Recommend some peppers? Small nonlethal hot, and early, productive sweet?

[OneDahlia]

This was my first year with a sunny garden space, and I grew about 15 pepper plants. It was my biggest and most successful pepper patch to date (they liked the sun), but still a disappointing yield for the amount of space they took. I was thinking of cutting way back on peppers next year because of that, but after reading a little on this subforum, maybe I need to try some different ones instead. Want to recommend some new varieties for me?

I'd like to grow a very productive sweet pepper for cooking, a small productive sweet pepper for my little boy to pick and eat raw (he likes red and yellow peppers, the sweeter the better), and one or two varieties of hot pepper for my husband. He likes medium heat in a flavorful small pepper. I'd also like to try making hot sauce, so maybe I need a bigger hot pepper too. I rarely eat hot peppers, so this makes it a bit harder to know what to grow.

This year I grew:

Sweet:
Jupiter -- supposed to be relatively high-yielding and early, but they weren't for me
Doe Hill -- my son liked them and they were very cute but slow to ripen
Mini bell (bought as plants) -- son liked them and they were more productive and ripened earlier
Cubanelle (I think -- bought as plants) -- I liked these for cooking and they're probably the fastest growing and most productive sweet peppers I've grown so far. Also the little worms didn't bother these like they did the bell peppers.

Hot:
Red cherry -- we liked them, made nice "jalapeno poppers"
Ordono -- husband liked them but thought they were too little
Serrano -- his favorite hot so far. I think he liked the flavor, the heat level, the size and the thick walls. He's happy with this, but with all the love of hot peppers I'm seeing here, I think maybe we should try another variety or two.


So I had been thinking of just growing cubanelle, mini bell, serrano and red cherry next year, but would love to hear other suggestions. OP would be great, but I'm fine with hybrid peppers too. From a little reading, it seems that options for sweet might be Carmen, Jimmy Nardello, Lipstick or Atris? No idea on the hot!

[semi_lucid]

I grew a jalapeno this year that continues to surprise me.

It was advertised as a mild jalapeno, but the green one's seem to have no heat at all. Almost like a bell pepper, but I think I like the flavor a little better than a bell. (And I like bells)

I had a lot of plants that I started from seed, and the seedling's seemed kind of weak, compared to my other jalapenos.

When it came time to put them in the ground, I was out of space, and I was ready to be finished planting. So I stuck all the plants in the space I had remaining, which meant I planted them about 4 inches apart, in a double row, with about a foot between the rows.

In other words, I planted them THICK.

To my surprise, they came alive and out grew and out produced my other jalapenos. They produced a lot of fruit, and they did well crowded.

I've eaten a lot of them green, but I haven't kept up with them, and many turned red. I ignored the red ones for awhile, but them I finally tried one.

I cant believe how sweet they are. It varies from fruit to fruit, but to my taste I think they may be the sweetest peppers I've ever had.

Fully matured and red, they do have a little heat, but not much considering it's a jalapeno. The heat is almost tangy, rather than hot. I'm amazed by the flavor.

I'm not much of a cook, but I've been wondering if those of you who are cooks would flip out over this pepper.

I would offer some seeds, but I had 3 kinds of jalapenos, 4 kinds of chili, and 2 kinds of sweet pepper in close proximity, and they were heavily worked by honey bees. So crosses would be likely.

This sweet jalapeno is called Primavera, and I got my seeds from here:

http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/...mex_primavera/

I'm definitely going to grow it again next year.

So, does that pepper sound interesting to you people? Or not so much?

John

[OneDahlia]

That does sound good for a cooking pepper, actually. I put a little pinch of red pepper flakes (from a Korean store) in a lot of the dishes I cook -- like most people here use black pepper, just for a hint of flavor rather than heat. This pepper would take care of that, and sounds good raw too (for the adults). I wonder if the flavor changes when cooked?

I might pick up a pack -- thanks for the recommendation!

So peppers cross easily? I saved some seeds from Doe Hill on a whim. I was saving tomato seeds and making my son's lunch at the same time, so I thought I'd save the seeds from the pepper I'd just put in his lunch. Wonder how likely a cross is. Should go do some reading on that.

[semi_lucid]

Originally Posted by 1dahlia4me

I wonder if the flavor changes when cooked

I've been doing them the same way I do green chili.

I char them black with a propane torch, and then scape the peel off with my fingernail, under a small stream of water. (Leaving them red, with no black.)Then I slit them and remove the seeds, and then chop them up.

This leaves them lightly cooked, because the propane torch is pretty fast. I think they taste better lightly cooked than raw.

Originally Posted by 1dahlia4me

So peppers cross easily?

As far as I know, any Capsicum Annuum will cross with any other Capsicum Annuum. In other words Bells and Jalapenos are the same species.

