Habaneros are fantastic chillis to eat, and they are just as great to grow. Here are some images of my precious Orange Habaneros’ journey from flower to fruit.
Orange Habanero Flower
Flowers first appear in late spring and in further flushes throughout the year. If your chilli is growing in a greenhouse you will need to pollinate your flowers by hand. In the open, bees and insects will do this for you but as they can’t fly through glass so you will need to tap or gently shake your plant each day, when the sun is out to disperse the pollen throughout the flowers.
Orange Habanero Flower Fertilised
After a week or so, when the flowers begin fade, you will hopefully see the reward for your hand pollination – plenty of baby chillis beginning to form.
Orange Habanero Fruit Forming
Here is a baby Habanero that has come on a little more.
Orange Habanero Fat Fruit
Now you can see the fully grown Habaneros. They are clearly pretty pale, so need a few weeks of ripening in the warm summer sun before they are good to cook with.
Orange Habanero Ripening
The shades of green and orange are beautiful on these ripening chillis. Wait until you have a nice orangey brown colour before harvesting your chillis – they have the best flavour and heat when they are fully ripe.
Ripe Orange Habanero
This lovely Orange Habanero is good for the picking! I use them in all sorts of dishes as they have a good heat to them, but also the classic Habanero sweetness, which gives your cooking that little something special!
Release The Habanero Aroma
They look great as they are, but you must open them up to release the classic sweet-hot Habanero aroma! I have halved my Habaneros to dry them but obviously you can chop them up as much as you like depending what you are doing with them! Inhale!!!
