| 7 Chilli Pepper cultivars All Chillies are hot to the taste buds and it depends on how
tolerant you are of that taste as to whether you find a particular cultivar 'hotter' than
an other. Don't be deceived by size though, because the tiny Asian varieties, also popular
in Portugal will surprise the uninitiated! As dried and stored fruit they keep their fiery
flavour for many years. Wash your hands after handling or picking their fruits or you will
get a burning sensation in places you had not expected!
Firefly is an F1 hybrid that produces an umbrella
shaped bush to 0.5 metres in height with upright smooth red chilli fruits of about 1-1.5cm
wide and 8-9cm long. The bushes have good leaf cover to protect their fruit. It also makes
an ideal pot plant, in a container of at least 25cm (10") in diameter. Seed from
South Pacific Seeds for commercial growers, but also available as seedlings from local
nurseries.
Inferno a rather prostrate bush to 0.3 metres in
height with upright red fruits, that are equally hot as green or red fruits. Seed in the
Yates and South Pacific Seeds ranges as well as being widely available in punnets.
Jalapeņo (pronounced xalapenyo) produces rather
stout green fruits of 5-8cm long that hang downwards and crack with growth marks as they
age to their mature red colour. This is the fiery popular Mexican cultivar. Seed from
Sandoz Seeds.
Mavras is a long thin Indian style chilli, with the
fruit hanging downwards, seed from South Pacific Seeds.
Milta is an F1 of the Mexican Jalapeņo style with
red fruits 2.5cm wide by 7-8cm long. A robust bush with good leaf cover to protect fruits.
Thai Hot is a tiny upright chilli similar on my
taste buds to the Portuguese Chilli they call Piri Piri, seed from Erica Vale. |
