Unusual Vietnamese Chilli

PSmythe (not my real name) · Mar 23, 2014

Hi all,

I've grown out some unusual Asian chillies this Summer and thought you might like to see some pics. My knowledge of the charcteristics of different species and varieties is not great but I did think these were particularly unusual. The plants come from seeds given to me by a Vietnamese friend who brought them with her from Vietnam.

I assumed these would be some kind of Asian birdseye, probably frutescens, but now I'm not sure what they are. The flowers
are large and white, the fruit are erect, and the stems are VERY hairy, much more hairy than a typical pubescens.

The fruit are black at the moment but I know they will ripen to a dark red. They are very hot - birdseye hot.

harry · Mar 23, 2014

There is the Vietnamese Black Dragon among a group of grey fuzzy chillies that your plant bares a resemblance to:

Smokemaster is the go to guy on grey fuzzy C.annuum:

smokemaster said:
Gray Fuzzies.

Goat weed , Black Cobra , Black Momba , Chile Negro de arbol , Vietnamese Black Dragon , Black Chile Verde , Chile Huerto , Chile Pajarito (not Aji Pajarito) ,and Chile Chiquito.
Seems like there are a couple more in my Gray Fuzzy collection.All are Goat Weed types with some differences between them that you might not notice unless they are growing side by side.

I think the Chile Negro De Arbol was the fuzziest so far but a couple of the new ones look to be trying to out fuzz it.
Biggest podded one so far is the Black Chile Verde,also the biggest plant...

Do you have a photo that shows the entire plant?

Helvete · Mar 23, 2014

It's a beautiful plant for sure

PSmythe (not my real name) · Mar 23, 2014

Sounds like you might have identified it! Here's a whole plant:

The plant is around 1 m high. Vietnamese Black Dragon, you reckon?

I didn't realise C annuums could get as hairy as this.

Rymerpt · Mar 23, 2014

AWESOME

swellcat · Mar 23, 2014

_____

Time for some black salsa.

Those are wickedly good-looking.

Nightshade · Mar 23, 2014

goats weed?

Scovie · Mar 23, 2014

Damm skippy that's a perty plant. Gorgeous in fact.

And that's a Cool Bag too.

McGuiver · Mar 24, 2014

It looks similar to my Thai Black Dragon.

I had a friend bring me back a pepper from Thailand.

Beautiful plant. After fertilizing it I get peppers almost 4 inches long. Averaging 2 inches...

Burning Colon · Mar 24, 2014

i believe it is goatsweed/black cobra, you pick the name that makes you feel good. my seed came from vietnam and i grow them every year. it is my house pepper because it so hardy to grow and blistering hot; i always make sure i have 2-3 plants growing every year.

a good friend of mine, lives in canada now but came from vietnam brought seeds back from his family home where as a child he grew up on this pepper. his mom would use them daily in cooking. so on a visit to his home, i inquired about the cool looking pods that pointed upward and he told me his story. that was over 10 years ago. oddly enough he called me 2 years ago and asked if i saved any seeds as he lost his and failed to harvest any, lucky for him i have tons.

in fact, this was my first post on the hot pepper forum, "help identify this pepper". though i had been growing it for years, searches on things like "peppers that point up", "peppers turn green to black to red", pepper with fuzzy leaves, turned up nothing. i decided to join the THP and post the inquiry, i got a flood of responses and goatsweed was overwhelming. so, after that i was able to google goatsweed and satisfy my curiosity after so many years of growing it.

swellcat · Mar 24, 2014

Drying and grinding at the dark stage should produce black powder . . . a black-powder weapon.

Burning Colon · Mar 24, 2014

i thought the powder would be absolute killer, since the pods are so hot but i was wrong. something gets lost in the process and the dehydrating doesn't amplify the heat nor make it taste better. of course i used the bright red pods for powder and it produced a bright red powder.

i found this pepper is best for soups and stews. i do use it in stir-fry but prefer kung pao pepper or superchili for that. perhaps in stir-fry it is best to fry with it then remove it from the pan - its heat can be quite overwhelming.

but, a really cool thing with this variety is the pinching of leaves, i posted something on this years ago but don't know if the post is available. the pinching of leaves will easily triple your pod production. my plants are still overwintering so i can't take pictures to show you. but, once you start you won't be able to stop, it is that addictive!

when you see two large main leaves, then the two smaller mini leaves in a four set, pinch the mini leaves and they will produce 2 more or quad more i should say. and when your plant starts to produce look out, it will triple bud from the new leaves. it is really cool and like i said, really, really addictive once you get started. once you experience this, you will grow goatsweed(or black cobra) every year just to satisfy the need to pinch!

good luck with your plants and happy growing.

Delta · Mar 24, 2014

That is a beautiful plant! Was it a finicky grow?

It does look like Goatsweed. Gonna have to find some seeds and try this one.

SichuaneseFoodFan · Mar 24, 2014

It looks like my goatsweed pepper. Not to be negative, but just FYI I don't like the taste, so I'm not growing it this year.

PSmythe (not my real name) · Mar 24, 2014

Thanks for all of your replies. It does look like it's Goatsweed.

In reply to "Mild" in Montreal - no, it was easy to grow. The seeds germinated easily and all of my plants have grown to around a metre and have plenty of fruit (at the beginning of our autumn).

I dried the fruit I was given last year (red) and made chilli flakes which were pretty hot and perfect for pizza. I haven't used ripe pods in cooking yet.

I have asked my Vietnamese friend what her name for these chillies is. She's not sure - she's going to ask her mother - and if she comes back with anything useful (that doesn't translate as "chilli") I'll get back to this forum with that piece of trivia.

Thanks again -

John
Melb, Aust

Delta · Mar 24, 2014

Awesome, let us know.

I found Goatsweed seeds at Trade winds fruit.com. I might buy some.

FoodFan, what don't you like about the taste?

SichuaneseFoodFan · Mar 25, 2014

There's definitely nothing wrong with it, mine just didn't have any flavor - just lots of heat.

Delta · Mar 25, 2014

Sometimes i'm actually looking for just that, you know, to push a recipe over the edge.

PSmythe (not my real name) · Mar 27, 2014

Update:

My Vietnamese friend tells me they are called "chi thien".

(the i in chi has a diacritic atop it resembling a comma)

Chi thien literally means "point sky"

She said that what she sometimes does with the chillies at the black stage is to grind them in a mortar with coarse salt and use the resultant paste as a dip for unripe mango slices... Sounds excellent...

justecila · Jun 22, 2014

PSmythe (not my real name) said:
Update:

My Vietnamese friend tells me they are called "chi thien".

(the i in chi has a diacritic atop it resembling a comma)

Chi thien literally means "point sky"

She said that what she sometimes does with the chillies at the black stage is to grind them in a mortar with coarse salt and use the resultant paste as a dip for unripe mango slices... Sounds excellent...

John, I am not a Vietnamese but I know Chinese (Cantonese) and many Vietnamese are Chinese descent and spoke Cantonese. "Chi Thien" sounds in Cantonese meaning Pointing (chi) Thien (sky/heaven). This name is given quite commonly to chillies in Asia that points upwards :rolleyes:

Also have a look at this from another Post http://thehotpepper.com/topic/46437-goats-weed-rocks/?p=978216