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Aji Amarillo

synclinorium

synclinorium

Just curious what other peoples' experience has been with these peppers. My understanding from my old housemate who studied in Peru for a while and poking around the forums is that Aji Amarillo isn't necessarily a single variety and includes multiple strains of yellow-orange baccatums, some a bit thicker walled and fatter, some thin-walled and more elongate, etc., all basically the same flavor profile though.

I ask because I grew some about three years back and had no problems getting ripe peppers off them in their first year. The plants themselves stayed pretty small (<4 ft) but tasted like the Aji Amarillo I'm familiar with. This year I have two overwintered plants that come from a different seed source (might have been Judy, can't remember), but I can't for the life of me get ripe peppers off them. Both this year and last year they grew to about 5 feet before they started flowering, didn't start setting peppers until around now and the peppers were still under-ripe by the time cold weather forced me to bring them indoors (they never did ripen).

I doubt I'm doing anything wrong as my other peppers are just fine, I think I just happened to get a very slow maturing strain. Here's an imgur album with a few pictures (a little outdated, the plants are probably 6.5 feet tall now, might reach 7 by the end of the growing season). I'll probably overwinter them again but I'm losing hope for them.
 
well amarillo is yellow in spanish so for this  strains to regroup multiple  variety is legit because it would be aji yellow so all yellow aji family pepper.
 
Can you elaborate more on how you over winter your plant?
 
I don't do anything too fancy to overwinter, I just prune back the stems to remove most of the green growth (all of the leaves, basically), then trim the roots so they'll fit into a small pot. Give it a good hose down to remove any stubborn pests and old soil, then pot with fresh soil. It doesn't need to be this involved, but I find it best to avoid introducing pests indoors.

After that they stay next to a window until spring, pruning as needed to save space.
 
My aji amarillo starting putting out pods in the last couple of weeks and I finally got one to turn yellow. They're about 3" in length and a good 3/4-1" wide at its widest part.
 
I have about 4-5 plants. The pods take a long time to fully ripen. It seems like they stay green for about a month. I got a small early batch last month, and round two is just starting to show color. Mine start yellowish and turn orange (pepperlover variety). They are against the west side of my house and get sun from about 1pm until almost sundown.
 
synclinorium said:
Just curious what other peoples' experience has been with these peppers. My understanding from my old housemate who studied in Peru for a while and poking around the forums is that Aji Amarillo isn't necessarily a single variety and includes multiple strains of yellow-orange baccatums, some a bit thicker walled and fatter, some thin-walled and more elongate, etc., all basically the same flavor profile though.

I ask because I grew some about three years back and had no problems getting ripe peppers off them in their first year. The plants themselves stayed pretty small (<4 ft) but tasted like the Aji Amarillo I'm familiar with. This year I have two overwintered plants that come from a different seed source (might have been Judy, can't remember), but I can't for the life of me get ripe peppers off them. Both this year and last year they grew to about 5 feet before they started flowering, didn't start setting peppers until around now and the peppers were still under-ripe by the time cold weather forced me to bring them indoors (they never did ripen).

I doubt I'm doing anything wrong as my other peppers are just fine, I think I just happened to get a very slow maturing strain. Here's an imgur album with a few pictures (a little outdated, the plants are probably 6.5 feet tall now, might reach 7 by the end of the growing season). I'll probably overwinter them again but I'm losing hope for them.
Click to expand...
They are really nice looking healthy plants. How much sun do they get where they are located ?
 
The Amarillos seems a bit more sensitive to the heat than other Baccatum strains.  I got a few pods in early May but have seen nothing since.  Over the last two weeks our monsoonal weather has cooled things off a little and most of my plants have flowered and set fruit.  The Amarillo is doing the same, but was one of the last to get going.  (By comparison, my A. Pineapple, Peruvian, Angello, Inca Red Drop, Cap267, and other Baccatum have been flowering and fruiting since mid-July or so.) 
 
What sort of sun exposure are yours getting?  A shade cloth might get them flowering a little earlier.
(Mine are growing in the shade of a giant mesquite.)  I've even contemplated a water misting system to cool them to more favorable temps.
 
I grew Amarillo last year, It got about 5 feet tall but was a poor producer compared to the other Aji varieties I grew.   I maybe picked about 30 chili's from the plant, not the worst thing but the variety didnt impress me enough to grow again.  It was grown in partial shade, and we had a mild summer last year and a lot of rain.  Most of the Aji plants I have grown thrive in that type of weather. 
 
