3rd annual Datil Fest returns to Putnam County

There's a push to get more people to know and love a unique Florida pepper and there's a whole festival for it and it's coming up on Saturday. This thing's actually famous in other parts of the country. Maybe not so much here. I love this and we're having fun with the peas today. David Martin is joining us live in Putnam County to tell us more about it. We've been doing the Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Hi David. They're datil peppers, though. And we're doing it in Pomona Park there. You forgot those two Bs. Amy, good morning to you. Hi, John. It's my sincere honor and pleasure to introduce you to Scott Murray, who is the co-owner of Mayhem Datil Pepper Farms here in Putnam County. He's also a U.S. Marine vet. Sir, thank you for your service. Thank you, sir. It's my pleasure. It's always been my honor to put that uniform on. It made me the proudest member of my life. Yeah, amen to that. And yesterday, big birthday. Happy birthday to all the fellow jarheads out there. I hope you're feeling okay this morning. I know the tradition, so up and at them. Up and at them indeed. All right, so we're talking today. Listen, today I learned that we have a heritage pepper in Florida, and it's called the datil pepper. And you grow them right here successfully in Pomona Park, one of four commercial operations in the area. So tell me. What are they? They're fruits, aren't they? They are a fruit. The seeds are contained inside. It's actually a nightshade, like tomatoes and some other things. So this is our particular one that you will really only find in Florida. We try and get other people to grow them, but they can't do them as well as us. No. This is our guy. Why are some yellow, orange, and some green? Well, the orange are fully developed, fully ripe peppers ready to be harvested. The green ones are... Very harvestable. People like to eat the green ones, too. So we typically pick a mix, and that prompts the pepper plant itself to produce more fruit so we can help more people get more datil peppers. Okay, so we're going to try some here at the end of the segment, but we want to be able to talk first. So let me introduce the audience to the other co-owner of the Mayhem Datil Pepper Farms here in Pomona Park. Say hello to Troy Mayne. Mayne spelled like the street, not the state. True. Thank you. You told me, at least. All right, big festival coming up this weekend, Saturday. What is it called? Datilfest. It's our third annual. It's at Riverfront Palatka, 9 to 6, and it's going to be one heck of a show. You should not miss out. We've got a culinary event that's going to be classic. We've got amateur contests. We've got a great music lineup, including the Sauce Boss. If you've never seen him, he used to open for Jimmy Buffett, and Jimmy Buffett actually wrote a song called My Gumbo. So he's going to finish it up with making gumbo on stage, and you can enjoy his gumbo after it roars. And the festival helps keep this endangered crop alive, and we'll talk about that in the next hour. We'll figure out why it's endangered. But in the meantime, you mind if I introduce the audience to some food folks here? Say hello here to Tim. Tim, what do you do, my friend? We own a company called 1820. 21 Hospitality Group with a couple of restaurants in Palatka. One's the Fill-in Station on St. John's Avenue and the Azalea Brew Pub where we brew beer and make delicious food using some datil peppers. I believe you. Right here, your culinary director is joining us. Brian, good morning to you, sir. How are you? Well, how are you? Good. So you're going to be serving something at the festival on Saturday. What's it called? So this is going to be a pork belly bao bun. So I basically made burnt ends out of pork belly, rendered it down, made it nice and crispy. This is a Datil Glaze that we actually serve at the Azalea Brew Pub. We toss wings in it. It's amazing. Great. It's got a lot of applications. Why don't you make one for us while you're doing that? You're mic'd up. You can do that. Yeah, so I got a bao bun here, which is basically a dumpling of sorts. I'm going to fill it with some of the pork belly and make sure I get a little bit of that sauce on there. Then I have a cilantro lime aioli, a little bit of fat to help cut some of the heat, a little bit of added flavor. Yeah. Then we have some cilantro for some freshness. And there you go. And that's what you're serving. It's a messy one. Yeah, it's okay. Are you charging per bun? So this is actually going to be part of the chef's competition. So we are the reigning champions from last year with our daddle offerings. So I wanted to make sure I brought something with some... Some real pizazz. You got a good look on your face there. It looks like you're enjoying it, so. I love that. I'm a big spice guy, so. Sweet. When you bite into these things, you handle them with gloves. So, yeah, I don't mess with daddle peppers without gloves on. That's what I'm saying. It's definitely a mistake. What on earth? Where are my gloves? Well, they're not cut, and these are fresh, so you're safe, but these are cooked. That's good. You're going to win. I hope so. What do you win if you win? I have no idea. Bragging rights. Maybe a raise. I'll get to say the same thing again next year. Brumsh! We promised you