I'm feeling a bit of nostalgia writing this thread, because I used to post these reviews on GardenWeb many years ago. They always generated good discussion, hopefully this thread can do the same. These are the types that I grew this year, with some observations about them. Each of them was only a single plant, except where noted. I didn't take good notes on ripening times this year (like I used to) so I can't include any of that data. Here is a link to my GLOG with photos of all of the plants described in this thread: https://thehotpepper.com/threads/njchileheads-semi-retroactive-rocoto-heavy-glog-2024.78138/
Grown in raised beds:
Hot Sunset Hybrid (C. annuum): From Tomatogrowers.com. A Hungarian hot wax-type pepper. Moderately productive, taste is underdeveloped when green but becomes very nice and sweet when fully ripened to red. Nice heat but nowhere near overwhelming. I used these to make banana peppers for sandwiches and other applications, which are far superior than what you can get in the store. A nice choice if you're looking for a Hungarian Wax type!
Shishito (C. annuum): From Baker Creek Seeds. I've grown this pepper several times over the years, and every time I've grown it, I appreciate the flavor but am underwhelmed by production and performance of the plant itself. It's been used as a frying pepper in our family, fried with a little olive oil and sea salt. They are delicious, with a light smokiness and the typical annuum sweetness. Still, I'm planning to trial Pimento de Padron next year as a frying pepper. If they don't do the trick, I'm falling back on the old standby of long hots as the frying pepper of choice. That's not to say I'll never grow Shishito again, but I'm on the lookout for something better if better is out there.
Sugar Rush Peach (C. baccatum): From Baker Creek Seeds. This may be the cultivar that lit a little spark for C. baccatum for me. Over the years I've grown a few baccatums but I just didn't feel strongly about them, probably because I was comparing them to my chinenses (which I had a historical love affair with). Sugar Rush Peach really lived up to its reputation as being sweet and fuity-tasting with a little heat. The plant was also VERY productive. Staking/support is a must for this plant, as well as a great deal of patience when waiting for it to ripen. When I first tried it, initial impressions made me think that it would be best used as a fresh pepper (over salads, etc.) but a little experimenting with jelly recipes led me to discover that sugar rush peach jelly is just outrageous-so sweet and delicious. If you've never tried baccatums or if even if you haven't tried this particular type, I think it's a nice type to include on the list.
Caribbean Red Habanero (C. chinense): From Tomatogrowers.com. This is one of the first habanero types that I ever grew, back in 2005. One of my fondest memories of my early years growing peppers is one of my friends taking an unsolicited bite out of a Caribbean Red Hab and nearly losing his soul on my back lawn. Good times. Every few years they find a place in my garden and are always a welcome addition. A beautiful, lantern-shaped red habanero with high heat (>300K SHU) and a nice fruity flavor. Excellent for pickling, jellies, etc. Very productive, but keep in mind when spacing them that they have a sprawling growth habit. They are easily outshaded by other, taller plants if they are close by. For this reason, these are a good candidate for a potted habanero.
Jamaican Hot Chocolate (C. chinense): this one was from seed that I've been saving and growing over many years, but I believe that my original seed was from Tomatogrowers.com. I've grown well over 100 different types of peppers over the years, including a few other different types of chocolate and brown chinenses, and Jamaican Hot Chocolate is a staple in my garden. It's enormously productive, seems relatively disease-resistant, and produces beautiful, tasty hot berries with nice heat (est. >400-500K SHU). The taste of chocolate/brown chinenses is typically earthy-smoky-savory, but these have a hint of something else in them that balances it out and makes it a nice overall flavor. Essential for adding depth of flavor to Caribbean preparations, as well as complementing the citrusy-ness of the yellow chinenses and the savory-fruitiness of the red chinenses in sauces, pickled preparations, etc. I made a Caribbean blend jelly with these and it came out REALLY good.
