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What's a good "Thai chili" variety?

I have a lot of Indian coworkers and whenever they hear that I grow peppers they always get excited and ask if I'm growing any "Thai chilies".

I'm not currently, but enough people have asked, so I'd like to add a couple plants. Can anyone recommend a variety?

USDA zone 7b
 
I don't know what the particular variety it was but I found one from the garden center in HD simply called Thai Pepper.  Very small, fat, red pepper, about 1/2-inch in length, 1/4-inch in fattest diameter, medium heat with a nice flavor.  Kind of like the Danny Devito of tabascos.  My plant didn't survive the winter, but I did have a seedling come up, so about 4 inches tall now, several leaf nodes, and grows very compact.  Already has flowers.
 
Chorizo857_62J said:
I don't know what the particular variety it was but I found one from the garden center in HD simply called Thai Pepper.  Very small, fat, red pepper, about 1/2-inch in length, 1/4-inch in fattest diameter, medium heat with a nice flavor.  Kind of like the Danny Devito of tabascos.  My plant didn't survive the winter, but I did have a seedling come up, so about 4 inches tall now, several leaf nodes, and grows very compact.  Already has flowers.
 
 
DO2u9vb.jpg
 
Thai Orange SSE, Prik-Kee-Noo, Thai Red Hot, Prik Jaew, Thai Dragon... i love them all :)
Many of them are sold with different names but look/taste very similar.
I'm growing Thai Burapa for the first time this year, should be great as well.
Some indonesian and vietnamese peppers are very similar and equally good if you like piercing, "dry" heat (Cabe Rawit, Cabe Sumatra, Cabe Keriting, Vietnamese Tear Jerker, ...)
 
Happy growing
 
Datil
 
 
Looks like I'll be ordering like 5-6 varieties of seeds. Today I don't feel like starting more seeds this season, but maybe when the seeds arrive I'll just have to plant them.

BlackFatalii said:
Thanks, I'll give all those a look!
 
 
DownRiver said:
...and for a red, I still grow the Naga J PC1. Great little pepper.
 
https://thehippyseedcompany.com/product/naga-jolokia-pc1/
I'll have to get that at least for next year because the name is so confusing. Over here is bhut jolokia, here's naga morich, and here is naga jolokia....
 
 
texas_pepper_man said:
I have 2 favorites that I grow, Laos Thai and Vietnam Thai. The Laos is yellow / orange, thick walls compared to others, bout 2in long. The Vietnam ones are red and 1.5 in to 2.5in long. Both produce like mad and pretty warm for a Thai pepper.
 
"Laos Thai" and "Vietnam Thai" sounds like someone went and conquered southeast Asia.
 
saiias said:
The peppers we use(indians) here in The USA are thai birds eye or thai red hot peppers. These are the varieties that they sell as thai peppers in local indian grocery stores.

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Thanks Sai! Are Thai peppers the correct peppers that would be available in India, or are they just the closest thing available in America? I figure with the whole world to order seeds from, I might be able to do better than the grocery.
I guess that must vary by region though.
 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
Well, if Bonnie has them, maybe I'll just go by Lowe's. This will probably be the answer for this year. Next year I'm starting seeds and giving away some plants though. Thanks!
 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
I stopped at my local HD Superstore yesterday and they didn't have any..... But they were very limited with all the hot peppers.
 

HD doesnn't seem to carry the same varieties year after year.  Last year I found the small Thai and Red Bhuts, this year, no ornamentals, not Ghosts, and something they claim (Vigoro), to be Carolina Reapers.  Not convinced yet.  Several varieties of less-hot peppers available.  Lowes is all the way across town in terrible traffic.  I am just lazy.
 
Thanks Sai! Are Thai peppers the correct peppers that would be available in India, or are they just the closest thing available in America? I figure with the whole world to order seeds from, I might be able to do better than the grocery.
I guess that must vary by region though.
Back in india, we dont have thai chilli. We have similar peppers like guntur sannam and pusa jwala. They look and taste similar to thai. So here in US, we use thai chillies as substitute.


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I grew the Small Orange Thai and the Large Orange Thai in 2018. The Small versions were better plants; they were short but very bushy, and they produced tons of little pods. They produced earlier than the large version, and the number of pods produced was kinda crazy...

The large versions were taller with far fewer branches. They produced a little later, and were not nearly so productive. I think that the small ones were a little higher, and I think I preferred the flavor of the large ones a tiny bit more. The large version's only true advantage is they were easier to work with. The small ones were two seed bombs, and being so small and thin, it was tough to remove seeds, whereas the large ones weren't a seedy and the structure of the pod made seed removal easier.

Tbh, in not amped to grow either version again, nor any other Thai types, really. They didn't taste bad or anything, but they were just boring. Decent level of heat, pretty much exactly what I expected in terms of shu, but not a whole lot of flavor. Just generic annuum vegetal boredom. I guess I'd grow them again if I was suffering from insomnia, and needed a sleep aid...
 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
I stopped at my local HD Superstore yesterday and they didn't have any..... But they were very limited with all the hot peppers.
 
 
Chorizo857_62J said:
HD doesnn't seem to carry the same varieties year after year.  Last year I found the small Thai and Red Bhuts, this year, no ornamentals, not Ghosts, and something they claim (Vigoro), to be Carolina Reapers.  Not convinced yet.  Several varieties of less-hot peppers available.  Lowes is all the way across town in terrible traffic.  I am just lazy.
My Home Depot didn't even have jalapeno last time I checked, though they did have apache. I wasn't happy with the Bonnie selection last year, but this Vigoro selection seems even worse. Good thing there's a small local nursery. Their ghosts were true last year, and this year they had reapers too.
 
deolater said:
 
 

My Home Depot didn't even have jalapeno last time I checked, though they did have apache. I wasn't happy with the Bonnie selection last year, but this Vigoro selection seems even worse. Good thing there's a small local nursery. Their ghosts were true last year, and this year they had reapers too.
 
Sadly that seems to be the case here too.  Local nurseries and farmer's markets seem to bring in the good stuff.
 
 
I am a big fan of the Prik Kee Nu Thai pepper.  I especially like them chopped up in some Nam Pla which I add to all of my favorite Thai dishes.
 
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