a tasting. This thing, um... Before we go, what's the website for the Daddle Pepper Fest? It's daddelfest.com. Daddelfest.com. Is it free to get into? It's free of charge to get into. The culinary event is $35, which is very reasonable, and you get more food than you can handle. Alright, we've got a lot more to talk about in the next hour on that. Let's eat one. Why not? So, you have an orange one, you have an orange one, I'll do one. Should I do an orange one as well? Sure. Yeah. That's flavorful. Alright, so, you do not want to put the whole thing in your mouth. Tip only. Just the tip. Just the tip, John and Amy. Here we go. Very slowly. Cheers, brothers. Cheers. Alright, this is to celebrate the Marine. I'm kind of nervous. Oh, uh-huh. You right down? Do you see how sweet that is? That's an explosion. Capital E. Explosion in my mouth. The heat's not there. What do you mean the heat's not there? My mouth is burning up. Are you lying to me? Mm-mm. Mm-mm. The heat's not there. Your face is getting red. No, not mine. Not yet. It's getting there. You're going deeper? Are you going to get a seed? I'm a Menorcan. I grew up eating these things. Menorcan. I got seeds in everything. All right, John and Amy, do you know where the island of Menorca is? Because there aren't many Menorcans in Florida, but you... Where? Greece. He said Greece. No, it's off the coast of? Spain. Spain! Mallorca and Mallorca. Spain. We are a small but proud group of Floridians, and we keep our culinary heritage really strong. We stand by the Datil pepper. It is part of what we do. I love it. This is great. I want to put more in my mouth. Am I allowed to? Absolutely. I'm eating this flesh only. I don't want it. Golly, jeez. I don't know if I can talk after this, but it's fantastic. Datil Pepper Fest this weekend in Palatka. Back with more here in our 9 o'clock hour. I'm going to send it back to you. In your head, too. You'll be nice and clear by the next one. So you'll be well. There is a push to get more people to know and love a unique Florida pepper. There's a whole festival for it, and it's coming up on Saturday. David Martin is there. He's in Putnam County this morning. We've been having fun with our peas. And you said, where is this again? Pomona Park. Putnam County, Amy, outside of Palatka. And I know that because when Paolo was driving me this morning up here, I read all the street signs. And it's my sincere honor and pleasure to introduce you to the co-owners of the Mayhem Daddle Pepper Farms. Say hello to Scott Murray and Troy Main. Scott, I'm going to start with you because you, my friend, you are a veteran and we are so proud of what you did. Desert Storm, U.S. Marine, spent 10 months in Saudi Arabia. That is correct. Saudi Arabia, we ended up in Kuwait City. So you know what life is like there on the front line, and so we're glad you're back here. You now teach middle school full time. That's a sign of its own. Which is harder, being in the Marines or being a middle school teacher today? Well, at least I had a weapon in Marine Corps. Ha ha ha ha! That's funny. All right, so you now are in charge of keeping an endangered crop alive. It's Florida's heritage pepper, the datil pepper. Why is it endangered? Well, the biggest thing is it's not one of these hybrid peppers, right? It's not been cross-pollinated or hybridized to be productive and easy to grow, like a jalapeno or a habanero. This is a true heirloom plant. And like anybody that's tried to grow heirloom tomatoes, they're both nightshades, right? The same family of plant. They're really finicky. So it requires constant hands-on checking these things on a daily basis, you know, pulling things off as much as just like a pile of dead leaves at the bottom of the pot can throw your whole growth off. And so when you're dealing with a commercial part where you've got 2000 plants or so, it's nonstop taking care of these things. You know, for somebody that's got one plant in their yard, not a big deal, but that's why. It's just a lot of work. There's no automation. It's all done by hand. So that's why a festival like the one that's happening on Saturday, big deal. It's called the Datil Pepper Festival. It's in Palatka. It's a Saturday. What time? Nine to six. It starts at nine. The amateur contest starts at ten o'clock. What do you mean amateur contest? What does that mean? So we love everybody that uses the datil pepper to create their own recipes. Oh. So we've created an event where 30 different contestants make anywhere from tropical datil Ember cake. Thank you. Popcorn. There's a caramel popcorn you can get this year at Dattelfest. She made that last year? This is the winning one. This is the winning one. Can you open one up? I want to try this. And by the way, you do sell plants, the Dattelpepper plants. So the money, the proceeds from the festival go back to helping you raise the crops? It is to promote the Dattelpepper across the whole state of Florida. We really would like at some point to get this thing made the official state pepper of Florida. So if any of our local politicians want to get on board with us and help us with that, we would love to make that happen. I know one that just used to be an anchor on our show became a congressman now, so I'll talk to him. I got his cell phone. All right, so let me try one of these suckers