What to Do With All the Peppers? Day 398.

Shiny, smooth peppers, whether they are jalapeños or bells, have never loved living in one of my many gardens. One or two will grow just enough for me to post a photo of (#lookatmegrowthings), and their bitter, papery flesh would make its way into a cheesy omelet or pot of red sauce. I would watch the newborn plants with hope then despair as the leaves slowly turned yellow to brown, then crinkle to the grown and turn to dust. The peppers that did survive their inevitable apocalypse hung by a thread of their flaccid flesh desperate to make their way to the dinner table. This was all the case until this year, the year of the peppers.

The jalapeño, cayenne, bell (of all colors), and even poblanos showed up this year! The plants themselves are as high as my shoulder, crowding the garden and throwing literal shade at the pathetic tomato plants. I didn’t know what do to with all of them so I performed some research.

This year I have jars and jars of hot pepper sauce which I called “Ma’s Magma” (I know I know), pickled jalapeños, and about fifteen spice jars of peppers I dried in a cheap, Walmart dehydrator then pulverized in my Ninja. (I learned quite early that removing the lid could be dangerous as the dust finds its way to all the orifices of the face.) I even did a mix of jalapeño and cayenne pepper flakes (I know. I’m such a pioneer pepper prepper.).

This is my true natural element, growing food and preserving it in some way. Planting a small seed into the earth, seeing its flawless, green appearance in the world, and adding it to my body to sustain my life is success to me. I now proudly display my tiny glass jars of red pepper flakes with the brown paper labels I have written on with care on a small, birch shelf in my little kitchen. It slows me down, and in this world of scrolling, hate, and needing the next big thing, it grounds me.