Antillais Caribbean Habanero (C. chinense): From Semillas La Palma. I grew this pepper once or twice over the years, but never took close notes on it. I always remembered it as a tall, productive plant that gives nice, fruity flavored red berries. This year's plant was massive, taller and wider than any other chinense in my garden and sprawled over the top of several others. The first few fruit were very large, but there were few of them. They were beautiful, shiny, and very nice tasting but with relatively low heat for a Caribbean landrace pepper (maybe 100-150K SHU). After ripening the first crop, a second crop developed that was massive. There are photos of it on my GLOG. I was very excited about the second crop and wanted to experiment with some hot sauces with of the size of the upcoming harvest. Unfortunately, we had a dry spell followed by a very rainy spell that cracked all of the fruit as they ripened. It was so disheartening to see their sensitivity to deep cracking (the other chinenses had -some-cracking but the fruit quality was not affected the way the Antillais Caribbeans were). I can recommend this type for flavor but have to forewarn others to this drawback about them. With limited space in my garden, I might opt to not grow these again. Based on @Marturo 's feedback and recommendations, Aji Chombo may be the red chinense that finds a permanent place in my garden. Time will tell.
Yellow Scotch Brains (C. chinense): From Semillas La Palma. WOW! This was such a pleasant surprise. If pressed to grow only one chinense per season, my response over the past 15 years would be to grow a yellow scotch bonnet. My mind may have been changed. This type has the flavor of a scotch bonnet plus an added citrusy-ness that complements it but does not overwhelm. It's like scotch bonnet meets fatalii version 2.0. The plant was very productive, delicious, and HOT! (well over 500K SHU). My wife is absolutely addicted to pickled scotch bonnets, and when she tried these, she said they might be better. That's quite a testament because she tends to stick with things if they work for her. I'm also sold on these. If you have never tried them, I highly recommend them.
Scotch Bonnet Yellow, Baker Creek, 2 plants (C. chinense): there are many strains of yellow scotch bonnet out there. Some are a little better than others, but at the end of the day, it's a scotch bonnet, and that's a good thing. In the middle of winter, when you take that canned jar of hot sauce, pickles or jelly off the shelf and add it to your food, I'd think it would be very unusual to wish it away for a slightly better type. This type was a little bushier and lower profile than a few others that I've tried, but it's a scotch bonnet. Delicious, nice heat, and just an overall great fruit that might make other chinenses jealous. If you've grown scotch bonnets, you know. If you haven't, 2025 is right around the corner!
Grown in pots:
Trinidad Scorpion (C. chinense): this is from seed that I've had for many years, the same seed line that I sent to Butch Taylor many years ago that eventually ended up being sent to the Guinness Book of World Records. The origin of this type is Valley View Nurseries in Cockeysville, Maryland, and it was originally brought back from Trinidad by a seed collector named Punky Foard. Tall, attractive, and productive plants produce superhot fruit (1,000,000 SHU?) that are shockingly hot but retain a nice flavor that many other superhots don't have. If you love the superhots and haven't grown these (or haven't grown them much over the years) they're a worthwhile addition to the rotation. Great for sauces, pickles, jellies, and a great conversation piece among friends.
Rocoto Turbo (C. pubescens) 2 plants: From Semillas La Palma. This was my first year growing Rocoto types. I'm now absolutely fascinated with them. I might make a separate thread just sharing anecdotes about growing, but to keep it strictly a review about types, this orange-fruited pubescens has a nice, rich vegetal flavor with some light fruity sweetness that complements the base bell-pepper flavor. It sets a large number of very heavy fruit (staking/caging is an absolute must, both of my Turbos had multiple broken branches from the weight of the fruit). I've read that the heat levels of Rocotos are variable from fruit to fruit. I definitely experienced this, but overall these are very hot. Generally, if the placenta is removed, there is much less heat overall, but there were times when I got a hit of the placenta and it was VERY hot. In fact one of my earliest ripe Turbo fruit was one of the hottest things I've ever put in my mouth. I was actually shocked by how hot it was. This is a very productive type and, if you follow the growing guidelines for C. pubescens, you'll find them relatively easy to grow. I haven't grown enough pubescens to do a comprehensive comparison, but I'm not disappointed at all by this type. I made some pickles with Kirby cucumbers and Rocoto Turbo and they were really, really good. I've also made some jellies and spreads with them, but I find that they also work very well as fresh peppers in salads or anywhere fresh peppers can be used.
