Pepper Starts

Open Pollinated,  65 – 70 days
Big sweet blocky bells, no sunscald, ripens red, tolerates cool temps.

Heirloom 75-85 Days
Introduced in 1900 by famed horticulturist W. Atlee Burpee, Chinese Giant is actually of American origin. It was twice as big as the largest bell peppers of its day, 4”x4” or larger. If you thin the fruits, they can grow to 5”x 6”. Fortunately, the compact, bushy plant is unusually prolific. Fruits are very sweet, thick-walled, blocky and tall, ripening from green to bright red. They are perfect for salads, stir-frying, and stuffed peppers.

Heirloom 75-85  (60 days to green)

Corno Di Toro Giallo Pepper is a great old-time Italian sweet frying pepper. Nicknamed the “bull’s horn” for its distinctive horn shaped The fruits mature to rich yellow,  6 to 8″ long and 2” wide with delicious sweet flavor, thin skin and thick walls. They are ideal for stuffing, frying and grilling. The plants are very prolific.

Italian heirloom 76 Days
Listed on Slow Food’s Ark of Taste. Thin-walled, 8″ long frying peppers on very heavy-yielding plants. Long, curved, tapering pointed fruits turn deep red with shiny, wrinkled skin when ripe. The wonderful sweet, mild flavor is good raw, in stir-fries, and especially fried. Brought to Connecticut in 1887 from Southern Italy by Jimmy Nardello’s mother.

Open Pollinated 70 days
Reliable yields of large sweet blocky bells turn from green to red; prolific yields even in short-season areas and cool climates.

Open Pollinated 75-83 Days
Equal amounts of red, yellow, and orange Lunchbox snack peppers are combined in this mix. These beautiful, mini-sized peppers are remarkably sweet and flavorful. They are delicious sautéed, as an addition to salads and perfect for a healthy snack. Children love them! The tall plants yield well for snack-type peppers. Stake or cage to support. They work well in containers, planted one per 18” pot. Note: Red fruits are slightly smaller than orange and yellow.

Italian Heirloom 80-90 Days
Marconi Rosso is a large sweet pepper growing to 8” long and 3” wide. The green fruits ripen to deep red and are delicious at all stages. Incredibly sweet and beautiful, these long, slim peppers with medium-thick walls and sweet skin are the gourmet’s choice. They are excellent raw, roasted, grilled and stuffed. The plants are 4’ tall by 1.5 to 2’ wide, fast-growing and prolific.

Heirloom, Open Pollinated 90 Days
These little, thin-walled 1-2” bell peppers ripen to gold, chocolate or red. They make colorful stuffed appetizers, and are great for pickling. Several of the short, stout, productive plants can be grown together in a large pot. Paradoxically, though small-fruited, they ripen fairly late.

Open-Pollinated 80-90 Days
Very sweet and crunchy, this excellent variety ripens from green to a beautiful deep, tangerine orange. The big, thick-walled, blocky fruits up to 4 to 5” are exceptionally flavorful, and a great source of antioxidants. Plants are resistant to tobacco mosaic virus.

Heirloom 75 Days
Yields of 1–1.5” fruit could be described as “ever-bearing”. Small plants produce dozens of these pretty, round, flattened fruit turning from green to red. Flavor is fine and they are ideal for canning, pickling, or stuffing.

Open Pollinated 70 -80 Days
This early and productive bell pepper bears up to a dozen thick-walled 6-8” tapered fruits; ripening from green to chocolate-brown with gorgeous burgundy flesh inside, really delicious rich flavor, and good juicy crunch! Eve’s favorite!

Heirloom 75 Days
Introduced in 1952 by the Campbell Soup Company, this improved strain of California Wonder boasts larger fruit and some tobacco mosaic resistance. Thick-walled, consistent-shaped blocky 4″ bell peppers ripen from green to rich red on 24-28″ high plants. Good leaf coverage prevents sun scald.

Heirloom 70-80 Days
Extremely productive plants are loaded with 2-3″ round peppers with thick meaty flesh. They ripen from creamy-white to red. The flavor is sweet and delicious, with just a hint of warmth. One of the best for drying when red and then powdering for paprika; also great fresh.

Heirloom, Open Pollinated, Very Mild heat 70-80 Days
Also known as “Cuban pepper” and “Italian frying pepper”, Cubanelle is a variety of sweet pepper with just a touch of heat (-1000 on the Scoville scale), commonly used in Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican cuisines. When unripe, the 6-8” fruit is light yellowish-green, but turns bright red if allowed to ripen. Prized for its sweet, mild flesh, rich flavor, and pretty colors. Cubanelle is thin-walled, especially suited for quick cooking and has a low water content. Best picked when yellow-green for use in roasting, stuffing, pizza topping, frying, a substitute for Anaheims, or in a yellow mole, and is one of the traditional ingredients in sofrito.

Heirloom, Open Pollinated 60 Days
These small-fruited peppers originated in Galicia, northwest Spain, where the bite-sized, thin-skinned green fruits are sauteed in olive oil and served with coarse-ground sea salt in tapas bars across the country. Most of the peppers are sweet and relatively mild, but an occasional unpredictable hot one led a New York Times writer to call eating the dish a game of “Spanish Roulette!” Also fine for pickling. For tapas, pick while small and green, less than 3” long. The heat seems to increase with size and as they ripen to red, and as the season progresses. Plants are large, vigorous and very high-yielding. Can be grown in containers. An authentic regional variety.

