Growing the Fresno Chilli
For fast results reach for the fresno!
Of all the varieties of chilli I have grown this has been the fastest to fruit. The plants raced on ahead of all the others and I feared the worst. Usually when a chilli plant grows quickly it ends up producing a lot of leaf and little, if any, fruit.
Not so with these beauties, they began produing flowering heads a few weeks ago and now, after my flying visit to Spain I find them fruiting. Compared to the other varieties these are ideal for chilli lovers in a hurry, the really hot chillies require a much longer growing season but as these only register around 5,000 on the Scoville range they fruit much quicker.
Sadly they don’t dry well which is a pity and a nuisance. As much as I like pickled chillies and the fresno is ideal for this, I much prefer drying them. So if I get a healthy crop I shall pickle some and make a salsa or two with the rest. There are some great Mexican salsa’s to be had, light year’s away from the mass produced rubbish in the supermarket’s. My mother bought me an excellent book on Mexican salsa’s and all things Mexican chilli a number of years ago, I still use it as a reference guide and shall adapt a recipe or two for the blog when the chilli harvest is in full swing.
In case you think I’ve got the photo upside down I haven’t. Fresno chillies grow upright on a relatively short plant, the fruits will grow to a maximum of 6cm.
What happened to the Bhut Jolokia chillies? I’ve been reading up since your last update about those hotties. Did they add a couple of centimetres since then?
May 30, 2008 @ 1:54 am
Retrow,
The bhut jolokia’s are doing well but have not flowered as yet. They do require a much longer growing season and the weather in England at the moment isn’t helping the cause. That said, the naga jolokia’s are showing signs of fruit so that is encouraging. I shall post updates as and when they produce something worth writing/reading about!
Thanks for asking and welcome to the blog.
Regards
Miles
May 30, 2008 @ 7:28 am