i believe that one of the varieties from el valle de la vera (where the famous pimentón comes from) that i am growing this year corresponds to the jeromín variety, the one used to spice up the hot pimentón. seeing the pods develop, these remind me of some ristras i bought during a trip to the valley at garganta la olla, a lovely yet somewhat inaccesible town close to plasencia. the lady who sold me the ristras had them hung on her front door and let me know were botijillos (a "botijo" is a spanish clay recipient that keeps water cool despite sunny weather) she grew in her garden. could jeromín and botijillo be the same variety?
the fearsome naga morich, spiciest pepper in the world faring over a million scoville heat units (see story). a little bit more to go to see if it lives up to expectations...
a combination of bloomig fertiliser and a 2-week spell of freaky cool weather in august have caused the rocoto plants to go back into action. the 2nd year chilean rocoto plant has quite a few baby pods whereas the 1st year peruvian plant has just a few tiny ones. finally the rubicon has been crossed, i hope...
