- Mister Red Hot Chile Pepper
- Pennsylvania grower specializes with
200 varieties of hot peppers
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- By Karen Gentry
Managing Editor
- Customers walk away from the Hot Pepper Field Day at Meadow View Farm with bags full of peppers. Visitors often decide to stop growing their own because they can select from 200 varieties of hot peppers grown at Meadow View in Kutztown, Pa. in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
James Weaver, owner of Meadow View Farm in Berks County and the local proclaimed guru of hot peppers has been holding the Hot Pepper Field Day since 1995. He said the field day attracted a few hundred guests in the early years and has grown to attract more than 3,000.
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One year Weaver didn’t have enough peppers picked for customers so he gave them bags and told them to go out to the field and pick their own peppers. “It turned into a pick-your-own hot pepper event,” said Weaver.
Weaver said he started the field day to give his bedding plant customers the chance to see all the varieties that he grows. “There’s too many choices. I had to lead them through their purchase,” Weaver said.
Traditionally on the Friday and Saturday after Labor Day, this year’s hot pepper field day is Sept. 6-7. Weaver welcomes growers and farm marketers. He said at last year’s event there were 13 states represented.
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“It’s a family outing. It’s a very nice farm experience for them,” Weaver said.
In the first year his display field had only 50 varieties. He credits the phenomenal growth of the field day to partnering with others who also put on a Hot Pepper Food Festival at Bowers Park, one-fourth mile from his farm. At the festival vendors sell their pepper-related products in a festive environment and horse and wagon rides travel back and forth from the park to the farm.
He said the popularity of hot peppers is due to emerging trends of more people eating spicier foods and more ethnic groups seeking specific hot peppers.
“It’s a great equalizer of people,” said Weaver about hot peppers. His customers range from Harvard University graduates to guys on Harley Davidson to families from India, Sicily and Mexico. Some visitors will go out into the field and pick $175 worth of peppers, enough for a year’s supply.
Weaver spoke to growers at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention in Hershey, Pa. in January where he distributed a list of hot pepper varieties with 27 different families of hot peppers.
Although red is the predominant color of hot peppers, Weaver grows peppers in all colors of the rainbow.
Regarding taste preferences he said Hispanics from Mexico tend to go with a little more flavor like the Ancho and Anaheim type peppers. Weaver noted that hotness is not the only measure of a hot pepper as some have different flavor sought after for specific recipes. He said that hot peppers can have fruity and smoky flavors.
“The Jalapeno is probably the best known pepper in the United States,” said Weaver. “By and large the Habanero is the most interesting hot pepper,” Weaver told growers. He said the Chocolate Habanero is the “hottest one of all.”
“We’re kind of experimenting with different flavors. With farm markets it means a lot if you can offer many varieties for your consumers,” said Weaver. He told growers that the Lemon Drop variety in the Aji Baccatuum family is his favorite with its fruity or sweet side.
Toward the middle of August hot peppers of every shape, color, and variety overflow the farm. Buyers at the Kutztown Produce Auction snap up hot peppers by the flat for sauces, pickling, mustards, and gourmet delights.
Early on Weaver didn’t anticipate getting into hot peppers.
“I never planned to go this direction. It’s something we saw the potential for. We recognized an emerging trend and received encouragement from other people,” Weaver said. He said a local chef friend, Chris Markey, recommended he start growing hot peppers. Markey could foresee the rise in popularity of cooking with hot peppers and knew that “Hispanics were the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States.” Weaver said in his area between Harrisburg and Philadelphia there are many Hispanics working in the mushroom industry as well as Indian and Sicilian customers looking for a special family of peppers.
Weavers said he believes the popularity of hot peppers is not waning and people are becoming more informed about the health benefits of peppers. “Once you’re used to eating spicy food, you want spicy foods,” said Weaver. A blending of cultures in cooking and cuisine also helps increase consumption of hot peppers, according to Weaver.
He grows his peppers on rolling terrain with limestone soil. Getting seeds to germinate is one of the trickier growing aspects, according to Weaver. He said a 75-80% germination rate is typical. “They (peppers) like a lot of bottom heat for seeds to germinate properly,” said Weaver. He doesn’t plant his display field until June as hot peppers are not that forgiving and don’t like cooler temperatures.
“You’re better off waiting for the temperature to go up in the field, the soil temperature especially,” said Weaver.
He said there’s not too many pest pressures in growing hot peppers, but aphids seem to be the worst. Sometimes the European corn borer larvae can also be a problem. He recommends the use of black plastic mulch and drip tape when growing hot peppers.
“Mulch will warm the soil and keep the weeds down,” Weaver said.
When it comes to acreage a little bit goes a long way. Hot peppers take up only two acres of his 25 acres of vegetables.
“I could not survive with just hot peppers. The customer base is too narrow,” said Weaver, who makes more money with his two to three acres of heirloom tomatoes. He grows 13-14 acres of sweet corn, three to four acres of melons and cantaloupes with the balance in fall crops.
Weaver started growing heirloom tomatoes in 1993 after Johnny’s Selected Seeds began offering the seed. He said the first few years he couldn’t give the tomatoes away but now he has seen increased interest and grows 100 varieties. He said once customers discover how they taste they come back for more.
Weaver said he’s always keeping his eyes and ears open to keep abreast of emerging trends. Because of this, he’s considering moving in the organic direction.
“I’m halfway there with IPM. My gut feeling is let’s get a little more serious about how we grow our product,” Weaver said. Some methods he will use to move into that direction include mulching between plastic rows with rye straw instead of spraying to control weeds.
Weaver is helped in his operation by his wife, Alma and sons Harold and Mervin. He said Harold lives nearby and is interested in growing raspberries in high tunnels.
They’ve been retailing vegetables since the mid-1980s. Some of the family’s specialty items now include hot pepper jelly, herbal jelly, smoked garlic and pickled peppers.
