It is often said whatever that has been planted and cared for without using pesticides will be evident in the harvest; there will be worms enjoying the fruits of the labor.
This round, mostly green ones
Our scotch bonnet pepper plants have been very healthy and we have had non-stop supplies. And sometimes worms included. On and off, I’d find tiny worms in the container holding the basket of peppers. And I’d just wash the icky worms down the sink.
Bumper supply of worms too! Five altogether
One morning, I saw a worm on the kitchen counter top instead! Eeek… it had somehow escaped from the container. Before I could do anything, the ants got to it first! They were quickly maneuvering the worm to their nest for the rest of the colony as food. I didn’t have the heart to thwart them. It would be too vicious.
One, two, three… heave! One, two, three… go!
So I simply took a picture of the action but missed the rest of their journey to their lair when I turned away. Dang! They sure are fast but they sure are happy ants with the unexpected bounty.
The Habanero plant in our garden may not be the Habanero that we initially thought. Hubby says what we have is the scotch bonnet peppers instead, which are slightly sweet in the overall taste. If you’re not a pepper expert, it’s hard to tell them apart because these peppers are cousins. The only difference being the Habanero is about an inch bigger.
The spiciness or heat level of all peppers is measured according to the Scoville Scale in Scoville Heat Units (SHU) and both these species are right up there on the chart. But there seem to be contradicting readings I see on the internet.
One site listed our scotch bonnet pepper at 445,000 SHU and the Habanero at 260,000 SHU only while another site says both are on the same level at 100,000–350,000 SHU. Well, it doesn’t matter which exact reading, our scotch bonnet certainly burns the tongue and even fingers if we are not cutting them carefully! Sometimes even the green ones are enough to numb the senses, what more eating the ripe red ones.
Scotch bonnet peppers are an excellent source of phytochemicals and vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), iron, vitamin B, carotenoids, niacin, riboflavin, dietary fiber, flavonoids, and magnesium but I don’t eat them all the time. Too spicy to handle and too much to consume.
Puny green peppers towards the end, so plant #1 had to be cut down.
Hubby had to trim the first plant because it has grown too tall. At more than eight feet, it’s too taxing to produce plump healthy peppers. The puny harvest, evident in its loss in strength. Eventually, the plant was removed.
Plant #2 is out of control, growing tall and wide!
Now we get our supplies from the second and third plants. And the second plant has grown to become such a monstrous blob, it’s rather unsightly. It is now six feet tall, but its yield has been superb. We have had an abundance of scotch bonnet peppers and have been giving them away to friends because they’re too spicy for us to handle.
Last week, hubby and I were at our neighborhood grocery store to replenish our food when I suddenly felt I wanted cookies. We were standing in the baking aisle because hubby was looking at a new flour product. And the Betty Crocker cookie mix was staring at me.
I asked hubby if I should pick it up since Betty was calling out to me. I reasoned that he’s never baked cookies so far, and he was aghast that I considered Betty over him. I was vetoed on the purchase with him promising to bake a batch for me.
We then discovered why he’s never attempted to bake cookies all this while – the amount of sugar and butter needed was simply eye-popping! Subconsciously, we knew cookies require these two ingredients a fair bit, but never realized to what extend. Now we know.
The making of the giants. Too making to stack up
Although the 27 three and a half to four-inch cookies were very good, I think this will be the first and last time that we’re getting home-baked giant chocolate chip cookies.
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