The Pepper Repository

The classic Peruvian chilli is truly delicious: sweet, mild, juicy and fruity. The ones I've tried have been milder than advertised, so the jury's out on that.

These seeds were the real deal, sourced from Peru. The plants don't mind cooler conditions, but they will grow and grow and grow before fruiting, making them very late. Maybe worth restricting them to a smaller pot.

A super-mild habanero developed by Sea Spring Seeds, with a fresh and crunchy bite, and a fruity, aromatic flavour.

Comes recommended, not only on flavour but it’s also said to be prolific and easy to grow. I found it to be both, and also pretty early for a habanero. Makes a great jam, which is child friendly and great with goats cheese.

A rare Ethiopian heirloom pepper with a complex flavour, described as fruity, juicy, tangy, and smoky, with a hint of chocolate. Good for powdering, especially for the classic Berbere spice mix, and also in sauces and stews. The plants are of medium size, and are said to be tolerant of cooler temperatures.

The prettiest pepper I’ve grown, stems are dark purple, and leaves are mottled white, pink, purple and green. Fruits are small and black (occasionally dark purple), maturing to an unusual dark red. They’re also very hot. Plants are small, and vary widely, some being open in growth habit, others compact and intensely branched. I’ll grow mine outside this year, but they’d make a good houseplant. I used the chillies to make a hot paste, which keeps well in the fridge (or freezer).

This particular line has been selected for size, and so may be slightly larger and more elongated than some cherry bombs. Thick and fleshy, they should be good for pickles, salsas, or for stuffing and roasting.

The only super-hot I’ve grown, and on balance a success. It is very late to ripen, but I still got about 45 chillies per plant. A little goes a long way, so it’s a good insurance if you have a bad year – you only need to get a few to ripeness and you’ve got enough for a big batch of sauce. Or chop into chunks and freeze, then take a bit out whenever you’re cooking. Intensely fruity habanero flavour to match the heat.

Somebody took the Farmers’ Market Jalapeño (aka Potato Jalapeño), famous for its excessive ‘corking’, and crossed it with a Thunder Mountain Longhorn. Why they did that, I cannot say, but I managed to get a few F2 seeds, which should be fun. Results are likely to be variable, as the variety will not yet be stable, but that just adds to the ride.

Does exactly what it says on the tin. Medium-tall plants with a profusion of elongated (for a habanero), wrinkled pods. A personal recommendation from a very trusted source.

An unusual habanero, with fruits turning from green to olive. They are mild but aromatic, which creates a lot of options in the kitchen.

Expect fairly large, bushy plants, which will need support as the fruit grows.

Like most Hungarian varieties, one of the big pluses with this is its earliness. Small-medium plants produce large pods throughout the season, and while I never had many fruits at any one time, the more you pick, the more you get. This works well here, as I find them best in their yellowy-green stage, so you don’t have to wait so long to pick them. Similar to a jalapeño in heat, but with far thinner flesh, they work well in salads, on pizzas, or even stuffed.

This is a Jalapeño variant developed at the University of New Mexico. It has decent heat when mature, and is excellent sliced and pickled. Also good stuffed with cheese, or chopped into salads. Plants have a broad spread, branching in that classic Jalapeño ‘Y’ shape, but they don’t get too big. Productive for such a thick-fleshed chilly. Thick flesh makes heavy fruit, so branches may need extra support when festooned.

Impressive plants, with broadly branching stems and bright purple flowers, this one is also unusual in staying green when ripe. Like all pubescens it has black seeds, a fleshy centre and a higher proportion of dihydrocapsaicin. These last two features mean that it packs a real punch, which stays with you for a while. They also have a unique flavour, which makes for great sauces. 

Can be temperamental, so maybe one for the experienced grower.

Despite being a Spanish speciality, these have shown themselves to do pretty well outside in UK climes. Pick them immature, and fry whole with salt. Alternatively, you can leave them to ripen for a surprisingly fiery kick. Plants are medium-small, and the mature peppers are quite large, so you can get a good crop from a relatively small space.

The Forbidden Pepper! You can’t buy these, as the Peppadew company holds exclusive rights to grow and propagate the ‘Piquanté Pepper’ under the Plant Variety Protection scheme. It has a delicate aromaticity which makes for an excellent relish (see also Apple Crisp), and as you may have surmised from their presence in the supermarket, they’re good for pickling too.

This striking character is a natural variation of the Peppapeach, an offshoot of the Sugar Rush Peach line. It should be considerably milder than its ancestor, but with a similar baccatum flavour.

The genetics that cause the striping are such that you can expect great variation across pods on a single plant, from almost candy cane to half and half, or even fully one colour.

The classic Peruvian pubescens, these seeds were sourced directly from their homeland. The rocoto is important in both Peruvian and Bolivian cuisine. Expect heat, fleshiness and a unique flavour.

Like all members of this species, it has the potential to grow large and will tolerate cooler, and shadier conditions. That said, it can also suffer from heat, drought, too much sun and overwatering, so it's one of the more challenging.

Everything about it is long, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit… Best grown with 4 stakes with twine spiralling around, to constrain and support the lanky stems. Early flowers all fell off, and it was late before the plant set fruit, but when it did it was prolific and quick to ripen. The long shape is great for chopping, brilliant for drying, and they make a lovely mild green chilli pickle (achar). Fruits are low in heat when green, and medium when ripe (one in a pot was often enough, despite the low SHU).

A variety developed by Welsh Dragon Chillies, this baccatum has fruity, floral flavours, and a sweetness that helps to bring them to the fore. Not silly-hot, it’s an early variety and highly productive. Good-sized pods with an interesting and varied shape, long and twisty and occasionally tucked in at the base to create a ‘tail’. Great for sauces, relishes, and very tasty raw (if you don’t mind the heat). Bonus point: it grew well outside.

A Sea Spring variety, offering mild, round fruits with a beautiful colour. Pods are about 38mm diameter with thick flesh, and well-suited to stuffing. Presumably they’d also pickle well, and make a good sauce.

The plants are on the large and shrubby side for an annuum, and will need support while fruiting.

I’m a sucker for a different species, and I’ve not grown frutescens before. That said, they’re not so unusual – the classic Tabasco is one, as is the Malagueta. Think small, red, conical fruits, growing in great abundance on compact plants.

Not much info about this variety, other than that it was singled out for being unusually long, and seems to come from Iran. It's an exacting plant, and very slow to ripen, but get it right and there are masses of long, hot fruit.

An Italian heirloom pepper, with a long, tapered shape that explains its 'Horn of the Bull' name. Fruits are around 20cm long and have very few seeds. Supposedly a favourite with chefs, it's a good all-rounder either picked green or red. The flesh is thin but firm, making it well suited to stuffing and grilling.

A prolific sweet pepper with very long pods and a glossy, chocolate brown colour. These are from Welsh Dragon Chillies, where they've been bred to achieve lengths up to 42cm. Surprisingly, given their size, the flavour is excellent, one of the best sweet peppers I’ve tasted. Watch out for blossom end rot, as they’re prone to sprouting fruits quicker than they can access calcium. Regular but careful watering will likely help with this.