Viewing comments posted by coryvp

I've grown a lot of peppers over the years, but Wenk's is my absolute favorite when pickled. They're shaped like a fat jalapeno and have the heat of a jalapeno, but they're a bit waxy, similar to banana peppers, etc. They're also very prolific. Not long after a harvest, the plant will begin firing out a bunch more blossoms, and the peppers develop quickly and can be picked again in no time if you use them at the yellow stage.

They start out a dull yellow, then ripen to orange, and finally to red. I pickle mine using 60% vinegar to 40% water ratio, salt, calcium chloride, and turmeric. Mixing them in a jar at different ripening stages of yellow/orange/red is a pretty sight. They're great on sandwiches and anything you'd eat banana peppers on, but my favorite use for Wenk's is for topping off a cracker that's covered with cream cheese. If you're a hot pepper fan, give these a try.

One of the best tomatoes I've ever tasted, but the plants are one of the least productive I've ever grown. I usually only score one persimmon a year, but the flavor is well worth the effort.

Cherokee Purple is in my top 5 favorite tomatoes (as far as flavor). The downside is that the plants have never been very productive, until this year. I usually get one or two tomatoes, but they're worth the effort. But this year I have two plants producing 9 tomatoes each, which is an interesting development.

Box Car Willie is a standard in my garden. Consistent good growth and high productivity, with good flavored tomatoes.

One of the best tasting peppers with an interesting history. A chiltepin plant is growing by my dad's fence under a Hackberry, probably from a seed "donated" by a Mockingbird, and I harvested ripe fruit for seed and now have a few plants growing at my house. When eaten, the heat is intense but brief; you can actually sense it dissipating rapidly.