Radishrain

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Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
So, before I last went to sleep, I commenced dehydrating all our hot peppers, except the ones on the plants that I somehow missed during harvest. There always seem to be a few stragglers.

I'm no stranger to cutting up hot peppers (including superhots) with unprotected hands (although I don't recommend that others generally do this). There were no super hots in this batch—just Capsicum annuum peppers and several Aji Habanero peppers (which aren't as hot as some of the Capsicum annuum peppers: i.e. Randy Sine's Evil Jalapeno and Ring of Fire). So, I figured I'd risk cutting them all up. I figured my hands would be warm and somewhat intolerant to hot water for a few days.

Wow. I was sure wrong! The high UV index this year must have had an impact. Those peppers were something else (after I had finished). No amount of handwashing would help. Soaking my hands in super concentrated sugar water didn't help. Lathering them in cream cheese didn't even help (I had high hopes for that). Olive oil didn't help. Even cold things only helped to a degree. The frozen blackberries even felt warm a lot of the time.

I didn't know how I was going to sleep or survive for the next few days. So, I practiced the piano and that helped for a while. I listened to music and watched a show, but eventually I just went to bed, suffering.

I found that flapping my hands actually helped temporarily. I'm not sure why, but the pain went away while I was doing it and for a little while after. So, I did that a lot as I was trying to sleep. Breathing/blowing with rounded lips helped temporarily, and seemed the natural thing to do at some points.

I prayed for help at some points.

Eventually, as I lay there in bed, I felt impressed to get up and brush my teeth. I was extra inclined to obey the impression, due to the hot peppers making me feel like I needed something to do. I even thought about smearing toothpaste on my hands. So, I got up and brushed my teeth. When I rinsed with cold water, it was really cold for my mouth each time I rinsed. So, I put the toothpaste on my hands and washed it off. Mint oil makes people feel cool, so I figured, maybe it would cool my hands. And guess what? It worked quite a bit! the heat wasn't as bad. I did it again. It worked better! Two times was enough that I didn't bother doing it again, but my hands are still spicy (but they're tolerable). I slept well, and my prayers were answered. I'm definitely convinced that God helped me.

Oh, and the dehydrated peppers made the house smell very strongly of hot peppers, but it didn't make my eyes or nose feel hot. They seem to dehydrate very quickly compared with tomatoes, notwithstanding even with the skins underneath them. Nice.

I don't have any immediate plans to grow hot peppers again, but it's mostly because consuming them makes my eyes more sensitive to ultraviolet light. However, I had been planning to grow a few hot peppers from the C. baccatum and C. chinense species (maybe one plant of each). I think I'm going to do 100% sweet peppers next year, though! I'll miss Aji Habanero and my Black Mustard Bhutlah (not that I'm out of Black Mustard Bhutlah pods from last year or anything; it's fun to grow and it's beautiful).

Anyway, part of the reason I'm normally willing to endure cutting hot peppers with unprotected hands is because it makes my skin stronger, more resistant to abrasion and scrapes, and more heat-tolerant (after the capsaicin is all gone, anyway). I'm guessing it also helps to prevent calluses. I should try it on my heels.

Anyway, I do plan to use gloves when I remove those peppers from the food dehydrator! I set them to dehydrate at 167° F. I figured a cooked taste is nice for peppers. They might be dry already, but I'm just leaving them in there for now. They need to be extra dry, so I can powder them.

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The specific toothpaste I used was Colgate Total Anticavity Fluoride and Antigingivitis Toothpaste; Clean Mint; helps prevent plaque buildup & fights tartar. It's kind of hard to cite toothpaste product names. The barcode is P9893433 1936. I suspect mint oil would do the same, but I'm not sure.

Active ingredients: Sodium fluoride (0.24%; 0.14% w/v fluoride ion) and triclosan (0.30%)
Inactive ingredients: Water, hydrated silica, glycerin, sorbitol, PVM/MA, copolymer, sodium lauryl sulfate, cellulose gum, flavor, sodium hydroxide, carrageenan, propylene glycol, sodium saccharin, titanium dioxide

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Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
Okay, in 2021, I'm focusing on sweet peppers, including several orange sweet peppers. No hot peppers, this year. They're all Capsicum annuum sweet peppers.

This is mostly the beginning of a breeding project. I'm hoping to breed prolific, early, purple/orange, medium-sized, cone-shaped, thick-walled sweet peppers with great taste, which resist sunscald even when exposed to direct sun, but I'm open to other types of sweet peppers, too, of course, as long as they're awesome. I plan to continue this project indefinitely, until further notice.

All the peppers were planted (on the 31 Mar 2021 waking period) indoors in trays with worm castings, peat moss, Permaguard food grade diatomaceous earth, wood ash, and monoammonium phosphate. I plan to keep them indoors until they start to sprout (and then I plan to take them outside during the day and in at night (except when the nights are supposed to be warm enough). I'm not planning to start them in my greenhouse, this year. I planted 36 containers of peppers (no less than 3 or 4 seeds per container, to help encourage better germination, but more seeds in most cases). I didn't freeze seeds before planting them, this year (although some might have been frozen last year).

