Pimentón de la Vera

The chilies used in the production of Pimentón de la Vera are not easy to get your hands on, enough reason to give it a try
 
Pimentón de la Vera is usually found in powdered form in 3 grades of spiciness: sweet (dulce), bittersweet (agridulce) and hot (picante). The varieties used are Bola, Jaranda, Jariza and Jeromin. The sweet version is made of a mix of the Bola and Jaranda variety, the bittersweet version consists of a mix of Jaranda and Jariza and the hot version is made of the Jeromin variety. All varieties are smoked for 8 to 10 days before they are turned into powder.
Here's some more info from one of the producers: http://www.lachinata.com/index.php/lachinata?___store=en
 
I recently found a source of whole dried / smoked Pimentón de la Vera pods. I was very curious to know if the (also smoked) seeds would still be viable. So I went ahead and ordered a couple of boxes with smoked chilies, extracted the seeds and put them in my heated propagator.
 
The Dulce variety with Bola pods:

 
The Agridulce variety. Presumably a mix of Jaranda and Jariza pods:

 
The Picante variety. This is supposed to be the Jeromin...

 
As it is already a bit late in the season to start new seeds I only planted some Jeromin seeds. And I am happy to say that, after about 10 days, the first seed germinated!
To be continued!

 

[MarcV]

Great job Marc! Ive been interested in these Spanish paprika varieties for a while. And yes, they are very difficult to obtain.

 
Difficult if you're looking for the seeds specifically, but with the seeds from the pods that are perfectly usable it turns out to be very easy, with the guarantee that they're the real thing!
 
The seeds that I bought from the seed seller have been in the soil for more that 2 weeks now without any sign of life so I decided to discard them.

 

[WindowsillGrower]

I've never heard of those varieties and just googled them. Those Jeromin chillis look nice!

 

[kentishman]

Marc, if I recall correctly, thats what you did with Piment dEspelette. You got a bag of pods from France.

 

[MarcV]

Indeed!

 

[Devv]

Nice work Marc
 
I believe it was PaulG who planted seeds from frozen pods and they came up.
 

 

[kentishman]

Marc, if you are successful and produce pods and save seeds, I would like to trade some seeds with you. I have grown several Hungarian paprika varieties, but so far I have not managed to get the Spanish ones. Thanks!

 

[MarcV]

Nice work Marc
 
I believe it was PaulG who planted seeds from frozen pods and they came up.
 

 
Thanks!
Not that I'm putting a lot of work in this of course! They just grow!

 

[MarcV]

I'm detecting growth in the pot with jaranda/jariza seeds! Let's hope the bola seeds will follow...
I planted the jeromin seedlings out in their own separate pots. I kept 2 seedlings and planted the remaining ones out in the back yard instead of killing them The ones in the pots are now starting to grow their first true leaves.

 

[MarcV]

Many of the jaranda/jariza seeds have germinated. No sign of life in the bola seeds though... not looking good...
Anyway, let's focus on those that do grow
 
These are the jeromin plants that I kept. They look just like any other chili seedling!   
 

 
The jaranda/jariza seedlings : still very small...
 

 

[MarcV]

Just noticed that the stem of one of the jaranda/jariza seedlings is not pigmented. I wonder if that is one of the differences between the two varieties...
I was about to pull the seedling with the green stem as it doesn't look that well compared to the other seedlings, but maybe it's a better idea to keep it!

 

[kentishman]

Too bad that Bola isnt germinating. Dont give up yet!

 

[MarcV]

Well I did give up...
I may try again some other time but I think it's a bit late now...

 

[MarcV]

Yesterday I decided it was time to put the young seedlings outside as we're having really warm weather these days. Unfortunately last night we had a thunderstorm with severe rain and also some hail in it. This hit one of the jeromin seedlings really hard...
 
This morning I found the poor thing tipped over with the head cut off...    The other seedlings also tipped over but apparently aren't damaged. Will my damaged plant still branch out from the cotyledons or is it lost?
 

 

[b3rnd]

Yesterday I decided it was time to put the young seedlings outside as we're having really warm weather these days. Unfortunately last night we had a thunderstorm with severe rain and also some hail in it. This hit one of the jeromin seedlings really hard...
 
This morning I found the poor thing tipped over with the head cut off...    The other seedlings also tipped over but apparently aren't damaged. Will my damaged plant still branch out from the cotyledons or is it lost?
 

 
Peppers do branch at the cotys, I just checked to be sure. Not sure if just having the cotys is enough, but plants are pretty tough. I'd say let the little guy give it a go!

 

[MarcV]

I hope you're right!
 

 

[MarcV]

Jeromin starting to develop flowers...
 

 

[MarcV]

I's been a while since my last post
 
The Jeromin plant (left) has finally decided to open it's first flowers.
The Jaranda/Jariza plant (right) has surpassed the Jeromin in growth and is now also starting to produce flower buds, but they are nowhere near opening yet. That may take another month if they grow at the same rate as the Jeromin flowers did!
 

 

[MarcV]

One week later and one jeromin fruit is growing. The other flower dropped off (the stalk is still present in this photo), but more flowers are opening now...
 

 

 
Checking the flowers if they produce any pollen. When I touched the first flowers I didn't get any pollen on my finger. But it seems OK though...
 

 

[MarcV]

One month further and here's a new update...
 
We had a long period of drought with a couple of heat waves. This seemed to have stopped the fruit production of all my chili plants, but now the "bad" weather has ended and fruit production has started again.
 
The jaranda/jariza plant is carrying some chilis now:
 

 

 
Same goes for the jeromin plant. That first pod is has grown quite large. The plant itself is somewhat smaller than the jaranda/jariza...
 

 

 

 

 

[MarcV]

First Jeromin pod is ripening...
 

 

 
The Jaranda/Jariza plant...