How to tell when chillies are ripe

[epicuric]

Advice needed from the Cookingbites massiv please! I've got three chillie plants growing in the greenhouse, all bearing fruit. How do I tell when they are ready to pick? Two of them look like this:

They are getting to be 4"- 5" long and in texture are much like shop bought chillies, but have no heat in them whatsoever - they are being eaten by earwigs! The labels have been lost, so I've no idea what variety they are. The third plant is a Havana Gold:

Currently about 1" - 2" long. Any advice would be most welcome!

 

[ElizabethB]

Since you do not have a label you don't know if the green peppers are hot or sweet.

 

[caseydog]

Is this the first batch of chilis on these plants? If so, that could explain why the hot ones aren't hot. My early harvest jalapeños are sometimes like bell peppers -- no heat. Then, they get hotter during the season.

The one front and center in the top photo looks mature. If it is supposed to be green, then it is ready.

It is hard to know what to advise, without knowing what varieties they are.

CD

 

[epicuric]

Is this the first batch of chilis on these plants? If so, that could explain why the hot ones aren't hot. My early harvest jalapeños are sometimes like bell peppers -- no heat. Then, they get hotter during the season.

The one front and center in the top photo looks mature. If it is supposed to be green, then it is ready.

It is hard to know what to advise, without knowing what varieties they are.

CD

This is the first crop. The plants were purchased as plugs a couple of months ago as a random selection, one hot, one medium and one mild. The Havana Gold is supposed to be mild, and does turn gold when mature. This means the other two should be hot and medium, which they certainly are not. I suppose I will just leave them to it and see what happens.

 

[caseydog]

This is the first crop. The plants were purchased as plugs a couple of months ago as a random selection, one hot, one medium and one mild. The Havana Gold is supposed to be mild, and does turn gold when mature. This means the other two should be hot and medium, which they certainly are not. I suppose I will just leave them to it and see what happens.

If a paper is mature, and not hot, it is not likely to get hot letting it go. But, hopefully as you get new peppers, they will be hotter. The hot peppers I get in September here are scorching hot.

I have no experience with Havana Gold peppers. I've never heard of them. They look a little like sweet banana peppers, but smaller.

Just watch, and make sure your peppers don't start to get soft and wrinkled. That's a pretty good indicator that you have waited too long. I had some cayenne peppers do that while I was out of town a couple of weeks ago. They were still okay for seasoning a sauce, but not for something where they aren't hidden by anything.

CD

 

[Burt Blank]

A red chili is just a ripe green chili. Green chili is just an under-ripe red or yellow chili. Just like fruits ripen green chilies ripen and turn red. They look like the type I grew last year on the balcony' I used them when they were green or red. In my last UK greenhouse I would put a banana near them. The last pics were in the UK

 

[epicuric]

Thanks for the tips guys. Will let you know how they progress.

 

[caseydog]

A red chili is just a ripe green chili. Green chili is just an under-ripe red or yellow chili. Just like fruits ripen green chilies ripen and turn red.

That is not always how things work out. I have grown many jalapeños, and some eventually turn red, but some never do, no matter how long they stay on the vine. But, red peppers do start as green peppers. But, not all of them make that change.

CD

 

[Burt Blank]

That is not always how things work out.

It does mate in a greenhouse ( confined space, limited air flow) if you ""Bananas make other fruit ripen because they release a gas called ethene (formerly ethylene)," added Dr Bebber. "This gas causes ripening, or softening of fruit by the breakdown of cell walls, conversion of starches to sugars and the disappearance of acids."

 

[caseydog]

It does mate in a greenhouse ( confined space, limited air flow) if you ""Bananas make other fruit ripen because they release a gas called ethene (formerly ethylene)," added Dr Bebber. "This gas causes ripening, or softening of fruit by the breakdown of cell walls, conversion of starches to sugars and the disappearance of acids."

I don't have a greenhouse, so all I know is what I've seen with my own plants. I've also never tried turning a green pepper red with a banana, although I know how bananas turn fruits and vegetables "ripe." Factory farms pick fruits and vegetables before they are ripe, so they travel well. They often use ethylene gas to ripen them to sell in stores. Especially tomatoes. You don't get the same amount of flavor with produce ripened off the vine.

CD

 

[Burt Blank]

They often use ethylene gas to ripen them to sell in stores. Especially tomatoes. You don't get the same amount of flavor with produce ripened off the vine.

I use the banana trick towards the end of the growing season in the UK, The fruit is on the vine in the greenhouse, it has little hope of ripening due to the days shortening. These marmart toms had the treatment

 

[rascal]

It does mate in a greenhouse ( confined space, limited air flow) if you ""Bananas make other fruit ripen because they release a gas called ethene (formerly ethylene)," added Dr Bebber. "This gas causes ripening, or softening of fruit by the breakdown of cell walls, conversion of starches to sugars and the disappearance of acids."

I've just told the wife the banana thingy. She will try it this season. She buys either green or red or yellow, we harvest seeds when they are ready. I'll grow all this year from last seasons chillies. The yellow chillies are for seafood curries.

Russ

 

[lastmanstanding]

I know you have used those chillies by now and even the plot is empty, but here's a little input from me.
Green chillies are of several kinds. The straight ones usually go dark green and then turn red when ripe, while the curly ones go yellow when ripe. Occasionally there are curly ones that turn red but rare-must be some kind of hybrid. Anyway that's what I've gathered from what I've seen in Sri Lanka. Maybe there are other kinds elsewhere.

 

[Burt Blank]

I know you have used those chillies by now and even the plot is empty, but here's a little input from me.
Green chillies are of several kinds. The straight ones usually go dark green and then turn red when ripe, while the curly ones go yellow when ripe. Occasionally there are curly ones that turn red but rare-must be some kind of hybrid. Anyway that's what I've gathered from what I've seen in Sri Lanka. Maybe there are other kinds elsewhere.

Mate I posted this quote elsewhere in case you missed it "When growing, most chili peppers start off green, and then turn red, orange or purple as they ripen. ... Chili peppers generally get hotter as they ripen, but a lot of varieties are also picked and sold when they are still green and with only mild heat, such as the jalapeño."

 

[lastmanstanding]

Mate I posted this quote elsewhere in case you missed it "When growing, most chili peppers start off green, and then turn red, orange or purple as they ripen. ... Chili peppers generally get hotter as they ripen, but a lot of varieties are also picked and sold when they are still green and with only mild heat, such as the jalapeño."

My bad. I answered the OP's first post but failed to read the other answers already given. Yeah I see you had actually answered the question.