Picking a Peck of Purple Peppers

Well okay, not really.  A peck is actually a unit of measure.  To help you define how much a peck is, Wikipedia tells us that two pecks equal a kenning.  Well that didn't help at all did it?  It also tells us four pecks make a bushel.  Now we're talking. Although I didn't actually pick a peck of purple peppers yesterday, the alliteration sounds nice, doesn't it?  I did pick a few and will likely pick several pecks of purple peppers before all is said and done.

We grow several types of peppers from seed that is started way back in January. The peppers are really producing now and I have been harvesting some for Tricia to cook for us.  Although Benjamin doesn't eat them, Tricia and I love them.  Let's take a look at the Purple Beauty Peppers we grow. We purchase them from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  Like most of the plants we grow, they are open pollinated, heirlooms so you can save the seeds year after year. Here is one ready to be harvested now!:

The Purple Beauty Pepper

These pepper plants are compact and bushy and they just load up with abundant fruit.  This is not a hot pepper at all.  They are similar to a green bell pepper (sweet), except they are deep purple - almost black.  They are green at first and then they turn purple.  If left on the plant they will turn red, and some people say that that is when they are at the peak of flavor.  We always pick them when they are purple.  The beauty and novelty of the color of the pepper is nice.  As far as size, it is not a large pepper.  The largest I've picked is about the size of a tennis ball.

Prolific Purple Peppers

All of our peppers (Jalapeno, Chocolate, Purple, Anaheim, Criolla Sella) have really struggled this summer in the heat and dry weather.  {Note to self: Purchase pvc pipe and put in irrigation as soon as we get rain and the ground softens enough for digging!} Now that things have cooled off a little and I've begun to water the garden daily, they have perked up and begun to produce nicely.  Here is a haul of green beans and peppers from one afternoon this week.

Tricia cooked up a nice mess of fresh green beans and then washed and sliced the peppers.  In a cast iron skillet with several pats of butter, she cooked the peppers down and we ate the sauteed peppers as a side dish.  So sweet and flavorful.  Pretty soon if the plants produce, I'll promptly pick plenty pecks of purple peppers!