here. These look good. All right, thank you very much. So it's going to be sweet? It's sweet with a little bit of heat. Okay. By the way, you can get some hot sauces there at the festival, all kinds of unique things. You can get some swag, some T-shirts. These T-shirts are great. The front says the Mayhem Dattelpepper Farms. On the back it has the flag, of course, the state flag. All right, well, from sweet to nothing sweet at all about this next creation. Good morning, Tim. How are you, sir? Good morning. I'm great. Thank you. What do you do? I'm the owner of 1821 Hospitality Group. We have a couple of restaurants in Palatka, the fill-in station on St. John's Avenue, and just around the corner, we have the Azalea Brew Pub. Thank you. All right, and your culinary director right here joining us. Brian, good morning to you, sir. How are you? I'm well, sir. How are you? Good. Filling station on your t-shirt. So it's one of the restaurants that will be at the festival this weekend? Correct, yes, sir. Make something for me here while you have that microphone on. This is something you're going to let our audience eat, right? Yeah, so we are the reigning champions of the professional competition last year. So we've got a lot to live up to. So I'm making a pork belly bao bun with a datil pepper glaze, sort of like a burnt end-ish. There's a little cilantro, lime aioli, some fresh cilantro. Hold it up for me. I'm going to get a picture of that before I eat it, because I want to make sure that people on Facebook and social media can see this too. And what are you going to charge for that? So this will be actually part of the competition. So if you buy the VIP ticket to attend the competition, then you get to eat it for free and be part of the judging. Oh my gosh. The sauce also helps. It's the cooling sauce. So, yeah, there's fat in aioli, so fat is what helps kind of tame heat. So it's sweet and sour. We incorporate some other chilies in with the datil peppers to help complement the flavors and stuff. So it's one of my favorite sauces. Ooh, you got a good one. That's great. Good luck. I don't think you need it. Tim, he did well. Did you try it already? Oh, my gosh, absolutely. All right, let's end our segment here with a reminder to people the Datil Pepper Fest is at where in Palatka? It's Riverfront Palatka, 9 to 6, this upcoming Saturday. One more P for us. It's pet-friendly. It is pet-friendly. Please bring your dogs and cats and birds and whatever you want to bring. Come in and have a good time. I'm trying to think of a pet name with the P, but I can't. All right, so we tried the orange ones in the last hour. Should we try a green one? Sure. It's a little bit of a different flavor. I think you'll notice it right away. It's a... Totally different experience eating the green one. That's why people like to mix them. You get a really neat balance. And I saw some that are in between the orange and the green. You can see, actually, where this one's completely turning from a green to yellow and all to a ripe orange. Again, if people come to the festival, Can they try these like this, or do you sell them like this? Oh, yeah. We'll be selling fresh peppers and plants, so if they want to try one, come on up. Take a bite. Again. Don't put the whole thing in your mouth. Don't put the whole thing in your mouth. Tip only. If you really like it hot, go ahead and bite it all. But if you want flavor with a good kick, the flesh is the best. Flesh is the best. I'll tell you, green, I like it green. I can eat that because the last one made my mouth burn up for a good hour. The ripe ones are definitely a little hotter. The green ones are a little bit more on the earthy flavor and not quite as hot. Oh, I love it. But it's still got some kick. And interesting, it's a late kick, and it's an overall mouth feel, or mouth burn, rather than being a tongue burn. So my mouth is hot, but it's not stinging my tongue. Mouth burns and tongue burns. We're learning all about it here on the Good Day Orlando Show. Amy and John, we're going to send it back to you in the studio here from the Mayhem Tattlepepper Farm. David, question for you. Question for you, David. I'm not sure I can answer. Tongue is burning. Okay, Mr. 1821 Hospitality Group, that was the year Florida became a territory and also the year Palatka was founded. Is that what that is? Yes. Palatka was founded in 1812, is that correct? 1821. 1821. And 1812 is? 1812 is a war, right? The War of 1812. Yeah, 1812. No, John, so 1821 is Palatka. 1821, yep. War of 1812. Why are you called 1812? We call it 1821. Oh, you do call it 1821. Oh, I thought it was 1812. No wonder you're looking at me confused. Like, what the hell's wrong with you? I thought the peppers got you confused. Ha, yes! There's a little dyslexia with the pepper. It hurts! It throws your brain. The green one's hotter. I'm going to say it on the record. You lying. People say that. Yes, it's hotter. All right, you got to go. I'll see you in the 10 o'clock. Oh, my God. It's history when you're eating hot peppers. All right, 10-13. Well, there's a push to get more people to love a unique Florida pepper. And there's a whole festival for it coming up on Saturday. Spicy. Ooh, it is spicy. And you're going to want to bring your coat. Oh, wait, sorry, your parka. Sam Martini is joining us live from Putnam County to talk about why you're going to need your parka on Saturday. Hi, David. Yeah, leave the ponchos at home. Say hi to Scott Murray, who's the co-owner of Mayhem Daddle Pepper Farms here in Pomona Park, Putnam County. How you doing, my friend? Doing great. I love the alliteration. Yeah, that's what we're doing all morning. It's P, letter P. By the way, a veteran, U.S. Marine veteran, served in Operation Desert Storm. We're very thankful for your service, sir. It's my honor. The greatest thing I ever did was wear that uniform. We are better for it. All right, so we're walking through your farm here. You have how many different pepper plants? 