September 10, 2005

On September 10, the Tree Stewards will again join their fellow Master Gardeners at AFM, 8 to 11 AM to help answer your tree care, landscaping, lawn and garden questions.

Chef at the Market – the final of the season will be September 24, 2005 with Jeff Buben of Vidalia.

What isn’t fresh at the market? Baked goods, prepared meats, milk and cheeses. There are vegetables of all sorts, tomatoes galore, glowing eggplants, herbs and onions, melons for late summer evenings. Squash, both summer and winter, and peppers of various shapes, sizes and flavors.

Peppers are an excellent source of vitamin A and C; pound for pound bell peppers may have 2 to 3 times the vitamin C as citrus fruit. Red peppers are a source of beta-carotene. The familiar Bell is mild, and the more ripe yellow and red may be sweeter. They can be used raw, roasted, cooked in sauces or for stuffed pepper recipes. To stuff, you can cut in half, or cut a cap off the top and spoon out the core and seeds. Save any juices for your recipe. Carefully trim the bottom to level, being sure not to make a hole that will allow the stuffing to run out.

There are also Banana Peppers at the market. These are yellow and long, mild, and can be sweet as well, but taste before using. Use raw or roasted.

The legendary Cayenne Pepper is also available at AFM. The long, narrow, wrinkled pepper is considered hot. They’re used in many Asian dishes, and of course Cajun, as well as spice blends and hot sauces.

The small Jalapeno Peppers are also famous for their heat, although some are mild, but opinions may differ. It’s used in salads, and sauces, including salsa. The Chipotle pepper is a dried and smoked jalapenos.

At the market are also Ancho Peppers, used in spices, sauces and sometimes stuffed, and the hot Chilancho Peppers.

Hot peppers are used in salads, stir fry, stews, soups, sauces, and salsa.

Some peppers may be wrinkled when fresh. Sweet peppers should be firm, and glossy. They can be refrigerated unwashed for a week with green, unripe peppers lasting longer. Use immediately if soft spots start to form. Wash when ready to use, generally cutting lengthwise in strips for salad and vegetable dishes, or dicing for sauces. Blanching, grilling, or roasting sweet peppers to remove the skin is often recommended, as the skin can have quite a different flavor from the flesh.

So how many people are going to email the editor to say a pepper is really a fruit?