I’ve been growing these great mini capsicums. My dad bought a ‘Mini Mama’ plant last year from which we saved seed. The initial plant over wintered at my house and is producing and so is its offspring. The fruits of this plant produce a lot of seed so saving it is no problem at all. I have checked the plant breeders rights database and I can’t find it there so my understanding is that I’m not infringing anyone’s rights by suggesting you could save its seed. I have to admit to sometimes getting a little confused about when and where I should/shouldn’t be advocating saving seed. My general practice is to check the Plant Breeders database before suggesting you should save seed from a specific variety. I think this is appropriate as it balances the rights of the plant breeders with the interests of the home gardener.
While I’m on the subject of saving seed – I keep reading about the benefits of heirlooms over hybrids for their seed saving potential but every time I save seed from a plant I think is probably a hybrid it both germinates and comes true. For me this begs the question: If a plant isn’t registered for plant breeders rights and comes true from seed is it actually a heirloom masquerading as a hybrid? Or to look at another way; is ‘Mini Mama’ simply a brand name for a variety that has been propagated for years and is being made more interesting by giving it a new identity? Or do a lot of plants just come true from seed? Perhaps it doesn’t really matter but I think the learning point here is; thats its probably worth trying to save seed from most things (particularly peppers which are particularly easy to save seed from) and give germination a try.
Anyway all of this has more to do with gardening than cooking and this post is supposed to be about gobbling. What is about food however, is the fact that I went out to dinner at The Moors Head in Thornbury about a week ago. Thankyou to The New Goodlife for the recommendation. They served a mini pepper with a walnut and feta stuffing, which is exactly what I played around with this week.
Basically I put some walnuts, feta and a load of soft herbs into the food processor and pushed the button. I then used the mix to stuff some mini peppers – mainly Mini Mama’s but also a few Cherrytime capsicums which have a nice heat to them and worked very well with the walnut and feta stuffing. I then drizzled on some olive oil and put the whole lot into the oven to bake. After that I ate them, enjoying them very much indeed.
Thanks again to Veggiegobbler for hosting Thursday Garden Gobbles.
Delicious! I wish I had more capsicums now. Also glad you liked the Moors Head.
Do PBRs prohibit saving seed from plants to grow for your personal use as well as to grow to sell on?
My understanding is that no it doesn’t prohibit saving seed for personal use but it may prevent my giving it away or possibly even advising others to save seed of a covered variety. Does that make sense? Its a bit of a grey area and probably hasn’t been legally tested.
Oh my wordy I have never heard of wee capsicums they look gorgeous.
Some very interesting observations! I think you might well be right about the “re-invented” varieties. And there are certainly loads of VERY similar varieties to be had these days. I did try growing chillies from self-saved seeds, but I got some very wierd results and nothing particularly attractive, so I have reverted to buying commercially-produced seeds.
I wonder if you plants were crossing or whether they were from F1 hybrids.
Perhaps it’s different in Australia, but my understanding is that in the US it is ok for a home gardener to save seeds of patented varieties for personal use but giving them away or selling them is prohibited. And that F-1 thing! There’s so much speculation about whether or not all seeds labelled F-1 are truly first generation crosses or just marketed as such to discourage seed saving. It seems that a lot of gardeners get good results from growing out F-1 varieties that it does make me wonder. And I think that a lot of gardeners assume that modern hybrids are F-1 when the are actually stabilized crosses that will come true, which adds to the confusion.
Your stuffed peppers look yummy! I’m in the process of deciding what peppers to grow this year and the sight of those tasty treats makes me want to add a cherry pepper to the lineup, if I can find enough room…
I think the rules are pretty similar here – you can save seed for personal use but anything else is a bit of a grey area. I absolutely agree with you re: the whole F1/Hybrid thing. You’re comment is basically what I was trying to say only you’ve put it far better.
I never knew that there was so much to collecting seed. I’d never even thought that there would be an issue… Well I’d best look into it next time. These tiny stuff capsicum look delicious!
There isn’t an issue as long as the seed is for home use .
You know I bought a mini mama as a plant this year as I have never grown capsicum and thought this seemed a good start. They have grown fantastically although it is a chilli that is pointed and not round and squat with a mild capsicum taste. So it seems even the growers don’t always get seeds to grow the way they are suppose to either. The chilli is nice but now I will have to source out another one that will hopefully be the right one?
If you send me your address I’d be happy to send you some seed.
Liz, How do you sow coriander? Usually I buy new plants every spring but this year I see that my herbs are coming back but not coriander. I sowed coriander seeds three days but there is no growth showing.
The little capsicums with walnut and feta filling sounds delicious!
I usually sow my coriander seeds in normal seed raising mix. They can take quite awhile to germinate though – about 2 weeks seems normal from memory.
Ok then, I will wait for few more days.
Truly worthy of the title “Garden Gobbles”!
These are so cute. And I certainly didn’t know about the seeding procedures until I read your post. Always good to know and double check. Too bad I don’t have space for a garden. Otherwise I would definitely plant some of these beauties.
There’s always room for a chilli – a sunny windowsill perhaps?