From purchased seed and free gifts with purchases:
• California Wonder Purple x 1
• Cubanelle x 1
• Horizon x 2
• Hungarian Sweet Wax x 2
• Golden California Wonder (orange version from Everwilde farms) x 2
• Lilac Bell x 1
• Lipstick SHPC x 1
• Midnight Dreams x 1
• Neapolitan x 6
• Orange Sun x 2
• Purple Beauty x 1 (This is from my new seed source--not the single seed I have left from the first time I grew Purple Beauty.)
• Roumanian Rainbow x 1
• Sheepnose x 1
• White Cloud (Baker Creek) x 1
• White Cloud (Timeless-Tomatoes) x 1

From trades/gifts:
• Ajvarski x 1
• Canary Bell x 3
• Chocolate x 1
• Coral Bell x 3
• Doe Hill x 1
• Etiuda x 1
• Goccia d'Oro x 1
• Golden Treasure x 1
• Jimmy Nardello Italian x 1
• Lesya x 1
• Lipstick x 1
• Paradicsom Alaku Sarga Szentes x 1
• Petit Marseillais x 1
• Zulu x 1

Maybe in a future year:
• ?Yellow Mini Bell
• ?Antohi Romanian (If I get seeds.)
• Corbaci
• Feher Ozon
• Georgescu Chocolate
• Jimmy Nardello Italian x Corbaci F2
• Jimmy Nardello Italian x Corbaci F3 (I still need to save seeds. The fruits of the F2 in 2020 taste really good and are an attractive smoothly tapered shape; very sweet)
• ?Murasaki Purple (If I get seeds.)
• ?Orange Bell (Baker Creek; if I get seeds)
• *?Orange Lunchbox (if I get seeds)
• *?Orange Mini Bell (if I get seeds)
• Red Mini Bell

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Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
You probably know that black pepper is a common seasoning to add a little extra flavor, but did you know it has some pretty remarkable traits?

1. If you don't like the taste/smell of cloves, add black pepper! I got some turkey franks (turkey hotdogs) the other day, and they tasted strongly of cloves. Weird, right? Sounds like medieval cuisine. Anyway, I sprinkled plenty of black pepper on my hotdog (after adding ketchup and mustard) and I couldn't taste the cloves at all! Ketchup also sometimes tastes strongly of cloves (so, adding black pepper to it should hopefully work, too). I'll have to try it on mincemeat.
2. Add black pepper to bring out the sweetness in many fruits. There are plenty of articles online about this, such as with strawberries.
3. If you're  having hamburgers but are out of ketchup, and you have tomatoes, cut tomato slices for your hamburger and add a whole bunch of black pepper to it (plus some salt); it makes an excellent substitute. Pepper is really good on tomatoes (I'd say even better than salt, but salt seems to get most of the press, somehow, at the time of my writing this).

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Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
https://www.tomatojunction.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=1540

I posted some significant stuff about this year in the thread above. You have to register to see the pictures. Maybe I'll put them here some time.
Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
https://attunehealth.com/i-drank-celery-juice-everyday-for-30-days-heres-what-happened/

I thought this article was worth remembering. It talks about the potential benefits of celery juice (it talks a lot about it). Then it goes on to talk about the writer's experiment in drinking celery juice every day for thirty days, and what happened.

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Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
So, apparently, capsaicin inhibits collagen fiber formation, but it improves the fibers at the same time. This could be very interesting information for those with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (some people who have some symptoms but lack others might benefit from capsaicin, and some people should probably avoid it):

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25528374/

Anyway, a sibling's child got diagnosed with it, and my sibling thinks I might have it, too. So, that's why the interest in researching collagen all of the sudden. I looked up capsaicin and collagen to see if there was a connection, since eyes are supposed to be high in collagen, and as of this year, capsaicin (when I consume chile peppers) has mysteriously been increasing my existing sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation. The increase in ultraviolet-sensitivity lasts about a day (potentially longer), after exposure ceases. Note, however, that hot peppers do not increase my sensitivity to indoor lights, particularly (although celery seed, celery leaves, and bilberries do; I should research those as they pertain to collagen next).

I don't necessarily believe EHS is my most likely scenario (certainly not the most common kinds), but I do things it's likely that I have irregularities having to do with collagen.

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Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
https://greenopedia.com/alkaline-acid-food-chart/

The above link lists foods that are supposed to have an alkalizing or acidifying effect on the body.
Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0086807

This article talks about the extreme cold-tolerance of Ozobranchus jantseanus, a leech of freshwater turtles.

This leech can survive being frozen in liquid nitrogen (-320.8° F, or -196°C) for 24 hours. It can withstand  warmer ridiculously cold temperatures for many months! It can withstand repeated freezes and thaws, with similar temperatures, too.

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Radishrain by Radishrain @ in Life
I'd like to add the following to the list at this link.

• Bill Bean
• Black Beauty
• Butterscotch Bush (not a true variety; just a codename for a Jim Dandy cross growout of mine from 2016)

I'm no longer a Tomatoville member (I got ousted by accident—by changing my email address on my account—and then I went to TomatoJunction after that). So that's why I'm posting a reply here instead of in the actual thread.
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