Hot Peppers

Narrow, twisted, 2½ inch long peppers stand upright above diminutive plants, in a stunning display of color – ivory to yellow, orange, and finally bright red, with all color stages appearing together. Plants grow no taller than 6 to 8 inches and become covered with colorful peppers. Medusa is wonderful for planting in landscape borders or small containers. These peppers are non-pungent.

ALL AMERICA SELECTIONS WINNER. Awarded for its unique qualities and excellent performance, this variety offers miniature bell peppers with a spicy flavor that is a tasty blend of heat and sweet. Peppers are mostly 3-lobed, 2 inches wide and 3 inches long, turning from green to scarlet and finally to deep red. Expect abundant harvests of these peppers to use in salsas, Cajun cooking, or any recipe where you want a little kick. 60 days.

Extremely hot variety is originally from Thailand, and bears thin-fleshed peppers that are used especially in Oriental dishes. Clusters of bright-red peppers ripen on the tops of plants, with individual fruits up to 3 inches long. 90 days.

This form of Scotch Bonnet turns orange when fully ripe. While it resembles the habanero, its flavor is fruitier, making it a favorite in Caribbean cooking for pairing with tropical fruits. At 200,000 Scoville Units, it is searingly hot but delicious when combined with other food. 75 to 100 days.

All-America Selections is calling this jalapeno pepper a game changer. You can harvest up to 50 4-inch fruits per plant, and all at once! Perfect for canning, pickling or making stuffed and roasted peppers. Put them in your favorite soup or salsa. Because they can hold on the plant longer than most jalapenos, you can take that weekend trip and they will be there when you come home. Pungency 2500 to 6000 scovilles. 60 days.

A Cayenne type of pepper with pointed pods, 2 to 3 inches long and ³/8 inch wide. They mature to dark red and are thin fleshed. Ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 Scoville units, they are usually ground into dry powder for red chile sauces or added to soups and stews. 80 days.

Often seen in grocery stores labeled “finger-hots”, these are bright green at first but later turn to red. Cayenne peppers are about 10 inches long and 1½ inches wide, and are borne in abundance. Use them whenever good, spicy flavor is desired. Intermediate resistance to TMV and PVY.  85 days.

Fruit of this unusual habanero average 3 to 4 inches in length with a slender width. Fruit have a fruity habanero flavor with high pungency. Sturdy plants reach 36 inches, and offer good cover against sunburn. Produced commercially in the Yucatan Peninsula, this variety is very productive. It even performs well in cooler climates. 90 days.

Tajin produces excellent yields of 4 inch by 1.5 inch jalapeno fruit that are dark green in color. Pungency is medium to hot – 4,000 to 6,000 scovilles. 68 days.

Seed for this habanero variety was found in the Caribbean, and grows a fiercely hot pepper that is hotter than the regular orange habanero. Dried samples of Caribbean Red measured 445,000 Scoville units whereas regular habanero tested at about 260,000 Scovilles. This pepper must be used carefully, but is wonderful for salsas, marinades, and making your own hot sauce. Bright red fruits are about 1½ inches deep and 1 inch wide and have flavor with fruity overtones. 110 days to red.

Very unusual and ornamental pepper plant is variegated both on the foliage and the peppers themselves. Both leaves and fruit are striped with creamy white and green, with the peppers eventually turning orange-red. Very hot fruit, 1 to 2 inches long, was used to season fish and shellfish in Baltimore and Philadelphia back in the 1930’s and 1940’s. 75 days.

This is the first yellow jalapeno pepper developed, from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Fruit is a beautiful golden-yellow before turning orange then red, making for a beautiful show on the compact plants. Peppers are just as hot as regular jalapenos. 70 days.