Here's a list of Capsicum Annuum cultivars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capsicum_cultivars

[recruiterg]

I like:

Sweet:
Jimmy Nardello
Marconi
Melrose
Corno di Toro

Hot:
Jalapeno
Jaloro Jalapeno
Satan's Kiss
Joe's Long Cayenne
New Mex Big Jim (I am replacing this with New Mex Heritage Big Jim and Heritage 6-4)
Peppadew

All of these are great for fresh eating, salsas, cannning, etc....

[roper2008]

My favorite sweet pepper is Jimmy Nardello, you pick them when they are red.
I'm sure your son would love them, very sweet and great flavor.
Another hot, but not too hot is Aji Cristal. If you would like to try a few seeds of
these peppers, I can send you some.

[fortyonenorth]

For a sweet pepper, I like Chervena Chushka and Tolli's Sweet Italian. These are both non-bells and they ripen better for me here in the lower Great Lakes region. Both are red, very sweet and productive.

For something a bit spicier, you might try Beaver Dam - one of my favorite peppers. It's a Hungarian heirloom with an elongated pointy bell shape. It's described as "mildly hot when seeded" which I agree with. It's excellent for roasting, salads, in salsa, to season tomato sauce, etc. Very good all-around pepper.

[Fusion_power]

Franks would fit your sweet pepper needs. First it is a nice elongated red sweet pepper and second it is a miniature and third it is extra early maturity. I have successfully grown them planted 12 inches apart in the row so you can really increase the density. Sandhill carries them.

DarJones

[OneDahlia]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm looking forward to growing some of these sweet peppers next year. Looks like I have to try Jimmy Nardello, and I'll look for some of the others mentioned too. Franks sounds really good but Sandhill says they're gone: "The rabbits got them," lol. Hopefully they'll have more later.

Roper, thank you for your kind offer on the Aji Cristal! I'll show the info to my husband and then PM you if he wants to try them.

Some of the other hot peppers mentioned look wider and thicker. He tends to like thin hot peppers, I guess because he eats them without cutting them. (Dips the tip in salt and bites off small bites at a time with dinner.) I was looking up more hot peppers and these look like the kind he tends to like:

De Arbol
Caysan
Kung Pao
and possibly Dutch

Anyone familiar with any of these? How is the flavor? Are they just bitter/hot, or do they have more flavor than that?

ETA: I found what he is probably used to eating: Aci Sivri. Will definitely buy that one if I can find seeds. I think it's funny that it's described as having a notoriously inconsistent level of heat ... I think that at least in his family, they like the surprise. Still interested in knowing about the others I listed above -- could grow one of those too if they're really good.

[stormymater]

Kung Paos & Chervena Chuskas are a must grow here every year - delightful!

How about some nice sweet & some hot banana peppers? They produce like the dickens & the hots are not as hot as Serranos - piquante, not fire.

I love the Jalaro jalapenos too - heavy producers.

I also love the Italian Toppepo Rosso (sweet round prolific) & Piccante Calabrese (hot - like slad bar pickled hot, round prolific)

[puttgirl]

A small sweet one your son would love is Yummy.

[b54red]

The most dependable bell pepper that I have ever grown is Socrates. It is very productive and fairly early. It makes a large thick walled sweet bell. I try new ones every year but none have come close to matching it in yield and I have only found a few that match it in flavor.
It is a hybrid and I get my seeds for it from Tomatoville.

[walkinggin]

It looks like Frank's is available in Sandhill's 2012 paper catalog, the online listings haven't been updated yet. They are listed as having 25 seeds per pk with a 1 pk limit @ $3.00 pk.

On the web site they say you can go ahead and place a 2012 order now.

ginny

[botanophilia]

Banana Peppers both sweet and hot are almost always good producers, as are cherry peppers. Can't really go wrong with either.

I grow Aci Sivri, and will vouch for inconsistent heat. The first time I tried them, mildly hot. Mild enough to use in cooking and not get yelled at by my wife. They've more recently been medium hot, slightly too hot for fresh eating (with the seeds and ribs) for me but perfect if I'm cooking for myself. Lemon Drop has been very productive for me, heat about like serrano which has been fairly productive as well in the past. I may have extra Aci Sivri and Lemon Drop seeds. PM me if interested and I'll double check.

Bells have been less productive than "non-traditional" sweet peppers for me. Carmen and Gypsy are two of my favorites, though I haven't grown them in a couple of years. Aconcaqua produced fairly well in a container for me, nice and sweet and big. Jimmy Nardellos is good, and I will hopefully be growing it this year.

[OneDahlia]

Thank you all for the additional suggestions! Since starting this thread, I received lots of great sweet and hot peppers through Heather's seed exchange and another trade or two. (Including Frank's, Jimmy Nardello, Gypsy for the kid, anaheim, poblanos, Kung Pao and Chervena Chusha, which does sound great.) Socrates I'll have to buy sometime, but I'm happy with non-bells this year. And thanks again Roper for the Aji Cristal! Now to figure out where to plant all of these, separately from each other.