Peppers | Set fire to the garden

Condiment par excellence for thrill seekers, chilli surprises like no other in the mouth. In the vegetable garden, it ignites gardeners with its flamboyant presence and diversity. Faced with such attractions, how to remain lukewarm?

Isabelle Morin
The Press

As a child, Marie Morin imagined herself galloping one day on her land. This cowgirl dream was put on hold when she moved from Calgary to Montreal, only to be reborn in another form at the dawn of her 40th birthday. Factory chemical buyer got fed up with traffic congestion. She put an end to long drives by taking the first corner.

She turned to plants: obvious when you’ve been pampering your little jungle at home for a long time. With her horticulturist DEP in hand, she then rented land on a local farm and bought two greenhouses in which to plant peppers. “There is no equivalent to enhance a dish without masking the flavors,” she says. She was already using them all over the place.

In a logic of local and sustainable production, his Serre St. Laz now grows “turnkey” products for hot sauce manufacturers: onions, tomatoes, peppers and fine herbs. Thirty-two varieties of peppers evolve on his land of Saint-Lazare, from the “sweetest” like the jalapeno to the most intense like the scorpion. In between, ajis with fruity flavors of lemon, mango, pineapple or strawberry. “What interests me, beyond the spiciness, are the flavors”, underlines the one who has chosen to cultivate without chemicals: “for health and for taste”.

A “kick” for peppers

Peppers have their admirers, addicted to heat. The seed company Olivier Légaré, from Semences du Batteux, is one of them and admits his preference for this diversified plant. In his Bellechasse garden, he cultivates 200 plants of around thirty varieties of peppers and invests in the development of new cultivars.

Finland is home to one of the largest hot pepper seed grounds in the world, and Quebec sees the birth of new hot sauces of its own every year.

No other vegetable comes in so many shapes, colors and intensities—hundreds! None cause so many taste sensations, he says. The cultivation of capsicum also has its challenges which are not without interest for gardeners. Annuals in our climate, perennials in the tropics, peppers must be sown indoors at least three months before migrating to the garden to have a chance of flourishing there.

“Behaviours vary according to the species”, underlines the seed company. The sweetest and easiest to grow are the Capsicum annuum which include peppers and hot peppers such as espelette, jalapeno and poblano. The baccalaureate (aji lemon), frutescens (ajis, cayenne pepper, bird pepper) and chinese (habanero, trinidad scorpion, “Scotch Bonnet”…) are, from the hottest or most burning, among the most intense and fragrant.

The more pungent they are, the longer they take to mature: between 80 and 180 days. Depending on the variety, sowing will therefore be started between December and March. However, garden centers offer an increasingly interesting selection.

plant pepper

Peppers require heat and full sun. “It’s best to wait for the mercury to stay above 15°C at night before putting the plants in the vegetable garden,” warns Marie Morin. At 10°C, they can survive, but their growth slows down. As they like to have dry feet, we water them regularly, but without excess. »

One might think that their intensity repels the invaders. It is not so. Slugs, spider mites and aphids are insensitive to capsaicin – a molecule whose concentration in the flesh, and not in the seeds, causes a pungent sensation in all animals, including humans, but excluding birds which are insensitive to this means of defense which is useful to the plant in dispersing the seeds.

To prevent disease and pests, quality soil — amended with compost at planting time and regular application of fertilizer — is again the secret. Peppers thrive best in acidic soil. We can therefore assess the pH of the soil every month and add sulfur if necessary. Marie Morin adds natural repellents.

The conquest of fire

Harvested before they are ripe, the peppers will be pungent, but less tasty and digestible than once their final color has been reached. The challenge, in the case of baccatum and chinense species, will be to obtain a satisfactory harvest in the allotted time. “We can prolong the harvest by bringing them in the heat until the following spring,” says pepper maker Marie Morin. For those who cultivate in large quantities like Olivier Légaré, the operation becomes more complicated. Instead, he extends the season with thermal webs and removes half the foliage and berries so that the sun can reach and ripen the last specimens.

Chili peppers can be dehydrated at low temperatures and then flaked or powdered. Unless you put them in the freezer or make oils, purées or sauces. “To know how to prepare them, always taste a small piece of raw pepper to discover its aromas,” says Marie Morin, who also advises learning about the sensation of heat by gradually increasing the level of intensity. The immune system defends itself against what it considers to be a poison and gradually develops its resistance to capsaicin. However, nothing immunizes against the risk of being addicted.