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annuum Thai peppers

S

spicy.curry

Is anyone knowledgeable of Thai pepper varieties and seed vendors in the US?

I found a few pages on google describing about a dozen “prik” type Thai peppers, but no one seems to be selling these in the US, and least not with the various “Prik” names.

I mostly see Thai Bangkok and Thai Dragon seeds - with half of the sellers calling these F1 hybrids, and the other half of sellers offering these as an heirloom pepper. Should these be hybrids? Are these one of the common traditional “Prik” peppers with a different English name?

Many seed vendors are selling Thai peppers as ornamental, with no focus on where the seeds came from , or their traditional use in Thailand.

It seems odd compared to other varieties, where vendors typically include a story of where the seeds come from.

Do these all taste about the same, and that is a reason for the lack of interest and information regarding the origin of the varieties?
 
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A lot of the thai peppers appear to be frutescens. Then there's the birds-eye which seems to be the most used.

"prik" means pepper, so you'll need to translate the other part to determine the pepper you want.

I did find a couple out there:

thehippyseedcompany.com

Prik Kee Noo Suan Chilli Seeds from The Hippy Seed Company

Prik Kee Noo Suan literally means 'Mouse Shit Chilli' and this variety is the smallest and hottest of different Prik Kee Noo types.
thehippyseedcompany.com thehippyseedcompany.com
(I haven't used this vendor before but I saw it recommended on another post here)

chilepepperinstitute.ecwid.com

Prik Chi Faa

A medium-hot Thai chile pepper with smooth, glossy, green skin that turns red at maturity. Peppers grow 5" to 7" long. Use in green curry paste, chile dipping sauces, peanut satay sauce and Thai stir fry. Once ripe and red, Prik Chi Faa also dries well, making a delicious chile powder. Maturity...
chilepepperinstitute.ecwid.com chilepepperinstitute.ecwid.com
(Chile Pepper Institute official store)
 
I am not looking for any particular variety. I would like to grow the Thai pepper variety or varieties which are most commonly used in Thailand.

There seems to be an unusual amount of confusion and inconsistency with Thai peppers. I do not know where to start.

https://www.reimerseeds.com/thai-bangkok-hot-peppers.aspx Thai Bangkok is an heirloom frutescens?

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/peppers/hot-peppers/bangkok-f1-thai-pepper-seed-3074.html Thai Bangkok is an F1 annum?

https://www.superhotchiles.com/product/thai-bangkok-chile-10-seeds/?v=7516fd43adaa Thai Bangkok is an heirloom annum?

I see the same pattern with Thai Dragon regarding heirloom vs F1 and annum vs frutescens.
 
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I've mainly looked at Thai cuisine focused sites where I see varieties mentioned by what sound like more traditional names. The challenge is then to find the seeds. It's been slow going for me so far, but I haven't been pushing at it particularly hard. As Hellfire mentioned, a lot of them seem to be frutescens.
 
Probably as close to an English explanation you're going to get on Thai chillies (26m10s):


I would expect that your best bet would be to find an Asian or Thai store and buy dried/fresh chillies and start from there. Any seeds you're going to get are likely to have come from the same place or will just be names without the correct origin.
 
Ah yes, much like Indian peppers but seemingly worse....search a particular cultivar/variety name and you get several different, or different looking peppers. Kitazawa Seed used to have a few varieties before they changed ownership. They still list them, but the images/descriptions look different than the peppers I grew out from them years ago.
 
Indiana_Jesse said:
Kitazawa Seed used to have a few varieties before they changed ownership. They still list them, but the images/descriptions look different than the peppers I grew out from them years ago.
Click to expand...
That's not the most reassuring thing when the pictures change. Many sites use pictures from other sites, so not necessarily representative of their seeds. It's just tough to tell sometimes. I'd given some thought to trying Kitazawa's Prik Mun, but haven't had anything else to order from them to make it worthwhile.

I got some ideas of varieties from here.
 
I do a lot of Thai cooking. Most of my recipe reference sites mention birds-eye as the pepper to use.

Although the only have the one listing, Chile Pepper Institute is the one I would trust over anyone else.
 
I've often had same issue finding/growing Thai peppers. Nothing irks me more then when I spend months babying seedlings/plants - to put 20+ in a garden and find out months later that they aren't what I wanted or thought I had! Every seed seller - has something they call "Thai Dragon" or "Thai Hot". However, you will find that often each site has a different name for the same one. Pay close attention to size of plant, heat levels (if offered on site). I've grown Thai Dragon and Thai Culinary for years (I like the productive, upright pepper growing 100K heat level on these). Every time I have to go elsewhere to get the seeds, I end up with something totally different. The best success I've had with those two has been Reimer Seeds. You can find seeds by region. Not cheapest mind you - but I've had good luck with Thai there. I have also grown Thai Ascent (a more bushy Thai - Dragon side fruit - but under that 100K heat). I keep pretty detailed spreadsheet of what was true and not. The Thai Dragon's I bought from Kitazawa in 2022, were not the same. They were more like the Prik Chi Faa (Which I like, just not what I was hoping for). Already had those seeds from elsewhere (also Reimer). I am growing a new "Thai Hot" next year from Totally Tomatoes - looks/sounds like another Dragon type. Another like the Prik Chi Faa (lower end Thai) is the Bottle Rocket (Johnny's Seeds). Thai Bird is another that can be called multiple things. I've rambled enough :)
 
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