Peppers

We grew an abundance of peppers this year. With 35 varieties on our plant list, it is hard to not grow too many. Every variety deserves a chance and some are absolute favorites and I end up planting 6 or more plants of each, but really I am making a giant note to stop this madness next year. Every day, for the past month, I am starring at huge bags of peppers in the fridge and figuring out what to do with them. Not a bad problem to have, especially these days. Here are a few things I have been doing.

Pickled Cherry Bomb and other Hot Peppers

I make a brine that is based on this basic recipe from the cook book 6 Seasons by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg. This amount is about enough for 3 pints.

½ cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 ½ cups water

3 tablespoons sugar (original recipe calls for 5 TBS)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Bring ingredients to a boil,

Pack washed, stemmed and seeded (optional) peppers into clean glass jars. Add a clove of garlic and a sprig of thyme to each jar.

Pour hot brine over the peppers, filling each jar to the top. Let cool to room temperature and then store in the refrigerator. Please note this brine solution is not acidic enough to preserve the peppers with a hot water bath method of canning. These are refrigerator pickles that will keep for months. I pack big ½ gallon jars of them into the back of the fridge and use them all winter, chopped into tacos, as a topping for sandwiches, stuffed, etc.

You can pickle sweet peppers too, using this method.

Hungarian Hot Wax peppers are perfect for pickling.

I also made this pepper relish recently and really liked it. You can incorporate some hot peppers into the mix if you want it spicy. This is for canning with a hot water bath method. If you have never done this, please make sure to look up a reliable tutorial, like this one.

Pepper Relish

adapted from Well Preserved by Mary Anne Dragan

6 cups of finely chopped sweet peppers, combination of colors. A few hot peppers can be included in the 6 cups for a spicy relish.

2 cups of finely chopped onion

2 cups of cider vinegar

1 cup of sugar (I used ¾)

2 tablespoons of mixed pickling spice (I did not have a pre-made blend, so made my own with coriander seed, bay leaf, a few cloves, a few black peppercorns, 2 dried chilies, and a tsp of mustard seed) in a cheesecloth bundle or a tea ball.

2 teaspoons of dried hot pepper flakes or substitute with fresh hot peppers

2 teaspoons of salt

Combine peppers and onions into a bowl, and pour boiling water over them. Let sit 5 minutes, then drain well.

Combine the remaining ingredients into a large pot, and bring to a boil. Add the vegetables, and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes.

Remove from the heat, take out the spice bag. Spoon the relish into hot sterilized jars, leaving ½ inch of head space. Release the air bubbles, wipe the rims of jars clean, seal according to manufacturer’s directions. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Please refer to this process here if you are not familiar with canning.

Other ways to preserve peppers

I freeze them. Just chop up raw peppers, and slide them into a freezer bag. That is it. They can be used in all kinds of stews, soups and braises over the winter.

I make a big pot of sautéed peppers and caramelized onions and freeze that in small bags. In winter, it can be turned into a tasty spread or dip by placing the thawed mixture in a blender with some walnuts, or cheese, or olives or dehydrated tomatoes.

I roast peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, onions and summer squash or zucchini with olive oil, salt, garlic and herbs at 400F for about 45 minutes. I freeze that mixture in freezer bags and then use it as a base for pasta sauces, soups, and a topping for pizza.

Tulsi (aka Holy Basil)

This is the first installment in our medicinal herb series by Sophie Cassel, Red Wagon Plants employee and Burlington herbalist. Please check our events calendar for her medicinal herb workshops this year.

Tulsi (aka Holy Basil), Ocimum tenuiflorum Ocimum sanctum, Lamiaceae

While you won’t find Tulsi- also known as Holy Basil and Tulasi- in any classic English herb gardens or older western herb books, it has risen to prominence over the years both for its medicinal benefits and relative ease of growth, even while our northern climate is far removed from its native habitat on the Indian subcontinent. There, pots of perennially-blooming Tulsi bless the doorways of houses, where the plant is considered sacred by many. What a gift, then, that those of us far away in the western hemisphere can experience the joy of growing and using this plant!

Tulsi basil is in the same genus as our culinary basils, and within the umbrella of Ocimum tenuiflorum there are multiple subtypes and varieties, including Rama, Vana, and Kapoor Tulsi. While all three can theoretically be grown in Vermont, I have found that Kapoor Tulsi is consistently the easiest and most rewarding to grow, and that is the variety we grow and sell at Red Wagon Plants. Since I began growing Kapoor Tulsi in my gardens in 2015, I have become completely, utterly hooked on this plant. From watching its little paw-print shaped leaves evolve as seedlings, to inhaling its heady perfume as the flowers open, to sipping the tea of its dried leaves in the winter, I keep Tulsi close at hand all year long.

