGregor prefers the Serranos in the salsa to give it a Kung Foo kick.  I don’t need blisters in my mouth to enjoy homemade salsa.

Earlier this summer I found a hornworm munching on one of the Black Hungarians.  I didn’t think peppers were bothered much by pests.  It seems I was wrong.  Last year grasshoppers enjoyed the Serranos.  This year  they seem to enjoy the Black Hungarians.

This handicapped grasshopper was hanging on as best it could to the slick, waxy pepper.  Last fall, there was a grasshopper missing the same leg that hung out in the garden.  I wonder if the garden kitties had a paw in this.