Four new vegetable varieties have been named
”
All-Americans
”
by All-America Selections, a nonprofit organization that tests
new flowers and vegetables. Last week, we covered the flower award
winners, and this week we’ll review the vegetables.
Four new vegetable varieties have been named “All-Americans” by All-America Selections, a nonprofit organization that tests new flowers and vegetables. Last week, we covered the flower award winners, and this week we’ll review the vegetables.
All of these All-America Selections winners will be available at garden centers this spring and summer. Look for the red, white and blue AAS display signs. You can also buy seeds from large mail-order seed companies. More information is available at the AAS Web site, www.allamericaselections.org.
– “Mariachi pepper” – This cone-shaped pepper won because of its superior fruit size, improved earliness, marvelous yield and unusually fine flavor. It is a mildly hot chile pepper, with fruit that becomes more pungent when plants are stressed by hot weather or lack of water. The 3- to 4-inch peppers are fleshy and ripen from yellow to red. However, they are best used in the yellow stage.
The fruit ripens early, and you can begin harvesting within 65 days of transplanting. The fruits lend themselves to a wide variety of dishes including salsas and sauces, or you can stuff, grill and enjoy.
– “Carmen” pepper – This is an Italian-type sweet pepper. Again, earliness is important, and “Carmen” ripens about 75 days from transplanting. The distinctive horn-shaped red peppers grow on a 28-inch-high plant that spreads 16 inches. Plants can easily be grown in a patio container. Flavor of the peppers is unusually sweet when ripe red.
– “Purple Haze” carrot – This is the first imperator-shaped purple carrot. Imperator simply is the type of carrot that most of us are familiar with – long and skinny. The 10- to 12-inch-long carrots are purple on the outside but bright orange on the inside. The best presentation of “Purple Haze’ will be when used raw because cooking will dissolve the purple color. The vigorous upright plants will reach 16 inches. They can be grown in large containers with herbs. They can be picked about 70 days from sowing seed.
– “Delfino cilantro” – This is an improved aromatic, edible herb. The plant looks different in that it has fine, fern-like leaves that are more decorative than other coarse-leaved cilantros. Plants reach 20 inches, and they can be grown in containers with other annuals or herbs. Plants will flowers and then “go to seed.” Harvest when the seeds turn from green to brown. Cilantro seeds are the spice coriander and can be used in many ethnic recipes.
All these All-America Award winners will be available this spring and summer at garden centers everywhere. Seed is also available from many mail-order supply companies. Sources are available at the All-America Selections Web sites, www.aaswinners.com or www.all-americaselections.org.