Rocoto de Seda (C. pubescens) 2 plants: From Semillas La Palma. This type had one or two eccentricities that contrasted with the other two pubescens types that I grew. The de Seda leaves were clearly more pubescent, and it is a much sturdier, stronger plant than the other two. One of my de Sedas fell over in a windstorm and the entire weight of the plant (plus a 6 gallon pot with very wet soil) was lying on the branches and they never broke. Another observation: taking some liberties and using tomatoes as an example, de Sedas seem to have a more indeterminate fruiting habit than the other two. The Turbos were especially determinate, setting a number of fruit and then stopping altogether, where the de Sedas set fruit constantly through the period of time that the temps were appropriate. They also seem to like cooler daytime temps than the other two. De Sedas really struggled to set fruit when the daytime temps were over about 75 degrees, and nighttime temps in the 40's didn't slow them down one bit. We had a week in early September that was rather raw, daytime temps in the 60's, nighttime temps in the 40's with light rain and overcast all week, and the de Sedas set fruit like champs. The fruit themselves were almost as hot as the Turbos, and the heat was slightly less variable. The fruit are larger than Turbos, with a different morphology, but still very heavy and thick walled. The taste is different enough than the Turbos to keep it interesting. This type had a less fruity, vegetal flavor with slightly less sweetness, and almost a hint of light bitterness but nothing that would lessen the eating experience. It's hard to pinpoint underlying flavors sometimes but there was almost a celery-like flavor that complemented the bell pepper taste. I would recommend these for the same applications as the Turbos, although I never used them in any sweet-hot preparations like jellies. Fresh, in salads, they are really nice.
Ecuadorian Red Pepper from Hell (C. pubescens) 2 plants: From Semillas La Palma. Wow. Really, WOW. I had no idea what I've been missing. There is some actual regret here for not pursuing these much sooner. I have some records from 2006 saying that I tried to grow these and they failed, but I didn't include any detail. It was so many peppers and so many years ago that I don't recall whether the seeds failed to germinate, or if I tried to stick it in ground and the heat killed it, or several other possibilities. This one started off slow and lingered (like the other two) over the summer, but when we got an early cold spell at the end of August (nighttime lows in the low-mid 50's) this one took off like a bat out of hell and became such a sprawling mess that I had to stick both of them in Adirondack chairs to keep them from running out over the ground. Caging these is absolutely necessary! They became LOADED with fruit, and once they began setting, they seemed unaffected by some brief hot spells. It was a very long 8 weeks from fruit set to ripening, but so worth the wait. The first one or two that I tried were ripe but not ripe enough. They were completely (bright) red, hot, and tasted like a nice, sweet bell pepper with some lingering grassiness. Over time, I started letting them ripen even more on the plant, to the point that they became a dark cherry red with tiny wrinkles on them. At this point they are juicy, sweet, peppery and have a very rich savory flavor that is hard to describe, and the juices are a very dark red as well. I've become addicted to these (both fresh and pickled). There was a stretch of several weeks where I would come home from work, pull one off the plant, open it and remove the placenta, and eat them fresh with a little sea salt. They were hot but just amazing. I've used these in jellies, spreads, pickled and with pickles (using Kirby cucumbers) and fresh, and they really shine in all of their applications. I think this plant is the perfect gateway for someone on the fence about growing C. pubescens, if they can time it appropriately to get fruit set in the cooler weather. Like all Rocotos, some shuffling will likely be necessary to protect from frost, but they ripen just fine if they are in full sun and the temps are in the low 40's or above. I'm planning on overwintering one of these and seeing what happens next year. This is the only red Rocoto that I've ever grown, but if all red Rocotos are this good, I can't wait to try out future types. If I was ever limited with growing space and was limited to growing three peppers, I would now choose a good jalapeno, a yellow scotch bonnet/scotch brains, and this.