From a medicinal perspective, Tulsi is compelling as one of the easier “adaptogenic” plants to grow- adaptogen referring to plants that have been used to regulate and support our nervous systems and have a wide range of positive actions on our body, mind and spirit. While the uses and impacts of adaptogens are too complex to dive into here (although I like Jim McDonald’s credit card analogy), it’s worth noting that Tulsi can be helpful to both calm an overactive system, as well as provide some energy to a burnt-out one. It’s packed with antioxidants and is strongly anti-inflammatory. Plus, it tastes amazing- I often hear folks liken the flavor to an herbaceous bubblegum, and its sweetness makes it palatable to basically everyone, picky kiddos included. The Indian medical system known as Ayurveda considers Holy Basil a “rasayana”, translated as “to lengthen the lifespan” in Sanskrit. Most of what we in the West know about its uses stems from what Ayurveda has taught us from a 3000 year history of use and reverence. 

Growing Holy Basil is quite similar to growing other types of culinary basils- it prefers fertile garden soil with decent moisture and full sun, although it’s not as moisture-dependent as the Italian basils. It’s important to wait for the ground to fully warm up before planting Tulsi, so start seeds indoors or purchase plants to give yourself a leg up. Once established, you can get up to three or four big harvests over the season- once the plant has started to set flowers, cut down to about a foot and watch it spring back, bushier than before. However, its important to leave plenty of flowers for the bees, who go absolutely bananas for this plant. I have spent delightful stretches of time lying belly-down on the warm summer ground, watching the insect cacophony surround my row of Tulsi plants. If you’re really lucky and observant, a blissed-out bee will leave you a little red pollen sac on one of the leaves- a tiny treat! Left to drop seed, Tulsi may actually volunteer back into your garden, but don’t expect to see seedlings until early July when it’s finally warm enough to resemble the plant’s natural growing conditions.

The real question with Tulsi is what to do with your bounty once it’s been harvested. The high water content makes it a little finicky to dry. I’ve had the best luck in a dehydrator on low heat, but it can also be hung in small bunches in a warm, well ventilated area until the leaves can be stripped from the stems, which take much longer to dry. 

The easiest way to enjoy Tulsi is to use the fresh leaves and flowers. Fresh Tulsi sun tea is a transcendent experience on a hot summer afternoon. Simply place a handful of bruised leaves in a mason jar, cover with cool water, and leave in a sunny spot for a few hours (with the lid on to keep in all those aromatic oils!) It also makes a stellar vinegar infusion:

Tulsi Vinegar

• 4-5 big handfuls of Tulsi leaves and flowers, chopped

• Apple cider vinegar

• Honey (optional)

Pack leaves and flowers into a jar, then cover with apple cider vinegar and steep for 2-3 weeks. Strain, add honey to taste, and bottle. Use this sweet, floral vinegar in salads, or mix with seltzer water for a summer-infused sparkling beverage. This will keep for at least 3-4 months, indefinitely in the refrigerator. 

Let Tulsi into your garden, and you’ll reap its blessings and benefits all year long!

Resources:

De la Foret, Rosalee. Health Benefits of Tulsi. https://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/health-benefits-of-tulsi.html 

Green Tomato Salsa Verde

photo: Kate Bentley

Here is a perfect way to use up lots of tomatoes from the garden even if they have not ripened yet. Everyone who tastes this salsa loves it, and it is very easy to make. If you would like to freeze it, it does so very nicely in bags or jars or plastic containers; however, I usually can mine in 1/2 pint jars so that it is ready to go. If you do not have experience with hot water bath canning, please read about it on the ball website. The instructions below assume that you know how to sterilize jars and that you know what “process in a hot water bath” means. You also can just share with friends, and eat this fresh, right now. Or preserve some for later, and keep some to eat now, depending on how many green tomatoes you have to use up. This recipe is from a blog called Local Kitchen, where I have found many recipes that I love for winter preserving. I usually double this recipe for a bigger batch.

Salsa Verde

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups green tomatoes, finely chopped

• 1/2 cup red onion, diced to 1/4-inch (about 1 tennis ball-sized)

• 1/2 cup green bell peppers, diced to 1/4-inch

• 1/2 cup minced hot peppers (a mixture is great), with or without seeds (about 3 – 4 large) (wear gloves)

• 1/4 + 1/8 cup white wine or cider vinegar

• 4 tbsp lime juice

• 3 large cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

• 1 and 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 1/4 tsp chile pepper flakes

• 1 tsp raw sugar (optional)

METHODS

1. If canning, prepare canner, jars and lids.

2. Chop vegetables. Add all ingredients except cilantro to a medium stockpot; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 – 15 minutes, or until vegetables have softened and the salsa has thickened slightly. Add cilantro, mix well and return to a boil.

3. Ladle hot salsa into hot, sterilized jars; remove air bubbles and push all vegetables down below the level of the liquid, adding more salsa to yield a 1/2-inch headspace if necessary. Wipe rims, affix lids and process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Yields about 5 half-pints.