Unknown Peruvian jungle pepper found in the amazon - Aji Maqusari

jonnyb · Jun 2, 2014

I've just been to a town in the Peruvian amazon jungle and found a curious looking yellow hot pepper that I had never seen before. They are yellow wrinkled unpredictable shaped about 1/2" to 3/4" long and about 1/3" -1/2" wide. I found in the Belén market, where the lady wrote down the name as Aji Maqusari. A google search yielded 0 results. Anyone heard of this before? I bought a pack of them and have extracted seeds from them

They are similar tasting to the Aji Charapitas they have there, a wild jungle chilli, maybe a little more fruity but distinctly different in appearance. So maybe another frutescens?

Will post some pictures when I get onto a proper computer (at the airport in lima on my mobile)

kentishman · Jun 2, 2014

Good work. Maybe you're introducing us to a new chile.

hogleg · Jun 2, 2014

You have peaked, my interest. Following.

jedisushi06 · Jun 2, 2014

cool. Pics?

jonnyb · Jun 2, 2014

I've added some pics to my Flickr account from my phone. Can't figure out how to embed from my iPhone but here are the links:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/8294189@N07/14329256341/sizes/l/

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/8294189@N07/14330884022/sizes/l/

There was one orange one in the pack too, maybe a colour mutation. So I separated the seeds from this one. The taste was quite fruity.

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/8294189@N07/14331886364/sizes/l/

They look a bit like small stubby aji limons but taste markedly different to the ones I'm growing.
I couldn't say at this point if they are even baccatum, they appear more frutescens but just mere speculation at this stage.

Buzzman19 · Jun 2, 2014

jonnyb said:
I've added some pics to my Flickr account from my phone. Can't figure out how to embed from my iPhone but here are the links:

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/8294189@N07/14329256341/sizes/l/

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/8294189@N07/14330884022/sizes/l/

There was one orange one in the pack too, maybe a colour mutation. So I separated the seeds from this one. The taste was quite fruity.

https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/8294189@N07/14331886364/sizes/l/

They look a bit like small stubby aji limons but taste markedly different to the ones I'm growing.
I couldn't say at this point if they are even baccatum, they appear more frutescens but just mere speculation at this stage.

Those look wonderful, nice find!

howardsaz9 · Jun 2, 2014

bring em back if you can get them past the tsa

jedisushi06 · Jun 2, 2014

cool pods thanks for the pics, are you growing these out this year?

JayT · Jun 2, 2014

Definitely looks like an Aji of some sort. I'd sure like to much one.

Indiana_Jesse · Jun 10, 2014

Haha I thought this was a joke at first. Maqusari almost sounds (when pronounced a little incorrectly) like "Make-you-sorry"

shamair28 · Jun 22, 2014

jonnyb said:
I've just been to a town in the Peruvian amazon jungle and found a curious looking yellow hot pepper that I had never seen before. They are yellow wrinkled unpredictable shaped about 1/2" to 3/4" long and about 1/3" -1/2" wide. I found in the Belén market, where the lady wrote down the name as Aji Maqusari. A google search yielded 0 results. Anyone heard of this before? I bought a pack of them and have extracted seeds from them

They are similar tasting to the Aji Charapitas they have there, a wild jungle chilli, maybe a little more fruity but distinctly different in appearance. So maybe another frutescens?

Will post some pictures when I get onto a proper computer (at the airport in lima on my mobile)

Try to dry them out, they let dried fruits through but not fresh ones, seeds are still VERY usable and can withstand a lot! Maybe it could be a wild stable cross?

cruzzfish · Jun 22, 2014

Can ye mail them? I'd like a few of these once you get them through and established.

PepperWhisperer · Jun 28, 2014

Pod shape looks like a bacatum to me. Too bad we can't see the plant and flowers. Open a couple up and bag up the seeds, they might make it through customs more easily.

jonnyb · Mar 4, 2016

It's been 18 months, I lost the seeds for a while, but now they are sown and germinated for this year's grow season. I want to see how these grow and how they will taste grown in the UK.

10 days after sowing and 3 out of 3 seeds have germinated and are doing well.

https://flic.kr/p/Eqkk19

Btw. if anyone can advise on how to embed photos here I would appreciate.

Tinnie · Mar 5, 2016

According to Wiki and a couple of other sites, Aji Macusari is also known as by the name Aji Pucunucho.... I have a book which decribes them....

There are two types: the warmi-pucunucho and the miski-pucunucho. Fruit color is light yellow to orange yellow. The shape is elongated has a soft consistency. They can be preserved by drying and smoking. Fruit length 26mm.
The miski-pucunucho is smaller and has more heat.

There is also reference to an aji mucusario, which has a similar description.

While the decription sounds about right, the photos that come up on google images do look a little different to yours though.

Hope this helps you identify what you found and good luck with your plants.

Scuba_Steve · Mar 5, 2016

Awesome find! I would love to try them one day when they become available!

To post an image:

jonnyb · Mar 6, 2016

Thanks Tinnie, that's very interesting. I imagine they had some local name which may not be universally known, and that it could be known by a different name. I will keep this updated and can give some seeds away at the end of the season for those interested.

hot stuff · Mar 6, 2016

jonnyb said:
It's been 18 months, I lost the seeds for a while, but now they are sown and germinated for this year's grow season. I want to see how these grow and how they will taste grown in the UK.

10 days after sowing and 3 out of 3 seeds have germinated and are doing well.

https://flic.kr/p/Eqkk19

Btw. if anyone can advise on how to embed photos here I would appreciate.

Upload them to photobucket and copy and paste from there or buy a membership from this site and do what the other fellow told you.

jonnyb · Jun 7, 2018

My Maqusaris from way back in 2016 died when I went on holiday and they dried out.

Many more years later... and Im trying again!
I planted 4 seeds and 3 popped! Not bad for seed thats 4 years old. Interestingly, the seedlihgs dont have the purple stems they had back in 2016. As its late in the season, Im growing them in different environments to achieve faster growth rates.

One is growing in a home built Aeroponics/Fogponics setup indoors under a skylight, one in coco coir with hydro nutrients indoors under LED, and the third Is in compost outside for comparison. This one is barely even growing by comparison so I may move it indoors under LED to speed it up a bit.

Strangely they the two inside have rather a different habit. The one in Coco has a very broad Chinense leaf, and the aeroponics one, has strong side branching. Well see how they turn out.
Im determined to grow these to fruit this time, as the seed may stop being viable if I leave it much longer.

Looking at similar varieties, it appears to have a shape similar to Cumari do Para, which comes from relatively nearby in Brazil, and also looks a bit like a Yellow bullet habanero.

jonnyb · Jun 7, 2018

Aslo, as a side note, (and Ive found this with most of my chillies grown in the past) the plants grown under natural daylight light have a flat and even leaf, whereas the plants ive grown under LED tend to bulge in between the veins. Any thoughts on why this is, or if it is problematic? Both seem to be growing well regardless. this is a photo of the more flat leaf under daylight: