Hey all, I bought a manzano red plant as a seedling over a year ago, it's incredibly productive and to my surprise fruited all through winter. I'm not doubting that is is a manzano red but the pod shape on the plant is a very odd oblong shape, and they all seem to look like they are being strangled at the top of the pod. It ticks all the boxes for being a pubescen and I have no reason to think it's not a manzano but it really looks quite different from all of the images online of manzano peppers, wondering if anyone can pick it as another variety or has some reasoning as to why the pods are shaped like they are. They go from green to blackish then to red, but I find when they go red they go wrinkly and a bit soft so I usually pick them before that point. They are great for making poppers out of. Was just curious as to why they look like they do.
pod Manzano red?
- Thread starter brenny86
- Start date
Rocoto peppers (Capsicum pubescens) come in various shapes, from round to elongated. I've seen rocoto peppers with exactly that shape here in Chiapas. If in doubt, check the colour of the seeds. Black? Likely rocoto.
CaneDog
Extreme Member
Yep. Looks like some rocoto other than a manzano or perhaps it's a or manzano hybrid. If I were to guess, I'd guess the former. Manzano would be expected to have the apple shape and no collar. That guy has a serious collar on it. There's plenty of varieties that have that elongated shape, but that much of a collar seems less common. I think it's a cool pod shape. Probably doesn't work as well for stuffing as round one, but still cool and plenty of uses.
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@CaneDog , you use manzano in a strict sense, but I often hear it applied indiscriminately, as a general name for "rocoto" that is not limited to the round phenotype(s). In my daily experience, manzano is more used in the Centre of Mexico, where round phenotypes are more common. Here in the South, I've only heard the very general chile and even jalapeño (I kid you not). My guess is that someone screwed up, either by accident (swapped varieties) or ignorance (manzano as a general name for rocoto).
CaneDog
Extreme Member
Yep. I hear it used interchangeably with rocoto sometimes, too. I tend to think of it being applied to bigger, rounder varieties, but it's not unreasonable that someone might have named this one "manzano," despite the shape. If I had to bet, I bet on the mix-up, but either way it looks like a good pepper.
Yeh at the end of the day I don't care what it is, was just curious to what the general consensus was. The pods do have black seeds but I noticed that some of them that I harvested a few months back had white seeds in them as well, maybe because I picked them early, dunno was weird tho. But is one of my fav plants at the moment as it produces year round and it produces a lot of big pods in summer, and is quite a large plant.
