Re: [CH] Terroir in Chiles?
Nels Peterson family (npkp4jp@polarcomm.com)
Fri, 31 Jan 2003 19:28:49 -0800
I learned something just the other day about tasting bitterness -- it's
genetic. Our youngest son has a classmate that is doing a science project
on genetics -- and he was asking friends, etc. to taste a powder that was a
'litmus test' for bitterness. (I know -- litmus is for acid/base, but this
powder has a bitter taste that is used for the test). I could taste it --
but it didn't taste bad, two of our boys and mom on the other hand damn near
gagged -- and the other two kids just said -- yeah, it tastes bad, but not
horribly bad.
I have always thought that habs were sweet -- till they melted the fillings
out of your teeth. Speaking of habs -- getting ready to start mine. Will
start about February 15 in the living room window -- When we built the
addition on our house I built in a bay window 16' wide (3 M to the metric
world) on the south side of the living room. Gets a good amount of winter
sun, so plants will do well till mid-late March when I move them to the
greenhouse.
Nels in ND
----- Original Message -----
From: =Mark <mstevens@exit109.com>
To: <chile-heads@globalgarden.com>
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 12:34 PM
Subject: Re: [CH] Terroir in Chiles?
> Of course the perception of bitter varies from person to person. Some
> folks find things like coffee, brussels sprouts and grapefruit bitter,
> while I detect none in any of these. I find grapefruit juice to be overly
> sweet if anything.
>
> =Mark
>
> At 10:49 AM 1/31/03 -0800, Betsy Lasarow Tozzi wrote:
> >Mary-Anne wrote:
> > > > I have also heard the Chocolate Habs are bitter.
> > > > Crossed them off my to grow list accordingly.
> >
> >Scott Parkhurst <KCK> replied:
> > > You might try a chocolate hab before you decide
> > > one way or the other. I've never heard that choco
> > > habs were bitter. More to the point, I've never
> > > tasted a bitter choco hab. I've grown them myself
> > > since I never find them at the store/farmer's mkt.
> > > Maybe it's the soil in Wyandotte County... Is there
> > > such a concept of "terroire" for chiles?
> >
> >Hey Scott,
> >
> >I'd say there absolutely is a terroir role in growing habs, peppers,
> >tomatoes and the like. When I was training as a Master Gardener, several
> >years ago, I was taught that terroir can make a huge difference in the
> >flavor of virtually any fruit. Although taken from a vineyard website,
the
> >concept of terroir below does apply well to other land-grown edibles.
> >Here's their snippet explaining the term "terroir":
> >
> >"The French term encapsulates the factors which play a role in
> >differentiating one vineyard site from another, including climate, soil,
> >clonal selection, etc."
> >
> >from: http://www.bellwine.com/pages/terroir.htm
> >
> >Since I'm not sure what a bitter pepper would taste like (okay, throw 'em
at
> >me, I can take it), I have to sort of try and transpose the taste of
bitter
> >other things (lettuce, cucumbers, etc.) onto that blistering heat and
just
> >don't do a very effective job of it. So, for those who have had bitter
> >peppers, please help me: Does it have an alum- or tannin-like aftertaste?
> >
> >Betsy
> >mostly lurking, but occasionally posting
>
>
> @ http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens @
>
> Dyslexic, Agnostic, Insomniac...
>
> Lying awake at night, Wondering if there is a Dog.
>