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Post by daylilydude on Jan 7, 2020 5:05:05 GMT -5
I'm going to give these a try this growing season, has anyone grown or even tasted these and care to share your thoughts on them?
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Post by Hensaplenty on Jan 7, 2020 8:30:18 GMT -5
I grew them this past summer. I'm not a huge pepper eater, but thought these were tasty sauteed whole with a little oil, salt and pepper. I gave a couple plants to my neighbor who loves peppers, and he and his wife loved them. The plants produced like crazy.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 7, 2020 10:59:14 GMT -5
I grew them a few times in years past, and my experiences were much like Hensaplenty's. I used the fruits the same way she did, too. Shishito peppers are not sweet at all; they are a (usually) mild chile that you typically pick green. Every once in a while you will run into a hot one, even while other peppers the same age on the same plant are mild. I haven't tried it, but I wonder how they would be pickled? They are super-productive; I had a hard time using all of the fruit from just a couple of plants. One caution: it is quite easy to break branches while picking peppers. Be careful!
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Post by spike on Jan 7, 2020 12:22:48 GMT -5
They grow and produce like crazy, which is awesome because they are delicious!
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Post by daylilydude on Jan 15, 2020 4:49:47 GMT -5
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Post by Hensaplenty on Jan 15, 2020 10:58:12 GMT -5
daylilydude, Mine were about 28-35 inches tall. That's a memory estimate as I didn't actually measure them.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 15, 2020 11:40:10 GMT -5
I was going to say a little over 2 ft. I doubt I had any reach 3', even in my long season, so they are on the small side for pepper plants. They tend to bush or sprawl rather than get tall. The plants also have small leaves, small flowers, and thin stems.
Even though it doesn't take much force to snap off the peppers, you either want to pick carefully (hold the stem just behind the pepper) or clip the peppers off, because it's really easy to pull off a whole branch along with a pepper. I've "accidentally pruned" Shishito plants while picking more times than I care to remember.
But even when that happens, the plants grow back really fast, and still produce like mad. They are very indefatigable little plants, utterly determined to produce lots of peppers!
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Post by spike on Apr 24, 2020 14:59:14 GMT -5
I am not growing them this year because I don't have any seeds but OMG we love them. Beautiful plants and oh so MANY peppers!!
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Post by rdback on Dec 31, 2021 13:41:50 GMT -5
Hensaplenty, Laura_in_FL, spike, Great info! I already have this one slated for 2022, and definitely excited about it now! daylilydude, did you grow this one yet? If so, what did you think? Has anyone tried using them besides frying yet? I wonder about pickling as well Laura. Has anybody tried freezing them?
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Post by daylilydude on Dec 31, 2021 15:36:30 GMT -5
rdback, I only had the 1 plant make it out of seed stage and it was in my grow bucket when our loving cat jumped in there and snapped it into 2 pieces...
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 2, 2022 15:05:35 GMT -5
rdback, I just fried my shishito peppers. However, I think they would pickle fine and I bet they would make a nice pickled pepper to put on salads, snack on, or have on an antipasto plate. In other words, you would probably use them like a smaller and milder alternative to pepperoncini. If you like more heat, you could put a hot pepper in each jar - in my experience the heat of pickled peppers blends after a few weeks in the jar. For example, I use a mix of hot and no-heat jalepenos to make my mild pickled nacho slices. When they come out of the jar they all have the same heat level. My plants were always very productive and continuously productive. They would have ups and downs in production over the summer, but never stopped producing. However, you do have to be careful picking them. The branches snap off quite easily. Many times I have snapped off a large branch when trying to pick a single pepper. After a while you will get a feel for exactly what how much force to use and what angle to pull in order to snap off a pepper and not bring the branch along with it...at least most of the time.
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Post by rdback on Jan 3, 2022 15:16:27 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL, thanks! I'll definitely try them fried, and might dabble with a jar or two pickled. Of course, I'm putting the cart before the horse. I gotta get them to sprout and grow to maturity first, lol.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 3, 2022 15:55:09 GMT -5
They are pretty easy peppers to grow. They are fairly small plants, container-friendly, and don't need any special care. If you have had any success growing peppers before, you should do fine with Shishitos.
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