Carmen

Carmen and Rudbekia

This spring I planted tomatoes and peppers from seed. I raised jalapenos, poblanos, and Carmens. I think all of them were from Burpee Seed, and the Carmens were labeled as a sweet, red Italian pepper. I have always wanted to raise red bell peppers, but they never ripen for me. This year I decided to give Carmens a try, although I had little hope of success.

What a surprise when these peppers began turning red the beginning of September! I was thrilled! Not only do they have a mild, sweet peppery taste, but they are beautiful. I love them when they are crispy fresh, as well as frozen for winter soups and stews.

So what was the secret to raising these amazing (and prolific) pepper plants? I'm sure it must have been the incessant rain we had. I've read that peppers need a lot of moisture, and they certainly got that in NW Wisconsin this year!

Maybe you're getting a little sick of all this red, but I couldn't help myself. After I washed and seeded the peppers, I cut them into strips and then diced them to put on a cookie sheet which I then put into the freezer.

Once they were frozen, I gathered them into gallon Ziploc freezer bags, so that it will be easy to measure out a cup of peppers for a recipe.

All that hard work of seeding, slicing, and dicing really worked up an appetite. :-) Peppers are also delicious dipped in cream cheese!  And I wonder why the scale has steadily crept up during the past few months!



This post is linked to  Making the World Cuter Mondays
and Meet and Greet Monday
and Motivate me Monday
and Just Something I Whipped Up