Unripe

Click for full size

I cut down my catch-up chillies this morning, as at least one of the plants had no fruit left on it whatsoever (they have all dropped off of their own accord over the last week or so) and the others were all looking fairly unhealthy. I was hoping I might get at least a few ripe ones, but, as you can see, while a couple of them had black streaks weeks ago, it failed to develop into red. (Oddly enough a couple of the others seem to be turning yellow instead!) You can also see the sheer size of the large fruits compared to the little freshly-set ones...

( Not really ripe enough to be hot )

I was intending to rely on the Demon Red chillies for culinary purposes this year -- most of those have now ripened, and those plants too are starting to look a bit sad, so they should probably be harvested too. (Also, that would mean I could do all the drying-out in a single operation.) I haven't as yet tested any of those for heat, however, although I'm assuming with a name like that they *will* actually be hot for their size....