That's it for the year-thanks for reading and I welcome any questions, comments, or info!
Grown in raised beds:
Hot Sunset Hybrid (C. annuum): From Tomatogrowers.com. A Hungarian hot wax-type pepper. Moderately productive, taste is underdeveloped when green but becomes very nice and sweet when fully ripened to red. Nice heat but nowhere near overwhelming. I used these to make banana peppers for sandwiches and other applications, which are far superior than what you can get in the store. A nice choice if you're looking for a Hungarian Wax type!
Shishito (C. annuum): From Baker Creek Seeds. I've grown this pepper several times over the years, and every time I've grown it, I appreciate the flavor but am underwhelmed by production and performance of the plant itself. It's been used as a frying pepper in our family, fried with a little olive oil and sea salt. They are delicious, with a light smokiness and the typical annuum sweetness. Still, I'm planning to trial Pimento de Padron next year as a frying pepper. If they don't do the trick, I'm falling back on the old standby of long hots as the frying pepper of choice. That's not to say I'll never grow Shishito again, but I'm on the lookout for something better if better is out there.
Sugar Rush Peach (C. baccatum): From Baker Creek Seeds. This may be the cultivar that lit a little spark for C. baccatum for me. Over the years I've grown a few baccatums but I just didn't feel strongly about them, probably because I was comparing them to my chinenses (which I had a historical love affair with). Sugar Rush Peach really lived up to its reputation as being sweet and fuity-tasting with a little heat. The plant was also VERY productive. Staking/support is a must for this plant, as well as a great deal of patience when waiting for it to ripen. When I first tried it, initial impressions made me think that it would be best used as a fresh pepper (over salads, etc.) but a little experimenting with jelly recipes led me to discover that sugar rush peach jelly is just outrageous-so sweet and delicious. If you've never tried baccatums or if even if you haven't tried this particular type, I think it's a nice type to include on the list.
Caribbean Red Habanero (C. chinense): From Tomatogrowers.com. This is one of the first habanero types that I ever grew, back in 2005. One of my fondest memories of my early years growing peppers is one of my friends taking an unsolicited bite out of a Caribbean Red Hab and nearly losing his soul on my back lawn. Good times. Every few years they find a place in my garden and are always a welcome addition. A beautiful, lantern-shaped red habanero with high heat (>300K SHU) and a nice fruity flavor. Excellent for pickling, jellies, etc. Very productive, but keep in mind when spacing them that they have a sprawling growth habit. They are easily outshaded by other, taller plants if they are close by. For this reason, these are a good candidate for a potted habanero.
Jamaican Hot Chocolate (C. chinense): this one was from seed that I've been saving and growing over many years, but I believe that my original seed was from Tomatogrowers.com. I've grown well over 100 different types of peppers over the years, including a few other different types of chocolate and brown chinenses, and Jamaican Hot Chocolate is a staple in my garden. It's enormously productive, seems relatively disease-resistant, and produces beautiful, tasty hot berries with nice heat (est. >400-500K SHU). The taste of chocolate/brown chinenses is typically earthy-smoky-savory, but these have a hint of something else in them that balances it out and makes it a nice overall flavor. Essential for adding depth of flavor to Caribbean preparations, as well as complementing the citrusy-ness of the yellow chinenses and the savory-fruitiness of the red chinenses in sauces, pickled preparations, etc. I made a Caribbean blend jelly with these and it came out REALLY good.
