Aji Panca

Sluggy · Nov 15, 2014

Picked up a bag of dried Peruvian AJI PANCA chillies out of curiosity.

Never heard of the strain, googled and found THIS :

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/12/spice-hunting-aji-panca-chile-peruvian.html

And indeed, these things have a very strong blueberry flavor. It's like eating smoked, dried fruit (which essentially is what a chilli IS). Very sweet.

Wikipedia says it's a Chinense !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aj%C3%AD_Panca

I call bs on that scenario.There is hardly any heat to be discerned. Maybe the slightest undertones of very mild burn but hardly noticeable. I would prefer a little more whomp.

Question is : Are they hotter fresh ?

stickman · Nov 15, 2014

No, they really aren't Slugger. They're actually a C. Baccatum and have a really long growing season for that genetic type. I tried to grow them here in New England last season. The plants were lush and loaded with pods, but none of them actually ripened for me before the frost killed the plants. I had to buy the pods to sample them.

Mr. Hill · Nov 15, 2014

stickman said:
No, they really aren't Slugger. They're actually a C. Baccatum and have a really long growing season for that genetic type. I tried to grow them here in New England last season. The plants were lush and loaded with pods, but none of them actually ripened for me before the frost killed the plants. I had to buy the pods to sample them.

Where you get the seeds??

stickman · Nov 15, 2014

Mr. Hill said:
Where you get the seeds??

I got them from Judy... http://www.pepperlover.com/pepper-seeds/heal-leve/sweet-mild/aji-panca-detail

They grew fine, like I said, just my season was too short to get ripe pods.

ajijoe · Nov 15, 2014

i grew them this year there a good pepper but not a favorite, there almost hot they have a faint berry-like flavor

Mr. Hill · Nov 15, 2014

stickman said:
I got them from Judy... http://www.pepperlover.com/pepper-seeds/heal-leve/sweet-mild/aji-panca-detail

They grew fine, like I said, just my season was too short to get ripe pods.

I should have know Judy would have them

Just got my order from her!!

hot stuff · Nov 15, 2014

I do believe it is a c. Chinense though. Not all of them are hot.

Sluggy · Nov 15, 2014

Interesting. My ears are perked... the blueberry flavor on these dried ones is beyond faint.
It's actually very strong.

ajijoe · Nov 15, 2014

hot stuff said:
I do believe it is a c. Chinense though. Not all of them are hot.

no its a baccatum from what i gather

Sluggy said:
Interesting. My ears are perked... the blueberry flavor on these dried ones is beyond faint.
It's actually very strong.

they are more berry like dried than fresh

stickman · Nov 15, 2014

ajijoe said:
no its a baccatum from what i gather

they are more berry like dried than fresh

+1 on that... I think drying concentrates the sugars and the flavor.

hot stuff · Nov 15, 2014

ajijoe said:
no its a baccatum from what i gather

they are more berry like dried than fresh

Well you would know c. baccattum.

ajijoe · Nov 16, 2014

stickman said:
+1 on that... I think drying concentrates the sugars and the flavor.

yeah just like with dried fruit especially figs

Big Kahuna · Nov 16, 2014

I grew these this year, I had read that these were Chinense, and the flowers definitely looked Chinense to me, though the pods do look more baccatum like and they don't have a chinense taste at all.

I wasn't impressed with fresh pods, The taste was fine, but the flesh was really thin and the skin was really tough, more like apple skin. I used one pod in a hot sauce along with some chocolate habs which tasted great. The rest of my pods in in the freezer until I get around to drying them.

You can see some of my fresh pods here (the long dark brown pods):