DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703110538

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   90 lines

PEPPER LOVERS CLUB HOT ON CHILES

IF YOU THINK that spicy, hot-pepper dishes aren't for you, Terry Ward could probably convince you otherwise.

A general contractor in Norfolk, Ward also is the public relations director of the Pepper Lovers Club of Virginia Beach. When he's not busy renovating a house, he's out extolling the virtues of peppers.

He'll talk to you about growing peppers by phone (588-6111), by e-mail (chilpepr(AT)norfolk.infi.net) or at Pepper Lovers Club meetings.

His home is decorated with peppers - pepper posters, pepper ornaments and dried peppers - including a collection of hot pepper sauces that fills a wall-size shelf. And he has a dog named Pepper.

Ward is such a pepper lover, he was named the Pepper Lovers Club 1994-95 Pepper Queen. Of the nearly 200 members of the Pepper Lovers Club, he was chosen to write the chapter on ``How to Grow Chiles'' in the Pepper Lovers Club Cookbook, now out of print. A revised edition is due out by summer.

Undaunted by recalcitrant pepper seeds, Ward propagates about 15 varieties of chiles along with red, green and yellow bell peppers in his Bayview yard and greenhouse.

It takes the enthusiasm of a man like Ward to coax peppers from seed, because the seeds are slow germinating and require a great deal of warmth - from 75 to 80 degrees. ``They could germinate outside,'' he said, ``but it takes so long, you'd never set fruit.''

Ward has heating coils in his greenhouse that make a nice warm bed for his seedling pots. The pilot light on the stove would work as well, he said.

And although he grows myriad peppers, he never collects the seed but uses fresh seed every year. Peppers tend to cross-pollinate.

``You'll get a rogue pepper, and you won't know what it is,'' Ward explained. ``You might get a hot bell pepper.''

Ward always uses fine, seed-starting soil. When the little peppers sprout, he uses a light 5-10-5 fertilizer. He waters from the bottom, setting the pots in a tray of water he keeps next to them.

In mid-April, Ward transplants the seedlings to flats and begins to harden them off by putting them outside for a little while each day. At the end of the month or in the first week in May when the weather has warmed to about 55 to 60 degrees, he puts his babies in the ground and mulches well, with a layer of newspaper and then with leaves.

``It's a dry-weather plant, but it doesn't like weeds,'' he said.

Although Ward grows bell peppers, he's not too particular about what kind, using any generic variety. But when it comes to chiles, he's more particular. He has many favorites, some for their heat, others for their flavor, some that dry well, some that do better frozen.

For the person just jumping into the pepper pot, the world of chile peppers can be confusing. The plants are often called by many names, and the range of heat is wide. Ward recommends the following for a nice variety:

Habanero. This is his favorite. He likes heat and the gnarled orange pepper about the size of a golf ball is as hot as they come. Habaneros also come in red- and chocolate-colored varieties and are sometimes called Scotch bonnets.

Serrano chile. For flavor, the serrano is a favorite. Similar to a jalapeno, a serrano is a little more slender and tastes better, he thinks. Serranos also have a thinner skin, which means they will dry well. Thick-walled jalapenos have to be frozen. Ward doesn't grow jalapenos, because they have become so commonplace that he can buy them at the grocery store.

New Mex. Ward favors this long, 7-inch green pepper, often used in chile rellenos. ``It's much more pungent than a bell, but it's more pungent than hot,'' he said. Tabasco peppers. They are easy to dry, and Ward keeps them handy to crumble in a dish or puts them in a sauce whole and then takes it out when time to serve. He also makes Tabasco sauce.

Cayennes. ``They are easy to grow, very prolific and easy to dry,'' Ward says. Some of Ward's favorite pepper seed catalogs are: The Pepper Gal, P.O. Box 23006, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33307-3006; Seeds of Change, P.O. Box 15700, Santa Fe, N.M. 87506-5700; and Shepherd's Garden Seeds, 30 Irene St., Torrington, Conn. 06790. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

GARY C. KNAPP

Terry Ward grows peppers in his greenhouse in Norfolk during the

winter.

Graphic

HOT TIPS ON PEPPERS

Here are some pepper tips from Terry Ward:

A chipotle is nothing more than a smoked jalapeno pepper.

An ancho pepper is the dried version of a poblano pepper.

Ornamental peppers are great for pots, and they are all edible,

although the degree of heat is questionable.

The flavor is in the pepper itself, not in the seeds. The closer

to the stem end, the hotter the meat.