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annuum Anyone like the JALAPENO CHICHIMECA

Well, it seems i have a slightly uncommonly used variety, at least in the USA. Most links i find for it are from Europe and further east. The leaves on this jalapeno plant are huge for a jalapeno. Hippieseed says its the hottest they have ever sold but the rest say its medium for a jalapeno.
 
 
Jalapeno Chichimeca is the hottest Jalapeno variety we have tried and furthermore with a great sweet flavour. They have very thick skin and are so juicy. They will for sure make some delicious hot jalapeno poppers. The pods are about 8-9 cm long and 3-4 cm wide, start off green and end up red and some of them get really corky.
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The Chichi is doing well but its really mild to me. Size and production are nice but my other jalas taste better IMO. Maybe later season peppers will have more zip and flavor.
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That's a cool-looking plant, regardless.  Are you only eating green ones, or just ripe ones, or both?  (I'm not familiar with the variety; just curious about it.)
 
I have a terrible time getting jalapenos to ripen not matter what variety. Last year i grew mostly serranos instead and had loads of ripe ones. This year the goal was to have enough plants i could let some ripen. I have an addiction to nachos :D and good store bought peppers have been very spotty until Fresh Thyme market opened nearby. Even the Mexican markets and local farmers markets have been almost total disappointments in terms of heat and flavor.
 
This variety is supposed to cork and turn red but it appears to be uncommon in the USA. Nearly all the links and pics i found are from Europe and lots of the pics show them corked/red. IIRC it was developed in the USA and it is a hybrid. I only found one or two mentions of it on this forum but no real info on it. Other info ive found does say the plants get rather large.
 
Ive only eaten a couple of them sofar. They are much milder than my current Early or Mucho Nacho peppers. So i dont think it has much to do with our weather.
 
I think that the downside of getting into the more esoteric chiles is, one runs the risk of getting jaded.  I used to think the supermarket jalas were delicious and spicy... now, i think they're usually boring and pretty mild (but, for some reason, Jalapeños give me the hiccups like only much hotter peppers can... it's pretty weird...)  In the end, though, i doubt if the markets' chiles have changed much; i think my expectations have just changed drastically.
 
Your plant looks nice to me, and it's set with a good number of pods.  Throw'm in smoothies and stuff.... have fun with them!
 
I grew up with Early and Jalapeno M or Early M. We had a garden every year i can remember. The heat and flavor of the vast majority of store bought Jalas are severely lacking. Now days i see mostly the larger varieties being sold such as Mammoth, Goliath and Giganti. Ive grown those myself and year after year they have been heatless duds. Early and Jala M for the most part have been hot. Some years brutally hot for a jala. The ones i grew last year were exceptionally hot but production was horrible.
 
This year all my jalas are doing well. Mucho Nacho and the Early are much hotter than the Chichimeca. There are much smaller plants though but pretty similar in pod production numbers.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
I grew up with Early and Jalapeno M or Early M. We had a garden every year i can remember. The heat and flavor of the fast majority of store bought Jalas are severely lacking. Now days i see mostly the larger varieties being sold such as Mammoth, Goliath and Giganti. Ive grown those myself and year after year they have been heatless duds. Early and Jala M for the most part have been hot. Some years brutally hot for a jala. The ones i grew last year were exceptionally hot but production was horrible.
 
This year all my jalas are doing well. Mucho Nacho and the Early are much hotter than the Chichimeca. There are much smaller plants though but pretty similar in pod production numbers.
 
I guess, if you've been eating rad chiles since childhood, you're likely to be a little choosey from jump. All we ever had in my garden growing up were Bells, and that's pretty much all my family ever bought at the grocery, too.  Which seems really weird, b/c my Dad used to have an Iron Gut and had a bit of a rep for voraciously devouring the hottest Buff wings.... you'd have thought he'd enjoy some chiles to eat, but my Mom did 100% of the gardening and 90% of the food shopping, and she think that hott peppers are for lunatics.  (She really likes most peppers at the Jala and lower level, though...)  But I think you're right re: the commercial growers' switch to the bigger & blander varieties; I guess it's about sales figures and "curb appeal..." Most markets don't encourage sampling of the produce so, unless s/he knows better, the typical consumer might jump at the impressive-sized pods.  I dunno. . . 
 
I DO feel like I need to figure out what variety of Jalapeño I want to grow.  I like to have lurid fantasies about growing some big, hott, heavily corked, fat-azzed Jalapeños but I'm growing Earlies now and I like the Early Jalapeños quite a bit.  They are basically what I think of when I'm talking about Jalapeños.... spicy, the color of the unripe ones looks "right" to me (some others seem pale), they're just good, regular Jalas, I guess.  But, I sometimes feel drawn to something more "esoteric," which seems shallow but I guess that's why there's like 5000 different types of Jalas...  
 
Im totally happy with the Much Nacho but i REALLY want to try Biker Billy and a landrace variety sometime too. I need red ones for a hot sauce but i struggle terribly with getting jalas to ripen.
 
Its been hotter lately and the chichimeca has slightly dooped a few times in the heat. I need to sample another one to see if the weather has perked them up.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Im totally happy with the Much Nacho but i REALLY want to try Biker Billy and a landrace variety sometime too. I need red ones for a hot sauce but i struggle terribly with getting jalas to ripen.
 
Its been hotter lately and the chichimeca has slightly dooped a few times in the heat. I need to sample another one to see if the weather has perked them up.
Billy Biker is on my short list right now, but I really haven't dug deep enough into the Jalapeño family tree to know what´s out there, really.   Ie heard good things about the Mucho Nachos and the Billy Bikers; love the look of the Farmer´s Market Jalapeños but ie also heard they´re not truly Jalapeños.  I guess, like every thing else, I´ll have to experiment and figure it out.
 
Hopefully, the heat and dry conditions will lend some more zing to your Chichimecas.  Iĺl keep following this post and see how it turns out.
 
This thing is a beast and the last 2 i ate were really hot for jalapenos. Best combination of production, pod size and flavor ive gotten yet from a jajaleno.
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Mucho Nacho is a close 2nd and this plant is under 2ft tall. Great flavor and production also.
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ATM my ChiChi is so loaded with pods i may have to tie it up. :D The Mucho Nacho in the ground got a 2nd wind after picking all the peppers. It grew for a couple weeks now its got quite a few smaller pods.
 
I just picked these from the Mucho Nacho in the pot....I LOVE this variety!!!! I cant wait to see how plants from these seeds turn out since its a hybrid.
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HOTT pods! I got all these basic Earlies coming in. Ain't nothing wrong with them but I wish i'd grown something more exotic
 
The only complaint i have with the Early is pods are normally small and the last 2 years the plants were small. Otherwise i really like them. Both mine got lots of small pods on them again now.
 
The Mucho Nacho and Chichimeca have both been nonstop producing mostly very nice sized pods. Mucho has thicker flesh than the Chichi. Both seems to cork and ripen pretty well. Flavor is pretty similar but to me the Mucho is sweeter/milder when ripe.
 
DAMN, and that reminds me. I forgot to tell my brother to grab a lime at the store. Making a hot sauce soon and chopped relish jalapenos for nachos.
 
Well i removed the seeds from those 3 today and got curious afterwards. Since i didn't wear gloves i wondered how hot my fingers tasted. :D
 
Weellllllllll lets just say after over 15min my lips are still warm. It didn't take long after the first lick to realize at least 1 of these 3 was freakishly hot but like a dummy i continued the "sampling". I tasted a piece of the pepper also. REALLY nice flavor for a ripe jalapeno.
 
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