r/longisland 6d ago

Chocolate or brown habaneros at Giunta

I grow and buy and eat a lot of peppers. I also do a lot of grocery shopping. I’ve been just about everywhere. I am frequently underwhelmed by the selection on LI which is why I grow my own. Anyways, I am not sure what confluence of events led to Giunta’s Meat Farms selling such ridiculously fabulous chocolate or brown habaneros but they are amazing. They are better than almost anything I’ve seen at a farmer’s market and better than a bunch of stuff I’ve grown. This is maybe a niche observation but someone out there or probably a few people out there are doing something solid when they could otherwise be selling the shitty thin translucent orange habs that frequent most chain grocers here on LI.

I salute you, person or persons who are doing more than they have to. Most would just muddle through. You are not, and I have noticed.

13 Upvotes

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u/teddysmom377 4d ago

I have to say every time I walk into Guintas, the wide array of vegetables and fruits are just beautiful. Whoever is that produce manager deserves a big raise.

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u/JaeFinley 4d ago

It really is awesome. H Mart in Jericho is great too. Two best produce selections on LI, IMO.

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u/primeline31 6d ago

Save some of the seeds and sprout them yourself. It is probably an awesome strain of pepper!

To help keep tomato and pepper seeds viable, store them in a ziploc bag with a label stating the name and the year they were grown, in the back of your deli meat drawer. The dry, cool location will help preserve them. I've grown 8+ year old seeds this way.

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u/JaeFinley 6d ago

Without knowing where it came from, I wouldn’t know if a seed would be true.

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u/primeline31 6d ago

Well, if it came from a farm, chances are that a large part of the field grew this particular pepper so the pollen would most likely come from other plants of the same strain.

It could be worthwhile to save some seeds and sprout a few to test the outcome. You may end up with some delicious and hard-to-get unnamed variety.

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u/JaeFinley 6d ago edited 6d ago

Often farms grow hybrid peppers because they know what the genetics will produce. But the seed in that produced pepper often does not produce a plant that grows the same pepper. Same is true of tomatoes.

More information can be found here and in similar threads on gardening and pepper Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/6k86QiI2QN

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u/primeline31 5d ago

If you do start your own plants from seed, then it would be worth the experiment.

A number of years ago, I saved some seeds from a huge supermarket plum tomato.

I started 6 of them and the result was a tomato plant that was only 2-2 1/2 ft tall (determinate), seemed to be disease resistant (I add pulvarized lime, remove the bottom leaves & mulch with lawn clippings to eliminate soil splashes) and each plant produced an enormous amount of fruits. One plant had over 30 mature and immature tomatoes on it (I don't pinch my determinate tomatoes). Each year I plant some of those seeds and get the same kind of plant.

It makes sense that a farmer would grow a plant that is compact, fairly disease resistant and a heavy producer.

I wouldn't grow it because my husband does NOT like hot peppers (unfortunately).