Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
berry_bob

price on peppers ?

berry_bob
12 years ago

what is the going rate for jalapeno peppers ??

Thanks

Bob

Comments (10)

  • henhousefarms
    12 years ago

    We are running them $1.50 in pint boxes for both the hot and the heatless. We do the same with Mariachi peppers and sell the bananas in quarts for $2.50 as they don't fit quite so well in pints. From time to time someone will want just a couple individual peppers for something so will go $.25 each (it never fails to amaze me that some people want to pay more for less).

    Tom

  • 2ajsmama
    12 years ago

    Tom - where are you? I have lots of serranos (can sell those green, I'm waiting for other types to ripen). Only picked 4 last week, put them in a baggie for $1 just to try, no one even looked at them. Of course, my Glacier tomatoes (only ones ripe yet) and yellow straightneck didn't get a glance either. Only thing that sold last week were blackberries, jam, zukes and cukes.

    I've got more good-sized (green) serranos today, don't know whether to pick them and try putting them out, or let them ripen. I'm not sure pints would sell here in Yankee-land - 4 or 5 for $1 might be all the heat people can handle? My sweet bananas are just starting to flower, I've got a few small Chablis sweet but the rest of the bells aren't flowering at all yet.

    This year is my first at market and first growing hot peppers (b/c we like them - DH is from TX). Think hot peppers are a mistake up here? I was thinking could be a niche.

    Thanks

    Shelly

  • myfamilysfarm
    12 years ago

    Hot peppers are definitely a niche, if you have a large Hispanic population there you have it made. Of course, the Hispanic population that I know, are great bargain hunters.

    I can't sell hots, but bells are almost impossible to grow enough. Most people don't know that peppers are immature when green, but that is what they are used to.

  • henhousefarms
    12 years ago

    Ajsmama - we are in east central Illinois. Like Marla said the hots are a nitche and take people getting used to. People tend to but things they know, hence the jalapeno and hot banana sell pretty well. The Mariachi are realy nice peppers for stuffing and grilling. They are not as hot as jalapenos but bigger around and have a nice flavor. The first couple years we grew them they were a tough sell. Quite often we would throw in a couple when someone bought jalapenos just to get them to try them. Eventually they got a following and now we sell maybe a bushel a week. We occasionally get someone ask for serranos and habaneros but when we grew them a couple years ago they flopped. My gut fealing is that they are just too much for most people. On our list for next year are poblanos. They are a realitivly mild and are a natural to fix on the grill (we have found that suggesting that cooking anything on the grill gets peoples attention). We'll have to see how it works out.

    Tom

  • randy41_1
    12 years ago

    poblanos have been the only 'hot' pepper that i can sell in any quantity. customers tell me their chile rellanos recipes.

  • little_minnie
    12 years ago

    No hot peppers sell around here until the tomatoes come in strong. People seem to only use them for salsa and nothing else. roll eyes.
    We have better luck at our market putting a mix of large and not too spicy peppers into baskets for $3. I grew more Anaheims and Wax this year for that reason.

    If you put out recipes like for poppers etc the hot peppers sell better. Everyone likes poppers.

  • 2ajsmama
    12 years ago

    Thanks everyone. I've never made poppers - just don't have the patience to stuff anything that small I guess and DH has never asked for them. He does like pickled jals (did them in white wine, a mix of red and green jals, last year).

    I took 2 dozen serranos to market yesterday and half of them sold (25 cents each, 5 for $1). I could have gotten rid of the rest if I had thrown them in with 2 lbs of organic tomatoes. It was 2 hrs into market and fire dept was telling we had 15 min to clear out b4 severe T-storm, a guy asked if my tomatoes were organic (yes), how much for the whole basket (I don't have scale, was selling small ones for 3/$1 so counted them all out, was over $7 worth) told him $5, he was trying to get his wife's attention b/c she was next door scarfing down salsa (finally bought a container and some chips - $9 over there), he *had* a $5 bill but then said "throw in the peppers ($3 worth) and you've got a deal!" so I told him no, packed everything up (after waiting 10 minutes for him) and left.

    Anyway, one woman didn't buy any, but asked if I had anything hotter, I told her I was waiting for cayennes, Thais, etc. to ripen. Another woman bought 5 peppers and was asking about what type her Vietnamese neighbor might have in her garden b/c it was so pretty. I guessed Thai. Not sure if that customer would come back for hotter peppers, or ask her neighbor for some, or if serrano is as hot as she would go.

    I think once I get some different colors/heat (and size - I'm growing a Numex Sunrise that looks like an Anaheim type) people might start coming by. All green is pretty boring. Hopefully the bells will start coming in too (though most are green, the Chablis are starting to get large enough to pick and they're a pretty yellow). Sweet Bananas are just starting to flower - everything's late this year, but those were the 2nd batch to be transplanted even though they were all started in greenhouse at the same time, I used peat pots and even with the bottoms torn off they didn't do well in the garden, had to take the remainder and tear the peat off totally, pull out the first ones and put the 2nd set in mid-July.

    I've determined that it's more profitable to sell berries than jam b/c of the amount of berries needed, sugar, jars, electricity. But considering how few peppers are needed to make a pepper jam/jelly (though I would have to buy pectin), what do you think about that as a value-added product? Maybe a green tomato-pepper jam since I don't know if I'm going to get many ripe tomatoes before the end of the season? I can't sell pickles or acidified foods without testing, but jams and jellies (including those made from vegetables) are allowed. And I can't give samples without a food service license.

    Thanks

    Shelly

  • myfamilysfarm
    12 years ago

    Shelly, the restrictions are the same here. A good pepper jelly, both red or green, should sell well. Here's an idea, suggest buying them for Christmas presents. I gave jely to my hubby's family one year, and they LOVE it and sent my jars back nice and clean. I also got reviews on the different varieties. I found that I can give samples as long as I have a hand washing station (Water jug with a spigot, not the push type). If I don't cut anything, I'm ok.

    If you can wait, those green bells will turn colors. It interesting educating people on why the peppers look 'odd' while they are changing colors.

    Marla

  • sandy0225
    12 years ago

    We sell hot peppers all jumbled together in a big mixed basket. We let people pack their own pints for #2.00. Sometimes they don't put hardly any in there, sometimes they're master packers. We do habaneros, big jim, naga jolokia, jalapeno, scotch bonnet, serrano, hot bananas, and anything else we have with any heat in the mix. We have a rubber glove you can put on if you're scared. Then we sell bhut jolokias separately for 50 cents each. They're not red yet, but no one seems to care. They are single packed in snack size bags so no one gets hurt.
    People love to dig in the pepper basket.

  • lannya
    12 years ago

    We do two markets weekly and take about 3/8-1/2 bushel of a mixture of serrano, hungarian wax, pablano, mucho nacho (a big jalapeno), anaheim, mexibell and habenero to each market. In south-central Indiana I have been getting a good supply of peppers for over a month now and start the season at 3/$1. When they really start to produce I usually end up at $.25 each or 5/$1, which is where we are now. I will always entertain discount prices for quantity. We also grow a few sweet peppers we sell at the same price and 5 different types of bells, they are at $.75-$1.00 each at this time but as we are about the only vendor having a sucessful pepper year, bells will soon be going to $1.25 for largest. I have found with peppers as well as eggplant recipes will sell your product. If you grow anaheims look up green chili burgers and print a recipe, for pablanos have chili relleno recipe etc...

Sponsored
Bull Run Kitchen and Bath
Average rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars273 Reviews
Virginia's Top Rated Kitchen & Bath Renovation Firm I Best of Houzz