[CH] First Hab of the season

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  First, a confession: I don't eat whole habs on a whim. I don't even
eat pieces of a hab casually, it's not one I've built up a tolerance
to. [May El Grande forgive me, mea culpa, etc.] Now, to continue...
 
  I'm growing "Scotch Bonnets" and "Red Habaneros" obtained from
local (Portland, Oregon) nurseries this year. Thus far, the "Scotch
Bonnets" appear to be ordinary habs, but the "Red Habaneros" are
something different-- they're the right size for habs, but are rather
more rounded and less folded than expected.
 
  While many of you in more 'tropical' climes than here have been
harvesting habs for ages, I haven't had any ripen yet, until now.

  For some reason, one of the red habs decided to ripen, while
none of the others have even started. I've noticed this in tomatoes,
where a 'damaged' one will ripen quickly for no apparent reason, other
than it seems to want to get it's seeds out before it meets a premature
end. Well, this hab was approximately watermellon-colored, and I
couldn't wait. It wasn't obviously damaged from the outside, but
instead of seeds, there were only some shriveled black/brown things
inside.

  I decided to try it on a salmon steak with some fresh ginger. I
cut the hab and ginger, and put the slices on the salmon, then started
heating the oven. In the meantime, I examined the hab. It smelled like
a hab; okay so far. I licked the cut end. Nice. I licked it again.
Still nice. I licked it a third time. Mistake. Ee-YOW! I had to resort
to emergency measures. In this case, I tried a spoonful of sugar (first
suggested by Firegirl?) This seems to work for me; I swished the sugar
in my mouth, then spit it out. This makes things bearable for a few
minutes [Again, may El Grande forgive me, etc.] and the crisis was
over.

  Meanwhile, I removed approximately half the hab slices from the
salmon just before putting it in the oven. Another mistake, it didn't
have very much hab flavor when done. And it was too dry, next time
I might put some oil on the salmon before cooking.
 
  I'm awaiting the rest of the harvest.
 
 
  --Gary Hanson

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