1,104. 1,104. And you grow them, you plant them in February, and you start picking them in July, and then, well, heck, it's the festival this weekend. So people want to know, why is it a heritage pepper? Why is it considered a state pepper? Well, because it's been... It has not been adulterated in any way. This is the natural state of this pepper. It means that, you know, being an heirloom product, it has no built-in defenses that have been, you know, man-made like, you know, jalapenos and habaneros. Yeah. It's susceptible to everything. All right, and it will get it, of course. All right, your co-owner here of the farm is Mr. Troy Mayne. Troy, good day to you. So Saturday, tell our audience what's happening in Palatka, Florida. Saturday, we have Dattlefest, our third annual. It's Riverfront Palatka, 9 to 6. We've got some amazing food and festival experiences. You do not want to miss this festival. Great food, great atmosphere, great music, and a great time. All right, very good. And you're pet friendly, so bring the pets and bring an appetite. Also, bring some money and buy some swag because there are t-shirts, there are hot sauces, there are koozies, and there are actual plants and seeds you can buy to grow your own if you dare. Buy them all. Take them home, grow your own, and spread the word. Save the daddle. Save the daddle. You know, there's not a lot left in Florida that we can still call our own 100%. We're going to hang on to it with everything we got. I love it. And you got the help from some local restaurants going to be there on Saturday. Hello, Tim. How are you, sir? I'm wonderful. Thank you. You are the owner of what? 1821 Hospitality Group. We own two restaurants in Palatka, the fill-in station on St. John's Avenue, and the Azalea Brew Pub. Very good. 1821 Group, of which Brian is a culinary director. All right, Brian, so... In the last hour, you showed us what you're making for Saturday, and this is gonna be a part of the competition. What did you, how did you use the datil pepper in this? So, we take datil peppers, and we take a couple other ingredients. We take, these are called chili de arbol. And I really feel like these two are a match made in heaven. Like when you take the two and blend them together, the kind of dried raisiny flavor you get from the dried pepper and the fresh datil pepper. There's some red bell pepper, there's some soy sauce, a lot of other ingredients in there. I can't give them all out because this is my prize recipe here. That's what he's paying you for. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So... Everything gets blended together and then cooked down, and you end up with an awesome glaze. I've used it in a lot of different applications. It's awesome on chicken wings. Good for you. For this one, we're using it in a pork belly bao bun with a little bit of a cilantro lime aioli. Competition's fierce on Saturday. You've got a lot of people you're going up against. Are you ready? Always ready. Always ready for a fight. Good luck. All right. So just a reminder, not everything has to be savory when you use the datil peppers. You can do something called datil-maysia. Look at that, sweet and spicy caramel corn, and it's terrific. That was the winner last year. Do I have that right? Yeah, that was the winner of the amateur, yeah. A winner of the amateur. So you've got amateur contests and professional contests. And who's the judges on all this? Well, we want the people to be the judges. So we actually had volunteers that actually signed up on our website to actually be judges, and they were so excited that they got a chance to do this. I bet. Because normally we would get celebrity judges, and that's great. Great, but in this case, having a person that loved that Datil pepper is going to be so much more fun. Who needs celebrities? All right. And by the way, the website is? Datilfest.com. Datilfest.com. Last thing we should mention, on the Scoville scale, where are the Datil peppers? The Datil peppers run about 115,000 to 125,000. There's variations depending on the individual plants. They're not quite as hot as like a habanero, but we really feel like it makes up for that heat with 10 times more flavor. You get so much more bang for your buck with a Datil pepper than you would with some of the commercial-grown peppers. This actually has its own unique sense of flavor. It is unique like Florida. This is Mayhem Datil Pepper Farms. You can find them on Facebook. Go give them a like. Please follow them, and then we'll see you Saturday at the festival in Palatka. Live from Pomona Park, Putnam County, I'm going to toss it back to Amy, Jessica, and John Brown. Aww. Good stuff David.