Is there a definitive "dictionary" of Thai peppers somewhere? I never know what to expect when buying any plant with "Thai" in the name.
In my mind there are four basic types that I've seen:
1) Medium-sized _annuum_, broad-based shape a little like a mini-Fresno, fairly thin flesh. I've seen this sold as "Thai dragon".
2) Very long, very skinny, very curly _annuum_, medium heat and pretty much no flavor. I'm getting these this year off a plant that was sold as a "Thai dragon", but they're obviously different from (1).
3) Circa 1"-1.5" pods, pointy, readily available at your finer grocery stores in green form as "Thai Chile". By "finer grocery store" I mean that I stand a good chance of being the only gabacho/farang in the place. :-) I think this is the same cultivar pictured in Wikipedia under "bird's eye chili".
4) Tiny (~1 cm) upright pods with a sort of bullet shape, looks like it could be _frutescens_, seriously hot and with a nice bright flavor. I think these are sometimes sold as "Thai sun" peppers, and I assume they're prik khi nu since, well, they look about the size and shape of a rat turd. (If you have rats that leave anything the size of the other three, I don't want to know about it!) However, I don't think they can be what JungleRain called prik khi nu, based on the size of the pods.
I assume there are lots more chiles in Thailand, but these are the ones I've seen here advertised as Thai. I love #4, whatever it is, but if I don't manage to overwinter my plants I'm worried about whether I'll be able to find more.
-NT
