After my last update on gardening on the balcony, this update is about something far more rewarding: enjoying the fruit. Mostly the tomatoes.

The Tomatoes Finally Turned Red

Last time, I mentioned how wild the summer had been, swinging between heatwaves and cold in-between weeks. The rest of July, though, was mostly dominated by sunny days, which gave the plants plenty of sun and allowed for consistent watering. Most of my tomato plants turned red, and I found myself spontaneously planning what dishes I could cook with them.

By the way, the tomatoes were all sweet and fresh. This was the first time in my life I’d grown my own food, and it turns out that having no distribution chain between me and nature makes a real difference in taste. There’s a satisfaction to it that I hadn’t expected. Now I understand home gardeners — even small-scale farmers — who grow their own food.

Cooking With What I Grew

The first dish I made was Garang Asem Ayam, along with fried fish topped with sambal dabu-dabu, and toast with cheese, tomatoes, EVOO, and salt. All of it was impressive, and I was genuinely proud that I could enjoy something I’d grown myself.

The Chilies, A Slower Story

The chilies told a different story. They first started fruiting around the end of June. My Capsicum annuum produced light green fruit, while my Capsicum chinense came in dark green.

Both took a long time to change color. About a month after the tomatoes turned red, the Capsicum annuum, the first chili to fruit, finally shifted from light green to orange.

Meanwhile, the Capsicum chinense hadn’t changed color at all. About a week after the Capsicum annuum turned, the Capsicum chinense plants, despite already carrying a good number of dark green fruit, started producing a new batch that came in orange from the start.

Which raises a question I still don’t have the answer to: will the existing dark green fruit eventually turn orange too? Or is it only the second round of fruit that comes in orange?

A small spoiler: I tried one of each, both the Capsicum chinense and Capsicum annuum, and they were hot and fresh. Some people say Capsicum annuum tastes relatively bitter compared to other chilies, but I didn’t find that to be true. Both were equally tasty, hot, and fresh to me.

As for the color mystery, I’ll save that for the next post.