Antillais Caribbean Habanero (C. chinense): From Semillas La Palma. I grew this pepper once or twice over the years, but never took close notes on it. I always remembered it as a tall, productive plant that gives nice, fruity flavored red berries. This year's plant was massive, taller and wider than any other chinense in my garden and sprawled over the top of several others. The first few fruit were very large, but there were few of them. They were beautiful, shiny, and very nice tasting but with relatively low heat for a Caribbean landrace pepper (maybe 100-150K SHU). After ripening the first crop, a second crop developed that was massive. There are photos of it on my GLOG. I was very excited about the second crop and wanted to experiment with some hot sauces with of the size of the upcoming harvest. Unfortunately, we had a dry spell followed by a very rainy spell that cracked all of the fruit as they ripened. It was so disheartening to see their sensitivity to deep cracking (the other chinenses had -some-cracking but the fruit quality was not affected the way the Antillais Caribbeans were). I can recommend this type for flavor but have to forewarn others to this drawback about them. With limited space in my garden, I might opt to not grow these again. Based on @Marturo 's feedback and recommendations, Aji Chombo may be the red chinense that finds a permanent place in my garden. Time will tell.
Yellow Scotch Brains (C. chinense): From Semillas La Palma. WOW! This was such a pleasant surprise. If pressed to grow only one chinense per season, my response over the past 15 years would be to grow a yellow scotch bonnet. My mind may have been changed. This type has the flavor of a scotch bonnet plus an added citrusy-ness that complements it but does not overwhelm. It's like scotch bonnet meets fatalii version 2.0. The plant was very productive, delicious, and HOT! (well over 500K SHU). My wife is absolutely addicted to pickled scotch bonnets, and when she tried these, she said they might be better. That's quite a testament because she tends to stick with things if they work for her. I'm also sold on these. If you have never tried them, I highly recommend them.
Scotch Bonnet Yellow, Baker Creek, 2 plants (C. chinense): there are many strains of yellow scotch bonnet out there. Some are a little better than others, but at the end of the day, it's a scotch bonnet, and that's a good thing. In the middle of winter, when you take that canned jar of hot sauce, pickles or jelly off the shelf and add it to your food, I'd think it would be very unusual to wish it away for a slightly better type. This type was a little bushier and lower profile than a few others that I've tried, but it's a scotch bonnet. Delicious, nice heat, and just an overall great fruit that might make other chinenses jealous. If you've grown scotch bonnets, you know. If you haven't, 2025 is right around the corner!
Grown in pots:
Trinidad Scorpion (C. chinense): this is from seed that I've had for many years, the same seed line that I sent to Butch Taylor many years ago that eventually ended up being sent to the Guinness Book of World Records. The origin of this type is Valley View Nurseries in Cockeysville, Maryland, and it was originally brought back from Trinidad by a seed collector named Punky Foard. Tall, attractive, and productive plants produce superhot fruit (1,000,000 SHU?) that are shockingly hot but retain a nice flavor that many other superhots don't have. If you love the superhots and haven't grown these (or haven't grown them much over the years) they're a worthwhile addition to the rotation. Great for sauces, pickles, jellies, and a great conversation piece among friends.
Rocoto Turbo (C. pubescens) 2 plants: From Semillas La Palma. This was my first year growing Rocoto types. I'm now absolutely fascinated with them. I might make a separate thread just sharing anecdotes about growing, but to keep it strictly a review about types, this orange-fruited pubescens has a nice, rich vegetal flavor with some light fruity sweetness that complements the base bell-pepper flavor. It sets a large number of very heavy fruit (staking/caging is an absolute must, both of my Turbos had multiple broken branches from the weight of the fruit). I've read that the heat levels of Rocotos are variable from fruit to fruit. I definitely experienced this, but overall these are very hot. Generally, if the placenta is removed, there is much less heat overall, but there were times when I got a hit of the placenta and it was VERY hot. In fact one of my earliest ripe Turbo fruit was one of the hottest things I've ever put in my mouth. I was actually shocked by how hot it was. This is a very productive type and, if you follow the growing guidelines for C. pubescens, you'll find them relatively easy to grow. I haven't grown enough pubescens to do a comprehensive comparison, but I'm not disappointed at all by this type. I made some pickles with Kirby cucumbers and Rocoto Turbo and they were really, really good. I've also made some jellies and spreads with them, but I find that they also work very well as fresh peppers in salads or anywhere fresh peppers can be used.
