[CH] Chiles, leaf-cutters, etc.

Calvin Donaghey (gdonaghey@bitstreet.com)
Sat, 19 Jun 1999 09:30:54 -0500 

Hello all-
Anyone got a good cure for leaf-cutter bees?  I've tried garlic, soap,
stink tea, etc.  The bees cut out over fifty circles on one plant in two
days.  Don't want to use poisons if I don't have to, I have a major
colony of ladybugs, eggs and larvae on my plants.  I caught one of the
bees in the act and ended her career, but little circles are still
disappearing at a fairly alarming rate.
    I am extremely pleased with the wild Bolivian Baccatum with the
pepper/chemical odor.  The plant which came back out of the roots this
spring is almost 3' tall, and has around 300+  inch- long bullet-shaped
pods, and probably about that many flowers.  I should be getting the
first ripe pods in about 3-4 weeks, so will have some seeds for those of
you who asked.  Still no bugs on this plant, and I guess the leaves are
too small to interest the leaf cutter bees.
    Other peppers are growing like weeds.  Aji A. plants are starting to
fruit, Jamaican reds reaching full size, picking Tepins every day, life
is good!!
    I tried something interesting this week.  Fried some fresh catfish
as follows:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 to 1 tsp chile powder
4 Tbs Lowrey's Season Salt
2 good shakes of garlic powder
1 tsp Old Hickory Smoke salt
1/2 tsp Celery Powder
Mix all dry ingredients above in a bowl.

2 pounds fresh catfish filets, cut into 1" X 2" chunks or strips
One large onion, coarsely chopped.
A couple handsful of fresh green Tepins, Bolivians and cayennes, whole,
with stems still on. (or other larger fresh green chiles in coarse
chunks)

Cut up filets into chunks and pat extra water off with paper towels.
Spritz with lemon juice.  Roll in dry mix, one chunk at a time while
filets are still damp. (If you throw 'em all in together they make a
gluey mess.)  Heat cooking oil over the grill outside (keeps odors out
of the house) in a deep dutch oven W/ lid available. Oil should be 2"
deep and hot enough to bubble a fish chunk when dropped in.  Add fish to
hot oil, don't crowd them too much. When the first fish chunk floats up,
add a few chiles and onion chunks.  Put the lid on.  Remove all when
fish is golden brown and mostly floating (mine took about 5 minutes,
check fish for texture if unsure). Divvy up onions & chiles so each
batch of fish gets some. Drain on paper towels.  Consume fish with
chiles (salted a little) and onions.
    We had a group of non-CH teenagers at the house while I was doing
this--they had already eaten supper-- and the fish was disappearing as
fast as it cooled enough to eat.  The chiles and onions were also
excellent, and imparted a subtle flavoring to the fish.  Keeping the
grease hot helps keep the dry mix on and the fish is not
greasy-tasteing.  Highly recommended.
Calvin