misc Aji Panca vrs. Chili Chalaca?

Marturo

Marturo

Two seasons ago I grew Chili Chalaca to dry for use in Moles etc.
The pic below is in late September & the pods are still dark green not brown.
I picked the pods just before our first killing frost & let them sit spread apart in a warm dark back room.

Although they did turn brown & dried into Pasilla Bajio, I barely got 30% germination in testing.
I did not grow it last season & missed it, so I got to looking around & found Aji Panca.


Have you grown either? I need another pepper for dried use, & one I can get mature seed from ripe pods.




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I like both, but neither has been particularly cooperative for me. Aji Panca has always been slow, especially as to ripening. I'm growing it indoors now and it's noticeably behind its counterparts. With the Pasilla (Bajio), I've had nothing but hybridized seeds the last 3 times I've sourced it since my first year growing it. I have 4 growing now in the hopes at least one will prove true, but so far it's not looking good. I also found it somewhat slow to ripen that first season. While I try to sort that out, I'm growing Chilhuacle Negro, which I hope will be good for similar uses and more cooperative. So far so good, but they're only about a month old.

There's also Pasilla Apaseo, Pasilla Mixe, and Pasilla Oaxaca. The first has been very much like Bajio for me in being long season, but they're nice peppers and very productive. The other two have been faster producers. I've had no issues with seed viability from any of these.
 
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Would you say the flavor of the dried Aji Panca is the same as the dried Chili Chalaca?
When is your first fall frost date, about? I will be looking for your report on the Chilhuacle Negro.
 
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CaneDog said:
While I try to sort that out, I'm growing Chilhuacle Negro, which I hope will be good for similar uses and more cooperative.
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A very, very tasteful pepper, at least dried. I've never tried a fresh chilhuacle negro. I also use this pepper in lentil soups and pasta e lenticchie. Pasilla will quickly become the ex you'll happily forget about.
 
I need to get busy & find some seed, Soon. 😄

zocalito.com

About Zocalito Latin Bistro | A Taste of Southern Mexico

How Zocalito, Chef Michael Beary and Oaxacan Farmers Are Saving Rare Chile Peppers From Extinction … and transporting your dining experience to southern Mexico. The chilhuacle. Its name means “old chile” in the language of the Aztecs, who brought the chile to the Oaxaca region of southern Mexico...
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Negro Chilhuacle - Zocalito

2oz - $16 / 4oz - $25 / 8oz - $40 / 1lb - $75 / 5lb - $325 / 10lb - $600 Chilhuacle Negro: The very dark, intensely robust flavor of the black chilhuacle pepper is integral to both the color and flavor of mole negro. The name chilhuacle, means "old chile" in the Nahuatl language...
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Red Chilhuacle - Zocalito

2 oz Package
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Yellow Chilhuacle - Zocalito

2 oz Package The yellow chilhuacle pepper is used to make the mole amarillo, one of the seven major Oaxacan moles. Over the past few years the chilhuacle amarillo has pretty much not been grown by the farmers due to the higher demand and price for chilhua
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Marturo said:
Looks like a good one to try. 🙂 Does it take a long time to ripen?

www.adaptiveseeds.com

Organic Chilhuacle Negro Hot Pepper Seed - Adaptive Seeds

Chilhuacle Negro is a dark chocolate brown hot pepper with rich spicy flesh that is a key ingredient in the classic mole negro from Oaxaca, Mexico. When ripe,
www.adaptiveseeds.com www.adaptiveseeds.com
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I don't know, I bought my current stash in Oaxaca and I can easily buy it online here. Also, from all the peppers I bought on my recent trip to Oaxaca, the chilhuacle negro was the only dried pepper that didn't yield any viable seeds ☹️
 
Marturo said:
Would you say the flavor of the dried Aji Panca is the same as the dried Chili Chalaca?
When is your first fall frost date, about? I will be looking for your report on the Chilhuacle Negro.
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I don't remember well enough about the pasilla bajio - I think 2019 was one year I got a harvest. The commercially available ones are typically dried with smoke at a high heat, which changes the flavor (versus dried, non-smoked) and results in unviable seeds. I've tried several times to get even 1 sprout from literally hundreds of dried/smoked pasilla seeds without success. I like the aji panca, particularly as a dried powder. I doubt it has the same flavor as the pasilla, but it might be a good mole addition in its own right. Maybe I'll try a little smoke next time I harvest these and see how well the dried pods and powder take to it.

My first frost date is late; November 11-20, but the weather shuts things down pretty much by late October, except for the container plants I pull into the garage to finish ripening. I expect I'll have a small indoor Chilhuacle harvest by April. Interestingly, Adaptive Seeds in Oregon (which is linked as a seed source, above) is doing a multi-year plan to adapt the variety to grow better in the pacific northwest. They reference that they're hoping to make it produce more and sooner, which suggests that it's a little slow and perhaps stingy as to production. I'm hoping otherwise.

ahayastani said:
A very, very tasteful pepper, at least dried. I've never tried a fresh chilhuacle negro. I also use this pepper in lentil soups and pasta e lenticchie. Pasilla will quickly become the ex you'll happily forget about.
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That's great to hear. Hopefully it will be reasonably as tasty when grown here as when grown in its homeland.
 
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CaneDog said:
I don't remember well enough about the pasilla bajio - I think 2019 was one year I got a harvest. The commercially available ones are typically dried with smoke at a high heat, which changes the flavor (versus dried, non-smoked) and results in unviable seeds.
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My Chili Chalaca plants grew to over 5' & needed 3 or 4 stakes to keep it from breaking under load.
They won't ripen before first frost. The pods turn brown if left in a warm place, the aroma dried is strong & fruity like raisins. No good seeds.
I thought about putting the potted plants at summer's end under the LEDs to finish, however my 72 year old back can't hump wet dirt 5 gallon bucket in and out no more.

I have used the commercial pods & also placed the dry pods on a hot cast iron skillet to release the aroma, 🤔 & give them a smokey flavor.
I prefer them without the smoke myself, I like the clean fresh taste my homegrown my pods lend to Moles & many other uses.

These brown peppers seem to have in common, a long growing period like Texas or Mexico has to offer.
Like the Rocotos, the MC mountains may not be the best growing conditions for these Brown pepper types.
 
@Marturo the one time I grew Aji Panca I didn't harvest a single pepper... We had a good season that year, the plant was huge and looked very healthy, but this one needs time to produce, a lot of time so keep that in mind! Neil (from The Hippy Seed Company) confirmed this to me later.

Disappointing because I really liked the description of its flavor😕
 
Bou said:
@Marturo the one time I grew Aji Panca I didn't harvest a single pepper... We had a good season that year, the plant was huge and looked very healthy, but this one needs time to produce, a lot of time so keep that in mind! Neil (from The Hippy Seed Company) confirmed this to me later.

Disappointing because I really liked the description of its flavor😕
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I had to try growing the Chili Chalaca, & I enjoyed it a lot. I did get many bags of dried pods as the picked pods turned brown they went into the dryer for a low & slow drying. The dried pods are black & wrinkly like a raisin & smell really good.

Thank you all for your answers. Time to get back to the Aji peppers they take a long time, however they do ripen a boat load of pods for me.
 
If you can find CGN 23209 seeds I prefer that over the Aji Panca. CGN is hairier, bigger flowers, taste is very similar but I favor CGN taste. Panca is more sour. CGN has a slightly cleaner aroma. Also pods have some differency.

Left is CGN, right is Panca
IMG_20230927_175943386.jpg
 
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