Potting Up Lemon Drop Peppers

So I did get to it this morning, between visiting with friends and making breakfast for a house full of little girls.

The 9 largest plants I put into old yogurt and sour cream containers in which I had cut drainage holes.   This will allow them to size up quite a bit before they go in the ground.  The other 8 I just put into small 2″ pots as they have a lot of growing to do and if it warms up sooner instead of later they can simply go into the ground.

The Lemon Drop is possibly my favorite hot pepper.  I can eat a habanero pepper with only discomfort.  But a habanero does not have much taste, only heat.  I grew Bhut Jalokias one year (the famous Ghost Chili) which actually does taste good, until the heat hits you.  That one burned even in my stomach which puts it outside of my eating comfort zone, though it might make a good weapon.  The hottest I grow for regular use are the Lemon Drop, Thai Sun, and Thai Dragon.  On a 1 to 10 scale, with something like a Sweet Jimmy Nardello being a 1, and a Habanero being a 10 (and a Bhut being a 15) I would rank all of these to be between 7 and 9 depending on the year.

I make an Italian style salsa with the Lemon Drop peppers.  All that means is that instead of cilantro, I use basil and flat leaf Italian parsley.  The rest is the usual peppers and onions, with some garlic thrown in, and one well liquified lemon drop per half gallon of salsa.  Just that one pepper gives it a good kick, and adds a bit of a citrus taste to it.