 
This year growing Aji Cito, Melacoton, Dedo De Moca, Aji Penca, and Omnicolor.  Extremely happy with all that I have grown this year. 
 
It gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight and then a few more hours of filtered sunlight. It could do with more but I can't really do anything about that. The plants are healthy so I'll just wait and hope for the best.
 
ChiliNoob said:
I grew them last year, huge plants with few pods and took forever to ripen. First frost hit before most of them were ripe.
Click to expand...
 
Glad I wasnt the only one with this problem.  All other Aji types I grow I get crazy production, hundreds upon hundreds of pods from each plant.  The Amarillo just leaves me very dissatisfied in that regard. 
 
Hi Dale!
 
I grew both the traditional large Aji Amarillo and also Paul Griffith's smaller "Peruvian Market" Aji Amarillo for several years. The flavor and texture of both are very hard to beat, and it's easy to see why it's the most popular of all C. baccatum peppers. There is a perfect balance of sweetness and spiciness, along with the wonderful crunchy juiciness that make Aji Amarillo like pepper candy to me.
 
I found, however, that in the North Louisiana climate the only way I could get the large variety to produce was to accept that I would get no ripe fruit the first season, then overwinter it in a huge whisky barrel, so that it could get a "running start" on the second season, and take full advantage of the more temperate spring weather to set flowers and fruit instead of wasting the good weather growing from transplant size to production size.
 
For me it was easier to get Chile Manzano to produce here than the large-pod Aji Amarillo, so I eventually gave up growing it. To satisfy my "big-pod-crunchy-juicy-sweet-spicy" pepper cravings I now grow New Mexico 6-4 and New Mexico Big Jim. Arguably not as elegant as Aji Amarillo, but damn fine chiles, with plenty of juice, crunch, and sugar…And I am real excited this year about overwintering 5 plants of Chile Manzano... :cool:
 
Gary
 
windchicken said:
Hi Dale!
 
I grew both the traditional large Aji Amarillo and also Paul Griffith's smaller "Peruvian Market" Aji Amarillo for several years. The flavor and texture of both are very hard to beat, and it's easy to see why it's the most popular of all C. baccatum peppers. There is a perfect balance of sweetness and spiciness, along with the wonderful crunchy juiciness that make Aji Amarillo like pepper candy to me.
 
I found, however, that in the North Louisiana climate the only way I could get the large variety to produce was to accept that I would get no ripe fruit the first season, then overwinter it in a huge whisky barrel, so that it could get a "running start" on the second season, and take full advantage of the more temperate spring weather to set flowers and fruit instead of wasting the good weather growing from transplant size to production size.
 
For me it was easier to get Chile Manzano to produce here than the large-pod Aji Amarillo, so I eventually gave up growing it. To satisfy my "big-pod-crunchy-juicy-spicy" pepper cravings I now grow New Mexico 6-4 and New Mexico Big Jim. Arguably not as elegant as Aji Amarillo, but damn fine chiles, with plenty of juice, crunch, and sugar…And I am real excited this year about overwintering 5 plants of Chile Manzano... :cool:
 
Gary
Click to expand...
 
Good point on overwintering them, I had to do the same with the Goats Weed aka Black Cobra pepper plant.  The first year I grew production was pathetic, I overwintered and the second year I had Goats Weed peppers coming out the yin yang.  Sadly I find over-wintering a nuisance and it's trivial but my wife seems to take delight in complaining about my over-winters even though they arent in the way and they help with air quality.   I am gonna skip overwintering anything this year. 
 
cheers
 
Buzzman19 said:
 
Good point on overwintering them, I had to do the same with the Goats Weed aka Black Cobra pepper plant.  The first year I grew production was pathetic, I overwintered and the second year I had Goats Weed peppers coming out the yin yang.  Sadly I find over-wintering a nuisance and it's trivial but my wife seems to take delight in complaining about my over-winters even though they arent in the way and they help with air quality.   I am gonna skip overwintering anything this year. 
 
cheers
Click to expand...
 
I totally agree with you, Buzz…Overwintering is a complete pain. Chile Manzano, however, is worth the grief! I will put them in either large resin planters or oak whisky barrels, which I set on furniture dollies. That way I can wheel them in and out of the garage as the weather allows. I am lucky that my garage is on the south side of the house, and there is enough driveway space for several plants to bask in the warmth of those nice January and February days that we sometimes get...
 
