Hybrid vs. Open-Pollinated and Heirloom SeedsThis is the time of year that many gardeners start planning their spring gardens. It can be helpful to know the difference between hybrid, and open-pollinated (OP) seeds. The OP seeds are the best choice if seeds from the fruits will be saved and replanted the following year. The produce from OP seeds often tastes better, but the plants may not have the disease resistance that hybrids do. All heirlooms are OP, so the two words are often used synonymously. The main difference is that heirloom ...
Ripen Green Tomatoes IndoorsWhen it comes to ripening any fruit, ethylene is your friend. This gaseous plant hormone is produced by all fruits as they ripen, and will prompt unripe tomatoes into turning red. Place the fruit in a paper bag, cardboard box or wooden drawer with a ripe banana or apple, ensuring you leave out any damaged or diseased fruit which will rot the lot. Check them regularly and you should find the tomatoes are ripe within a couple of weeks. Fun Tip: Place half your immature green tomatoes in a box ...
Pepper SeedsSandia Seed has pepper seeds from all the chile peppers you can think of: hatch chile pepper seeds, anaheim pepper seeds, bhut jolokia ghost pepper seeds, habanero seeds, jalapeno seeds, and sweet pepper seeds such as shishito pepper seeds, which are wonderful japanese peppers that are very popular with chefs! Our GMO-free Pepper seeds are gathered fresh every year from New Mexican farms, bringing you the authentic New Mexican hatch chile varieties, as well as some of the hottest pepper seed...
How to Germinate Pepper SeedsWhat You will need: Pepper seeds Indoor/Outdoor potting soil Plastic growing tray, at least 2” deep with holes for drainage Seed germination warming mat Grow light or bright window Distilled water Labels. Fill growing tray almost to the top with potting soil. Moisten thoroughly with water and allow to drain completely. Always use distilled water. Make an indentation with a pencil eraser approx. a quarter of an inch deep or less, about every 2 inches in the soil. Place one pepper seed int...
Roasting Green Chile is Easy!Put fresh green chiles on a propane grill on medium high heat. Grill until the outer skin is brown and bubbly. Keep turning until entire chile has brown thin paper skin. Remove from grill and place into a plastic bag with 1/4 cup water. Steam for 5 minutes. Remove from bag and peel outer skin away! Yum! Grow your own Hatch chile seeds and you can harvest and roast chiles right from your own garden. Hatch Chiles are actually quite easy to grow around the world, the plants love summer heat. ...
Trinidad Moruga ScorpionTrinidad Moruga Scorpion Look at all the hot capsacin inside this pepper! Capsicum chinense (120 days) Pods are 2-1/2" wide with wrinkled reddish orange skin.They have a fruit like flavor, with nuclear heat! This pepper contains so much capsacin that the chemical blasts past the numbing response and keeps activating receptors in the nerve endings in your mouth. This produces ferocious burning sensations. Chile burns and heat burns are similar at the molecular, cellular, and sensory levels...
Chile Peppers are a Hot Diet FoodHot Peppers help boost your metabolism and induces the body to burn off more fat instead of storing it in the body. So, if you want to lose weight, eating hot peppers as part of your diet will help boost your weight loss success.Several studies have shown that hot peppers can curb your appetite, burn fat, and inhibit fat cell growth.One representative clinical study conducted by scientists at the Laval University in Quebec found that eating cayenne at breakfast decreased appetite and led to l...
Yellow Scotch BonnetThe Yellow Scotch Bonnet (Bahamian, Bahama Mama, Jamaican Hot or Martinique Pepper) is a very hot pepper, closely related to the Habanero and has about the same heat levels. The shape is different and resembles a Scot’s Bonnet, hence the name. The Yellow Scotch Bonnet is very important in the Jamaican cuisine and the Cayman Islands. That’s why Jamaican Jerk and other Caribbean dishes have a unique taste. Jerk is a way of cooking that is originated in Jamaica. Meat is rubbed with a very sharp ...
When to Harvest PeppersA good time to harvest peppers is when they are full size and have matured to their full color. Well that's easy to say, but another thing when looking at the plant full of fruit. The best thing to do is to cut one pepper off the plant and taste it. If it is bitter and tastes a little green, wait another week and try again. A general rule is to use the number of days to maturity, but that will vary in different growing conditions. Both sweet and hot peppers can be eaten at all stages of g...
Guajillo, Fresno and Red Cherry Hot Peppers......are just a few of the new varieties we will offer for the 2016 season! Also included will be Trinidad Scorpion 'Butch T', 7 Pot Douglah, 7 Pot Jonah, 7 Pot Barrackpore, Yellow Brain Strain, Peach Bhut Jolokia, White Bhut jolokia, Sweet Banana, Golden Greek Pepperoncini, Pimiento, Legacy Big Jim, Jamaican Hot Chocolate and a few more! We are so excited to be adding these the great peppers to our collection. They will all be available the first week of November!
Fresh hot reaper!Wow! This is such a productive pepper! The plants are overflowing with fruit and when it's cut open it is wet with capsaicin! Now to see what it's like to chew on a little piece. Wish me luck, and get some seeds to grow your own!
What makes a Hatch Chile Hatch?What makes a Hatch Chile, Hatch?New Mexico is home of the famous Hatch Chiles that are grown in the Hatch Valley. Hatch Chiles are special and unique to the Hatch region in New Mexico, you can grow the same varieties in other areas or states, but, like Champagne, then it isn't a true Hatch chile. What gives the Hatch chiles the special flavor is the unique soil and climate in this part of New Mexico along with the people who plant, nurture and harvest the chiles over many generations. But...
Shishito Pepper AppetizerHarvest about 15 peppers from your plant and rinse. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in amedium hot skillet. Place peppers in skillet after poking each with a fork to prevent from exploding while they cook. Fry about 5 minutes until the peppers are a little brown and soft. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve warm. When eating, pick up the pepper by the stem and eat the entire pepper, seeds and all. Discard the stem. View more of our chile pepper recipes »
“I love these seeds!!”Here's a nice comment from one of our customers:“I love these seeds!! I have planted some of your seeds here in So. California and I have good things to report! First, the Heritage 6-4 plants are produced some BIG boys. I will be preparing rellenos tomorrow night to try them out—I am excited! The Sandias are lookin' good. But I think I may let them turn red for ristras— not sure. I can't wait to taste these chilies. It's been so long since I have savored real New Mexico chilie...
Long Hot PeppersLooking for long hot peppers? We have an assortment of spicy long peppers that are a great addition to your pepper and vegetable garden!One of our favorite long hot peppers is the Goat Horn Hot Pepper. It is quite prolific, and has great red color when fully mature. Here are some photos of a loaded down plant. It can be quite pretty in pots too, larger 5+ gallon pots are best. For other long hot peppers, you can also try growing Cayenne Pepper seeds; or Chile de Arbol seeds, with their b...
Chef's Pepper GardenIf you are a chef, cook, or a gourmet gardener, make sure to check out our favorite 3-pack of the best pepper seeds for your garden! These three special peppers have long been prized by restaurants and is a favorite among chefs. Padron peppers are delicious heirloom peppers that are mostly mild, with an occasional spicy one mixed in. Padron peppers are great to fry up with sesame oil over high heat to blister and soften them, then sprinkle with salt and then serve immediately. Pepperonci...
Homemade Marinated Piquillo Peppers RecipePiquillo Peppers are amazingly delicious, they have a spicy sweet smoky and almost buttery flavor when simply roasted, and marinated with salt and olive oil. Piquillo peppers are hard to find, because they received a European PDO (Protected Denomination of Origin) and cannot be commercially grown outside their Navarra, Spain region. But that doesn't mean you can't grow them in your home garden! Piquillo seeds can be difficult to germinate like many peppers, for best success, keep them...
Best Seed Catalog for Chile Peppers & TomatoesWe are so excited to be offering our first-ever Seed Catalog in 2019! This is the BEST Seed Catalog for Chile Pepper Seeds and Tomato Seeds. We have a huge variety of Hatch Chile seeds, New Mexican Chile seeds, Hot Pepper Seeds, the Hottest Pepper Seeds, and Sweet Pepper Seeds. And don't miss our Heirloom Tomato Seeds as well as our Hybrid Tomato Seeds). Check out the catalog below, or download our Seed Catalog PDF, or order a Seed Catalog to be mailed to you in our online store.
New Hatch Chile SeedsHave you grown our new varieties of Hatch Chile seeds? Our latest favorite for those who like it super hot, is our soon-to-be-famous Rattlesnake Hatch Green Chile Seeds. These wicked little beasts are 4-8" long with thick HOT flesh that is SO delicious roasted. If Hatch Green Lumbre X-Hot is too hot for you, then try this perfect pepper. Its Scoville is reported to reach up to 18,000 SHU, but more often it is much lower near the 10,000 SHU rating. The Hatch Green Rattlesnake has a...
Seed Catalog for the Independent Garden Center Industry ShowWe're super excited to be at the IGC Show (Independent Garden Center Industry Show) this week! What a great group of people in the gardening world. This garden center show is from August 13 - 15, 2019 in Lakeside / McCormick, Chicago. We went last year and met lots of garden centers and nurseries all over the country. Some of them really have some amazing booths! Check out our FIRST EVER SEED CATALOG we just had printed for the show! Signup to find out how you can get a copy here »We ...