Hot Peppers

Cienfuegos literally means "100 fires", but you should consider that this variety is 200,000 to 300,000 fires (scoville units); a very hot pepper. Fruit are 1½ by ¾ inches. This hybrid is earlier than open pollinated habaneros and has bigger yields. Make your favorite salsa or hot sauce using this pepper.

Cienfuegos comes in two other colors: the much hotter red and the fruitier yellow.

Released by the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. The first chile pepper that turns bright yellow at maturity. Beautiful smooth fruits are 4 to 6 inches long and excellent for drying and making into wreaths or ristras. Also good to eat, with a typical chile pepper flavor. 75-80 days.

This very different habanero is the result of an accidental cross between a chocolate-colored habanero with an orange habanero, resulting in striking coloration and extreme heat. Peppers start out as light green with a bit of purple streaking, progress to a mustard-hued peach before finally ripening to pure orange. Fruit is large and quite ruffled, making for a very beautiful habanero which is also shockingly hot. Tall plants are quite productive. 90 days.

This is a very striking ornamental pepper with variegated green, white, and purple foliage and small purple fruit, which turn red when ripe. Plants are low-growing and mound shaped, which lend them to use in flower beds and borders. This variety is also known as Variegata. 75 days.

Also known as the bird pepper or chilepiquin. Released from New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Breeding Program, and unique because the fruit falls from the stem at maturity, making harvesting easier. Oblong small fruit sets high in the plant canopy and when dried, has a pungency of 97,000 Scoville units. 120 days.

Striking flashes of bright purple foliage stand out against almost black leaves while new growth is splashed with creamy white. Small glossy black peppers are hot and although mainly ornamental, are also edible. Plants grow about a foot tall with a slightly wider spread and a layered habit. Perfect for containers or planting in gardens, Purple Flash survives summer heat while still making an exotic display.

An ornamental pepper variety bearing a profusion of round, marble-sized fruit that turn from cream-colored to yellow, then red. Small, mound-shaped plants become densely covered with fruit and are very decorative. 70 days.

Very striking ornamental pepper with violet-tinged leaves that look almost blue and are sometimes marked with a faint white speckling. Small purple round-oval fruit grow upright on the plant and hold their color for a long time before finally turning red. Plants are slightly spreading and grow compact, making this beautiful plant useful for landscaping. 90 days.

Dark purple fruit and violet-colored flowers are what make this plant so special. Purple peppers almost cover the foliage, turning the 2-1/2 foot tall plants nearly purple. Upon maturity, the peppers turn red and are extremely hot. At this stage, purple, orange, and red fruit may be on plants at the same time, making a very colorful and attractive display.

Emerald Fire brand of PS 11435810 is a hybrid jalapeno hot pepper that offers a unique combination of size, quality, pungency, yield potential, and earliness. Disease resistance to PVY,0 and TEV. 2,000 to 2,500 Scovilles. 60 days.

The Orange Spice is the hottest of the Spice peppers developed by Dr. Paul Bosland at New Mexico State University. The compact plants produce an abundance of spicy fruit that start dark green and mature to a fiery orange color. Flavors have hints of citrus and are described as fruity in salsas. But, of course, they are great in burritos, soups, or with guacamole. 7,000 to 8,000 scoville rating 75 days.

The Caloro pepper was developed by Paul Smith, at UC Davis. Named guero in Mexico, it is used for pickling and making hot sauce. It is grown throughout the Western US and Mexico. The fruit are 3 by 1 ½ inches, conical, and tapered to a point. They mature from yellow to brilliant red, but you can harvest either color and see which one you like. Pungency is around 5,000 Scovilles. 65 days.

An ornamental piquin-type chile with purple foliage and flowers. Tiny peppers ripen from purple to yellow, orange, and finally to red. Compact plants are well suited to container growing. While the pungent fruit is edible, it is usually just used as an ornamental. 120 days.

Holy Mole has been upgraded with the addition of Sombrerete hybrid, now part of the Holy Mole brand. Sombrerete is resistant to phytopthera and tobomovirus. It is earlier to mature than the first Holy Mole. It can be used fresh or dried. The large fruit can be harvested at 75 days, or you can leave the fruit on the plant and they will turn to a dark chocolate color. 1,000-2,500 scoville units.

Chichen Itza habanero brand of PX 11459057 brings you a larger fruit and earlier harvest than the previous variety. Large orange fruit have 140,000 scoville units of heat. 75 days.