baccatum Why so many yellow varieties ?

E

Englander

Hi Guy's

I've had little to do with Capsicum baccatum varieties been looking into them a wee bit............

There seems to be an inordinate number of Yellow pod varieties ..... 🤔

Is this so and why ?

The hottest variety appears to be Aji Cito (Approx 100,000 shu) a Yellow/Orangish variety

I was under the impression the Red and Brown chilli pepper varieties are generally always hotter than other colours.......?

I also understand they tend to be large plant's prolific in nature.....?

Stephen
 
In the only season that I grew a number of baccatum varieties (2017), I did grow aji cito, aji pineapple, aji lemon drop and a couple of other ones. I don't remember a lot of it but I too had read that aji cito was one of the hottest baccatums. But my experience was that the lemon drop was hotter. If I remember correctly, aji crystal, which happens to be red, was the hottest that I grew...
 
i grew aji cito in 2023 and 2024. it does become a large plant, and with many pods in clusters.

i was also only growing it to achieve all five major species, and chose it because it was reputed the hottest baccatum.

flavour was mundane, tastes fine but nothing special. my planned use for it would be in place of a jalapeno in cooking, or to add "bulk" to a yellow/orange hot sauce
 
Englander said:
Hi Guy's

I've had little to do with Capsicum baccatum varieties been looking into them a wee bit............

There seems to be an inordinate number of Yellow pod varieties ..... 🤔

Is this so and why ?

The hottest variety appears to be Aji Cito (Approx 100,000 shu) a Yellow/Orangish variety

I was under the impression the Red and Brown chilli pepper varieties are generally always hotter than other colours.......?

I also understand they tend to be large plant's prolific in nature.....?

Stephen
Click to expand...
Donkey's yonks ago when I started growing baccatum (ok it was 2013 but it seems like decades ago) there was mostly red baccatum available - I recall maybe five yellow variants with Kella Uchu (proper name for "Lemon Drop") and a Guyanese variety (@windchicken will remember it - the late wonderful Beth Boyd the Aji Queen stocked them, being most prominent.
Most baccatum are pretty meh tasting - at best there's a faint whisp of green apple. Aji Amarillo is very fruity though and Kella Uchu has a distinct cat piss thing going on. But. They're really good pickled (except Amarillo - texture is quite different to the rest). Because they lack much flavour the pickling solution should contain all the flavouring. Piquanté peppers (or Peppadews as we in ZA know them) are the most flavourless fruit known to man! The flavour is from the brine. And the beauty of baccatum is the texture when pickled - nice and crunchy.
 
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I agree, red baccatum are more boring in taste than other colors (I often perceive watermelon and sugar, in addition to apple), and I don't grow baccatum for spiciness but for fruitiness/freshness/crunchiness.

Also, AFAIK there are no brown baccatum
 
To the best of my knowledge they are mostly used fresh or in ceviche except for Aji Amarillo (that has a completely different texture and flavour and is actually bloody hot!) that is used as a paste in Peruvian cuisine. In fact they never use it fresh - it's often boiled to soften and remove most of the heat.
But try Kella Uchu in ceviche - suddenly it makes sense! Lovely crunch and good piercing heat!
 
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