The FoodPage spent last Saturday morning at Walkerswood St Ann in fellowship with the community. It was an emotional experience for many as the Governor General, the Most Hon Sir Howard Cooke, broke ground for a new J$150-M state-of-the-art factory for Walkerswood Caribbean Foods Ltd.

Yet another highlight of the morning was the ‘thank you’ given by Scotch Bonnet farmer of 25 years, Apple Francis.

Francis gathers his seeds from a Mr Mitchell of St Mary and plants in February. His specialities are the West Indian Red and the Scotch Bonnet Pepper. After two months the West Indian Reds are ready for reaping,but the Scotch Bonnets require three months.

At age 78, Francis is in the fields 6 days a week from as early as 5:30am and works until 7:00 pm (during the summer months). Sunday is his day of worship at the Walkerswood Baptist Church where he is a deacon.

His pride at being part of this community and naturally the success of Walkerswood, is evident as he takes us down to his fields and shows us his magnificent-looking peppers. We ask him for a pepper tip or two to share with our readers.

“The Scotch bonnet pepper is green when young and yellow when ripe. When buying the Scotch bonnet pepper for that Sunday pot of rice and peas buy one that’s not fully ripe. (more green than yellow). Ripe peppers will burst and give you more pepper than flavour in your pot. If you’re seasoning meat, the yellow ones give a better flavour for seasoning”.

Lovers of pepper, and now big fans of Apple Francis, how can we ever look at a Scotch Bonnet Pepper without remembering Apple?

The FoodPage encourages readers to support our farmers, seek out their products, and buy Jamaican.

Our Recipe Corner presents recipes from Walkerswood.

Bon Appetit!