It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. I made another cutting of collard greens last week, this time from White Mountain Cabbage, an heirloom from South Carolina that sometimes tries to form a small head at the top of the plant. The leaves are big and tender, and would be suitable for using whole as wrappers, though I chopped these up and cooked them in the slow cooker until tender.
White Mountain Cabbage Collards
And I got another picking of bush snap beans from the fall planting. Tavera is a true filet type bean, while Cosmos is a standard type with 6 inch pods.
snap beans
I only harvested pole beans once last week on Saturday, but that one filled up my harvest buckets with five pounds of beans. I shelled a lot of these out, and froze some of the ‘shellies’ separate. I kept out about a pound of beans for cooking and froze the rest. It has been a good year here for beans, and I have now picked over 40 pounds of them, which is right on pace with last year’s harvests.
pole beans
I took two more of the Turkeyneck squashes, each weighing right at 10 pounds. These did not have the long neck that most of the neck pumpkins have, but instead looked more like oversized butternuts. I’m letting these cure before using.
Turkeyneck squash
It was mostly about peppers last week, and I got quite a few of the hot ones. Aji Rico is a hybrid baccatum type pepper, and a 2017 AAS Winner. It is one of the earliest of the baccatum peppers I grow which is a bonus to those living in areas with shorter growing seasons.
Aji Rico peppers
The Sugar Rush Peach peppers have been slow to ripen this year, but I finally got enough to add to a batch I’m fermenting for hot sauce. This is a super hot pepper when grown in our climate, and has a sweet fruity taste like many of the baccatum peppers.
Sugar Rush Peach peppers
On the other hand, the Honeypeno peppers have little to no heat. There are two strains of Honeypeno, and I am growing the #2 version which has slight larger peppers. This C. annum pepper has sweet and crunchy fruit that can be eaten raw for those that like a little spice. Last year I smoked some of them to make a mild and sweet tasting chipotle powder.
Honeypeno No. 2 peppers
The Senorita jalapenos have a little more heat than the Honeypenos. Some think that the corking on a jalapeno means it’s hotter, but it’s more an indication of ripeness than heat. Next to the red Senoritas are a few of the orange colored Tangerine Dream. This is one I’m growing for the first time, and while the fruits are crunchy with a mild heat, I don’t think they have a lot of flavor. I’ll throw them in a batch of hot sauce anyway.
Senorita and Tangerine Dream peppers
It has also been a good year for eggplant, and I’ve harvested almost 30 pounds of it. We’ve eaten all of that fresh, since I don’t preserve any for later use. I think it loses it’s texture when frozen, and while it dries well I never seem to know how to use it. We’re happy eating lots of it while in season, and the long slender Asian types are a favorite for roasting.
eggplants
I find lots of uses for dried peppers though, and these little hot Thai peppers are one of my favorites. One pepper adds a bit of heat to many dishes, and one of my favorite things to do with them is to add one to a bottle of kombucha. Lately I have been drinking chai tea, and one of the peppers adds just the right bit of heat for my tastes.
dried Thai Bird peppers
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!
Lovely to see your ‘summer’ harvest continuing. I’ve only got a dozen pepper plants left now Dave, I’d planned to pull them today, but I decided to let them live for another week as we are still getting about 10 litres a week from them. The chillis that I transplanted are thriving in the polytunnel though and I will keep those going as long as possible. Surprisingly the outdoor tomatoes had one last flush of ripening and so we have enough for another few jars of passata, goodness knows where we will find space for it though! Our winter squash is cured now, so we split our fist one yesterday, 5kg, which was enough for 6 families!
You must use lots of peppers! It’s one crop that we are sadly lacking. We’ve just been freezing a batch of French beans that we picked yesterday.
You are continuing to have impressive harvests! At 10 pounds each, the Turkeynecks must be extremely dense for their size. I agree that eggplant loses its texture in the freezer, but we still enjoy them added to Indian or Asian dishes. Not this year, though, with our meager harvest. I grew a pepper called Tangerine Dream last year, but they did not look like yours, being longer and more tapered. Must be different seed strains. I also found them to be not very special. How many peppers do you need to start a batch of fermentation, such as the Sugar Rush? I’m going to investigate the Aji Ricos, as my season is even shorter than yours!
I find that a quart of fermented peppers makes about a pint of thin sauce without the pulp. I ferment in both pint and quart jars.
One of the joys of having a garden is the opportunity to eat heartily of fleeting crops like the eggplant which does not preserve well. I never buy it in the store at another time of year, just look forward to “next year.” Such a nice shoulder season harvest of green beans too. And thankfully, don’t peppers linger in the garden? No frost yet?
We had a light frost which didn’t hurt the garden any. Our normal first frost is late October.
I will have to remember to use some collard leaves as wrappers later in the season. At the moment I’m still trying to keep up with the fresh “summer” vegetables and loads of broccoli and broccolini.
Good to see your harvests of “Summer” crops are continuing Dave. Love all those different chillies. Have you tried pickling the Tangerine Dreams? Sometimes this enhances flavour, and they look a size you could then stuff with cream cheese perhaps?
That is a great suggestion to pickle the Tangerine Dreams! I did that with a batch of them this morning.