Thanks so much, Sharon. I've so been enjoying your articles detailing each individual herb. I've used hot peppers only on a limited basis, so really enjoyed reading about their history and use.

Linda

Hi Linda,

Thanks for reading! I don't use hot pepper much either, but it's there when I need it, right in my cabinet. Of course I don't have the liquid that was used for me when I had bronchitis years ago, but I think the pepper would work anyway.

Hope you are staying warm up there and are out of the line of snow that covered my mountains today. My brother still lives there and he said they had about a foot of snow.

We are out of the line of snow, but very windy/rainy. We were in Turks & Caicos last week on vacation, and felt the effects of Sandy down there. Fortunately, we got home just ahead of the storm (good thing as we were flying through Philly).

I cut a bunch of hot red peppers this year and dried them for use at our Master Gardener's Greens Workshop in December. They are absolutely gorgeous! People are very creative and love to use all types of green and dried material to create holiday decor. Last year, someone brought in some Okra--it was spray painted and gorgeous as a wreath accent. Even if we don't like to eat a certain plant, it can still be useful

Glad you got home safely!

Sounds like the title for another article: Creative uses for plants you don't like to eat.

I'll bet those dried red peppers were beautiful, the okra too.

It will take me some time to digest this article

I find it hard to believe it heals ulcers, I guess this is a case of "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

Thanks, it is another truly interesting and valuable article.

Thanks for reading, Marilyn.

I agree that would make a great article...our greens workshop uses all types of fresh/dried plant material. We've used pinecones, dried herbs (Iavender, gray santolina, sage, thyme, hibiscus pods), dried flowers (goldenrod, celosia, echinacea seedheads, penstemon seedheads, money plant). As fresh greens, we use pine, juniper, firs, boxwood, holly, and some other specialty things we purchase (seeded eucalyptus, winterberry, etc). I'm amazed at people's creativity, as I don't have a creative bone in my body LOL.

Marilyn, I just found this site I'd like you to read: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage...

If you scroll pretty far down, you see for sure what it says about peppers and ulcers; the rest of it is very informative, too.

Fun to see those creative ideas, isn't it, Linda.
Fun to make them too.

Brilliant Article Sharon, thanks!

Neil.
+ Phoenix.

Thank you, Neil, and especially thanks to Phoenix!!

I do have a story about this. All my life I've loved hot peppers. Not necessarily the hotter the better, I still like to taste them. But one time we had probably 100 plants of hot peppers, and an early freeze was predicted. I picked all of them and got them ready to freeze. I did have those plastic gloves on. About 3 hours later we were sitting at a restaurant and I started shaking all over, and I was just burning up inside. It gradually went away, but it was obviously a toxic reaction to the peppers.

And yes, I know hot peppers prevent ulcers. I am 62, and my brother now is 80. He has had ulcers since he was in his 40s, and each '10' year birthday he tells me, now you're 40, you're going to get ulcers, now you're 50 you're going to get ulcers, now you're 60...Well, no ulcers yet, and I told him it was due to all the hot peppers and spicy foods I ate. We looked up info about it, and that is the case. If you already have ulcers it would give them a 'time', but if you don't it's a great way to prevent them, and get your overall pain levels down too.

Great article as always!

Well, thanks, Polly. What a great story about your brother. Is he convinced yet that you probably will never have ulcers?

Bad about the toxic reaction, though. Maybe you inhaled more than you knew. I really don't eat a lot of hot peppers unless they are in tiny doses over a period of time. I love them, but I hate crying in the middle of a nice dinner. That's usually what happens if I eat a bunch of hot stuff all at once. I get terribly teary eyed.

"and my efforts to breathe were loud enough to wake long dead ancestors..."

Hah! That description hit my funny bone, Sharon! I know that sound to perfection; my Grandfather snored like that. You po' thang! I'm glad you were given "proper medicine" to deal with it.

I'm a believer in peppers. No doubt about it they have some great properties for our health. I've even used hot peppers as a poultice for sore muscles in the past. (Don't apply directly to your skin though.)

For eating I think my heat level is best just settling for cayenne and/or jalepeno...I haven't been able to enjoy the hotter peppers like Habanero or Ghost pepper yet. I had some Habanero jelly once though and I liked it that way.

Nice write-up, Sharon.

Shoe (who thinks you might want to change the pepper pic to cayenne peppers instead of the jalapeno peppers since the title mentions cayenne)

Good to hear from you, Shoe. Peppers bring out different reactions in different people.

Yep, I could change the picture, but that was such a nice bright pic that I thought it was an attention grabber in spite of the title. And too, I do mention jalapenos a time or two. But I might change it, thanks for the suggestion and as always thanks for reading the article.

Well..I just checked my pics on my computer and I have quite a few pepper photos but NONE of Cayenne (dagnabbit).

Didn't mean to be persnickety, just know that chili heads will notice the pic is much different than the pepper mentioned in the title. Sorry.

Haven't been online much these days so am glad to have some time to visit the site. Nice to see some great catch-up reading here! Thanks!

:>)

Truth is, there aren't many pictures of plain old cayenne in the database either. The others I used are varieties.

And the other truth is that since I used the pics from the DB, I have to ask Trish or Dave to change the TN image because even with all the editing tools at my fingertips, I can't choose Thumbnails when we drag and drop plants from the DB into the articles. I can only choose them from actual photos, not from links to photos. See? So Dave or Trish has to work their magic and choose those TNs for me.

Now if somebody sends me one, an actual photo, then I can change it.

Otherwise I'd do it - just for you.

Aw, shucks...Just for me? ♫♫

Well, that's why I was looking in my files. Figured if I make a suggestion like that I should ante up a pic. Closest I have to standard cayenne is a Big Chile (it's a bit bigger than cayenne and not nearly as warm). At the other end of the spectrum I have Ghost pepper and Trinidad Scorpion. I'll have to grow some Cayenne just to put some pics in the DB. (By the way, what does TN stand for?)

BUT...all in all, it's the article that counts so good going!

Shoe (glad you haven't been a tea totaler all your life, you moonshiner!)

TN = thumbnail. The pic that goes with an article.

Heh. Moonshine.
It's been a few years.

Thanks, Shoe.

<--- (first time I ever used that little fella; now I gotta get a hat like that)

One last tip about peppers... I bet if you put a pod in each shoe, when you go out to walk in the snow your feet will be warm. Could you try that out for me, please? I think ya'll got snow over your way.

Off to rest this backbone a bit.

Happy Day to all...
shoe

I love cayenne and jalapeno peppers. I use cayenne daily as a salt substitute. Never miss the not having salt on my eggs.
We also had a liniment that contained a large amount of cayenne. We used it on wounds on us, horses, dogs, cats and any thing else with an injury. It worked better than any of the expensive veterinarian medicines.

I put jalapenos on my sandwiches instead of pickles.