I’m growing six varieties of peppers this year. The first to ripen are my cayennes. I picked a beautiful, low-hanging red pepper with purple top today. I held it in my hand and my mouth started watering. The red and purple colors were gorgeous.
I walked it into the kitchen and gently set it on the kitchen counter. I had to taste it. I debated on slicing it. I opted to bite into it. I knew it would be hot, but I wanted to taste the fruit of my labor.
I took a casual bite into my pepper and immediately tasted it. It had a great floral flavor matched with tang and bitterness. I basked in the flavor for .08 of a second before the capsaicin clocked in.
My forehead immediately beaded with sweat, my mouth flooded with saliva and my throat stung like I’d swallowed a yellow jacket nest. But man, did that bite taste good. So I took another bite.
I’m going to make hot sauce when more of the cayennes ripen.
When the habeneros ripen, I’m just going to make hot sauce. I won’t taste test them first.