Tasting Asparagus and Growing Peppers

Today I attempted the pickled asparagus. Considering that it is the most popular product here at Sunshine Farms, I figured it was about time. I was recommended to the Zesty Asparagus, Josh said it had a kick but that it wasn't too spicy. I do believe that Josh (the oldest son) and I have different opinions on spicy, as is proved below.

Since the asparagus season just finished up, so they've been planting the next few runs of vegetables. One of the main fall crops is peppers, which need to be planted now. They use peppers in a lot of their products. You can get solely pickled jalapeno peppers (I'm not looking forward to trying those!) but the main use for peppers is as an extra ingredient in the other products Zesty varieties. So they need to grow an extra large amount!

When they were done planting, they still had a couple of dozen extra pepper plants. So they asked me if I wanted to take any of them grow at home. Now, I didn't know what the plants were- they have been planting a variety of things,and they are small, green, and leafy at first.

I asked Josh what the plants were. He said that they were kind of spicy but not too hot unlike some other varieties of peppers. Well, that was a fairly vague answer and didn't really tell me what I wanted to know. I now know that they are some sort of pepper, but I have never really heard of an un-spicy pepper. So, slightly more wary, I asked him again what they were.

He admitted they were jalapeno peppers, but like all other jalapeno peppers, they weren't that hot- in fact he enjoys adding a few to his burgers. So for all you adventurous people, there's a new idea for you! But as we previously went over, I am not a spicy fan. So the fact that they were JUST jalapeno peppers was not appealing to me, and the plants went to someone else.

So back to the original point of the story: attempting the non-zesty pickled asparagus. It was really good! As I bit into it, there was a nice satisfying crunch, then the taste exploded in my mouth. It was slightly salty, (as are all pickled products because of the salt and vinegar used in the pickling process) but not overwhelmingly so; I could definitely still taste asparagus. I was expecting it to be rather mushy considering it's been sitting in vinegar for over 6 weeks so I was pleasantly satisfied with the nice crunch. It still tasted fresh and crisp- a real treat. I was only going to try a few stalks but as I started typing, the asparagus kept disappearing. The jar is now half empty, and being hidden so I can save a bit of room for my lunch!

Have you tried our pickled asparagus? Did you find it as I good as I did? Did your asparagus also “mysteriously disappear?”

~Summer Pickle Blogger