Rocoto de Seda (C. pubescens) 2 plants: From Semillas La Palma. This type had one or two eccentricities that contrasted with the other two pubescens types that I grew. The de Seda leaves were clearly more pubescent, and it is a much sturdier, stronger plant than the other two. One of my de Sedas fell over in a windstorm and the entire weight of the plant (plus a 6 gallon pot with very wet soil) was lying on the branches and they never broke. Another observation: taking some liberties and using tomatoes as an example, de Sedas seem to have a more indeterminate fruiting habit than the other two. The Turbos were especially determinate, setting a number of fruit and then stopping altogether, where the de Sedas set fruit constantly through the period of time that the temps were appropriate. They also seem to like cooler daytime temps than the other two. De Sedas really struggled to set fruit when the daytime temps were over about 75 degrees, and nighttime temps in the 40's didn't slow them down one bit. We had a week in early September that was rather raw, daytime temps in the 60's, nighttime temps in the 40's with light rain and overcast all week, and the de Sedas set fruit like champs. The fruit themselves were almost as hot as the Turbos, and the heat was slightly less variable. The fruit are larger than Turbos, with a different morphology, but still very heavy and thick walled. The taste is different enough than the Turbos to keep it interesting. This type had a less fruity, vegetal flavor with slightly less sweetness, and almost a hint of light bitterness but nothing that would lessen the eating experience. It's hard to pinpoint underlying flavors sometimes but there was almost a celery-like flavor that complemented the bell pepper taste. I would recommend these for the same applications as the Turbos, although I never used them in any sweet-hot preparations like jellies. Fresh, in salads, they are really nice.
Ecuadorian Red Pepper from Hell (C. pubescens) 2 plants: From Semillas La Palma. Wow. Really, WOW. I had no idea what I've been missing. There is some actual regret here for not pursuing these much sooner. I have some records from 2006 saying that I tried to grow these and they failed, but I didn't include any detail. It was so many peppers and so many years ago that I don't recall whether the seeds failed to germinate, or if I tried to stick it in ground and the heat killed it, or several other possibilities. This one started off slow and lingered (like the other two) over the summer, but when we got an early cold spell at the end of August (nighttime lows in the low-mid 50's) this one took off like a bat out of hell and became such a sprawling mess that I had to stick both of them in Adirondack chairs to keep them from running out over the ground. Caging these is absolutely necessary! They became LOADED with fruit, and once they began setting, they seemed unaffected by some brief hot spells. It was a very long 8 weeks from fruit set to ripening, but so worth the wait. The first one or two that I tried were ripe but not ripe enough. They were completely (bright) red, hot, and tasted like a nice, sweet bell pepper with some lingering grassiness. Over time, I started letting them ripen even more on the plant, to the point that they became a dark cherry red with tiny wrinkles on them. At this point they are juicy, sweet, peppery and have a very rich savory flavor that is hard to describe, and the juices are a very dark red as well. I've become addicted to these (both fresh and pickled). There was a stretch of several weeks where I would come home from work, pull one off the plant, open it and remove the placenta, and eat them fresh with a little sea salt. They were hot but just amazing. I've used these in jellies, spreads, pickled and with pickles (using Kirby cucumbers) and fresh, and they really shine in all of their applications. I think this plant is the perfect gateway for someone on the fence about growing C. pubescens, if they can time it appropriately to get fruit set in the cooler weather. Like all Rocotos, some shuffling will likely be necessary to protect from frost, but they ripen just fine if they are in full sun and the temps are in the low 40's or above. I'm planning on overwintering one of these and seeing what happens next year. This is the only red Rocoto that I've ever grown, but if all red Rocotos are this good, I can't wait to try out future types. If I was ever limited with growing space and was limited to growing three peppers, I would now choose a good jalapeno, a yellow scotch bonnet/scotch brains, and this.
That's it for the year-thanks for reading and I welcome any questions, comments, or info!
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