This is my 3-year-old Sonoran Chiltepin, in a Jack Daniels half-barrel, which, if I remember correctly, is 32 gallons capacity:
 
Chiltepin_Aug1_45.jpg
 
windchicken said:
 
I totally agree with you, Buzz…Overwintering is a complete pain. Chile Manzano, however, is worth the grief! I will put them in either large resin planters or oak whisky barrels, which I set on furniture dollies. That way I can wheel them in and out of the garage as the weather allows. I am lucky that my garage is on the south side of the house, and there is enough driveway space for several plants to bask in the warmth of those nice January and February days that we sometimes get...
 
This is my 3-year-old Sonoran Chiltepin, in a Jack Daniels half-barrel, which, if I remember correctly, is 32 gallons capacity:
 
Chiltepin_Aug1_45.jpg
Click to expand...
WOW!
 
Buzzman19 said:
I grew Amarillo last year, It got about 5 feet tall but was a poor producer compared to the other Aji varieties I grew.   I maybe picked about 30 chilis from the plant, not the worst thing but the variety didn't impress me enough to grow again.  It was grown in partial shade, and we had a mild summer last year and a lot of rain.  Most of the Aji plants I have grown thrive in that type of weather. 
 
This year growing Aji Cito, Melacoton, Dedo De Moca, Aji Penca, and Omnicolor.  Extremely happy with all that I have grown this year. 
Click to expand...
 
How do you like the Dedo De Moca?  They sound great and are on my "Buy!" list as soon as Judy replenishes her stock.
 
Like the others, I'd vote A.Amarillo as one of the less productive baccatum.  (Easily the least productive of the 8~9 varieties I've grown here in Az.)  Try A.Anjelo as a sota-close substitute that will drown you in fruit.
 
Geonerd said:
 
How do you like the Dedo De Moca?  They sound great and are on my "Buy!" list as soon as Judy replenishes her stock.
 
Like the others, I'd vote A.Amarillo as one of the less productive baccatum.  (Easily the least productive of the 8~9 varieties I've grown here in Az.)  Try A.Anjelo as a sota-close substitute that will drown you in fruit.
Click to expand...
 
 
There was a big discussion about the Dedo De Moca I am growing, I posted a thread in Pepper I.D. section.  I am still not 100% sure what I am growing is Dedo De Moca but whatever it is its amazing. 
 
The thread is located right here and this chili was my biggest surprise of the year, in the taste category it blew everything else away. 
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/56363-aji-type/
 
 
I have to assign it some name so I'll stick with that for next years grow. 
 
bac's take longer to ripen in general it seems.
My Aji brazil starfish sit on the plant for a month or so before going red finally.
My Aji Verde is about the same as amarillo with big juicy pods but really sucks at producing first year it seems.
 
My Aji pineapple is good at producing though.
 
I have to agree with juanitos. My Amarillo, Starfish, and Ethiopian fire have taken and are taking forever to ripen. OTOH, my pineapple and aji cito seems to ripen fairly normally.
 
Geonerd said:
 
 
Like the others, I'd vote A.Amarillo as one of the less productive baccatum.  (Easily the least productive of the 8~9 varieties I've grown here in Az.) 
Click to expand...
 
Please don't take this as criticism or condescending, self-serving "illumination"…I mean this in the kindest, friendliest way, as a fellow chile head who has been disappointed by his experience with the classic, true Aji Amarillo.
 
Aji Amarillo predates even the Inca Civilization by thousands of years. Images of its plants have been found on jars dating back to long before the great structures at Machu Picchu were built. What we have today is the result of selection for more generations than we can imagine. The ancient breeders of this pepper knew what they were doing, and I don't think they were selecting for poor production...It is unfortunate when one attempts to grow a prized thousands-years-old-landrace far from its established home, in soil and climatic conditions far different from its homeland, and then characterizes it as "one of the less productive baccatums." I had the very same experience as everyone else here: Aji Amarillo wouldn't perform for me, but it wasn't the fault of the pepper, it was my fault for attempting to make it produce in a place that was not the Andes. Check out what Aji Amarillo can do in its happy home:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r6Pxw-v_d0
 
Arrrrg…If anyone can tell me how to embed a YouTube video in a THP post, please hollah…Otherwise, you got the above link to a great vid of a huge Aji Amarillo harvest in Peru...
 
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