Cucumber chillies

[Rusty Brown]

Those crunchy green chillies dipped in samjang are one of the few things I miss about sh!tpit Korea. I'd like to grow some here in the UK but can't find the seeds on Google. If available outside of Korea do these chillies go by any other common names? Failing that, do you know of anything similar?
Ta.

[donovan]

My wife denied me in my attempt to buy these from the 마트 today. Why, I know not.

They go by the name asagi (아삭이) peppers also, but it sounds like they're more of a 'designer' variety molded to the Korean palate, so good luck finding them in the U.K.

http://bburikitchen.com/korean-chillies-101

[MayorHaggar]

Are jalapenos really that different?

There are spicy green gochu ones that are like jalapenos but then there's identical green ones that aren't spicy at all and just taste like green pepper.

[Rusty Brown]

Good read, thanks. I forgot about 꽈리 고추. Almost heatless and great for bulking out lentil dishes.

‘Lately, you can also find a few new kinds of chillies in markets and grocery stores. One of these is oi-gochu (오이 고추, cucumber chilli), also known as the asagi-gochu (아사기 고추). It’s hard to describe what exactly this chilli is—we called a couple different government offices and both told us that there is no official designation for what a oi-gochu should be. It’s more of a marketing term used by different companies to describe any hybrid they’ve come up with that fits the commonly-accepted flavor profile.’

Just had a thought, I wonder if I can pick some fresh ones up in New Molden and propagate the seeds.

[Pecan]

Are jalapenos really that different?

If you didn't grow up using different types of peppers when making Mexican and/or Thai food, and the like, you might not be able to discern.

Are you a smoker (your palate might be impaired)?

Thai bird chilies, jalapenos, serrano, pasilla, poblano, habanero, etc. are all quite unique, think apples...thousands of varieties, yet korea only sells 2 varieties!!!

Their palates might well be shot to hell from eating all that kimchi/drinking all that soju, that they can't tell the difference, so no need to diversify.

It's kind of sad in a way, but ignorance is bliss, after all, so most Koreans don't know what they are missing.

We grow our own peppers these days, so that's no longer an issue. However, it would be nice if they would offer more than one/two type(s) of onion, potato, tomato, etc.

[Rusty Brown]

My wife returned from Korea with some cucumber chilli seeds, which her mum found in a garden centre. They're almost ready to eat. Surprisingly good quality plants.

[donovan]

Nice. My FiL has been growing some in his garden, and they look beautiful, but for some reason they taste a bit dry and cardboardy. Maybe he didn’t pluck them early enough?

[kyndo]

Nice. My FiL has been growing some in his garden, and they look beautiful, but for some reason they taste a bit dry and cardboardy. Maybe he didn’t pluck them early enough?

Could possibly be poor soil quality. I've been growing some eggplants on my balcony from dirt I stole from a nearby park, and they're really really bland, even for aubergines. Next year I'm gonna try dousing them with various kinds of plant formula to see if that helps at all.
   On the otherhand, my tomatoes have sort of exploded, and the whole apartment smells faintly of tomatoes (which is nice). It's actually kinda worrying me because looking inside from out in the street, it looks like I've got a massive grow-op in my apartuh. 

[Mr.DeMartino]

It's actually kinda worrying me because looking inside from out in the street, it looks like I've got a massive grow-op in my apartuh. 

You mean it was your apartment me and my goons were about to raid till we saw those stupid tomatoes??? Curse you!!!!!

[kyndo]

It's actually kinda worrying me because looking inside from out in the street, it looks like I've got a massive grow-op in my apartuh. 

You mean it was your apartment me and my goons were about to raid till we saw those stupid tomatoes??? Curse you!!!!!

Oh yeah, I think I saw you guys the other day (congrats on finding my town on a map!). I thought y'all were gonna kick in the nearby hof's door again for serving booze to my middle-schoolers. Anyway, the tomatoes at the window are a cover. All the interesting stuff is kept hidden in the next room. Clever, no?

[donovan]

Nice. My FiL has been growing some in his garden, and they look beautiful, but for some reason they taste a bit dry and cardboardy. Maybe he didn’t pluck them early enough?

Could possibly be poor soil quality. I've been growing some eggplants on my balcony from dirt I stole from a nearby park, and they're really really bland, even for aubergines. Next year I'm gonna try dousing them with various kinds of plant formula to see if that helps at all.

I thought of that, but I think it's packaged dirt sold to gardeners, so I doubt it, unless it's just not particularly suited to cucumber peppers or if the soil quality suddenly degraded from last year. Perhaps it has something to do with second-hand smoke from all the cigarettes he indulges in on the rooftop...

Man, if your aubergines are bland you know you got a problem.

I feel like that could be made into a good "Yo soil quality so low" joke.

[Rusty Brown]

Nice. My FiL has been growing some in his garden, and they look beautiful, but for some reason they taste a bit dry and cardboardy. Maybe he didn’t pluck them early enough?

Possibly, yes. As people have mentioned soil quality could also play a factor. Chillies don't grow so well in hard packed soil. I use a mix made up of about 30% rotted manure with loads of perlite chucked in. Really light and airy. Of course regular watering and a feed once or twice a week also help.

[kyndo]

Man, if your aubergines are bland you know you got a problem.

I feel like that could be made into a good "Yo soil quality so low" joke.

   Yo dirt’s so poor, when it goes to the park, ducks throw IT bread.