Heirloom 70 Days
Sheepnose is a super-sweet heirloom pimento-type pepper from Ohio. The beautiful, thick-walled, crisp, juicy fruits ripen from green to red and are shaped like little pumpkins (or wheels of cheese, or the noses of sheep), flattened, ribbed globes, 3-4” diameter and 2.5-3” tall. They keep for a long time in the fridge, if you can resist enjoying them raw, on pizza, in pasta, casseroles, antipasto or salad, roasted, sautéed, etc. They are a classic sweet pepper for canning. Plants are small (1-2’ tall), easy to grow, and heavy-yielding. They can be grown in patio containers.

Open Pollinated 60 Days
This early, small, mild, thin-walled glossy green pepper is popular in Japan, where they are pan-fried and salted and served as an appetizer or side-dish. The thin walls blister and char easily when roasted or grilled, taking on a rich flavor that’s delicious with coarse salt and lemon juice! The fruits grow up to 3-4″ long. The plant has a spreading habit and produces very prolifically. The peppers are typically harvested and used green, but eventually turns orange and red with sweeter flavor. Shishito can be grown successfully in large containers.

Open Pollinated 85 Days
Not as hot as a typical Anaheim.  High yields of 7” x 1” tapered fruits are great fresh, dried, roasted or pickled.  From New Mexico.

 Heirloom 65 days, longer to ripen red 
Very popular! Large, deep green heart-shaped medium to mild chile, the standard for rellenos, mole, soups and salsa fresca.  Most of the heat is found in the ribs and seeds.  It is particularly popular during the Mexican independence festivities as part of a dish called chiles en nogada, considered one of Mexico’s most symbolic dishes by its nationals, and incorporates green, white and red ingredients corresponding to the colors of the Mexican flag. After being roasted and peeled (which improves the texture by removing the waxy skin), poblano peppers are preserved by either canning or freezing. Storing them in airtight containers keeps them for several months.  When dried, the poblano turns black-red and becomes a broad, flat, heart-shaped pod called an ancho chile (meaning “wide”); from this form, it is usually ground into a powder used as flavoring in various dishes.

Open Pollinated 85 Days
A very popular chile. Medium-hot large 8” fruits are excellent roasted and stuffed for chile rellenos.

 Heirloom 68 Days
Glossy fluorescent orange, thin-walled 1.5” – 3.5” tapered peppers are fruity and hot, borne in clusters near the main stem on a compact plant.  Use in chutney, salsa, marinade, hot sauce, or dried and ground.

Heirloom 80-90 Days 2,500 to 5,000 SHU
Named for its pretty, cherry-like shape and color, Hot Cherry produces medium-heat peppers with a slightly sweet taste. They are very fleshy and juicy, perfect for pickling or stuffing. The 1” to 2” wide fruits grow on full, bushy, plants and mature from green to red when they have developed their full flavor. Frequent harvesting through summer will maximize the plant’s yield.

Heirloom, Medium hot, 65 Days 4,000 – 5,000 SHU
This famous New Mexico heirloom chile is from the farming town of Chimayo in northern New Mexico, at 5,900′ elevation. Its great flavor is the result of hand selection over hundreds of years. The 6-7” long fruit are probably the earliest Southwestern chile to ripen to red. They are thin-skinned and dry quickly in the sun. Allow the chiles to remain on the plant and mature until almost completely red. This native strain has fantastic red chile flavor and makes great chile powder and sauces for enchiladas, burritos, etc. At first it tastes sweet and then medium hot. Since it’s not too hot, you can use it in large quantities and achieve flavor nirvana, not heat nirvana. A Renewing America’s Food Traditions variety listed with the Ark of Taste as a threatened American food tradition.

Heirloom Open Pollinated 65 Days 2,000 to 5,000 SHU
Czech Black is an heirloom chili pepper from the Czech Republic. Very juicy 2 ½”- long peppers are the same shape as Jalapeno and have a great flavor. Plants grow 2 ½ 0 3’ tall. Black when immature, the stunning conical peppers ripen to lustrous garnet. Mild juicy thick-walled flesh runs with a cherry-red juice when cut. The heat, a tad less than a jalapeño, is in the ribs and seeds. One grower, in Maine, has candied slivered Czech Blacks like citrus peel for a spicy-sweet holiday treat. Bears very early with 20 pointed thick-walled peppers per 2½–3′ plant.

Open Pollinated 63-65 Days, 2,500-5,000 SHU
Early Jalapeno is a medium-hot pepper and the best Jalapeno variety for an early crop. The short, blunt 2 to 2.5” peppers are thick-walled and juicy. Early Jalapeno will reportedly set fruit under cooler conditions than other Jalapeno varieties. Red, fully ripe fruits are both slightly sweeter and spicier. The stocky 2-foot tall plants will not fall over or break branches.

Open Pollinated 80+ Days 3,000 to 5,000 SHU
Mirasol means ‘looking at the sun’, which describes the way these chile peppers grow on the plant. Conical pods grow upright 4-5“ long and 1/2” to almost 2“ wide on 18-24“ tall plants. They are one of the main chiles used in traditional Mexican mole sauces and very common in Peruvian cooking. This red/dark red pepper has thin skin and a unique spicy flavor that is compared to berries and other fruit, and moderate heat  that is direct and very flavorful. Mirasol chiles are also commercially grown in S. Colorado, where they are known as Pueblo or Mosco peppers. When dried, they are known as Guajillo chiles, with dark, reddish brown, leathery skin. Guajillo chile blends very well with other chiles like Ancho, Mulato and Pasilla.

90-120 days, Heirloom 90-120 Days 200,000 to 325,000 SHU
By popular demand: one of the most blisteringly fiery peppers, from 200,000 to 325,000 Scovilles (compare with Early Jalapeno at 4,000 to 6,500 Scovilles!). Small plants to 18” tall will set 10-20 pendulous dark green fruits which mature to bright orange. Great for greenhouse and container growing. Likes night-time temperatures 70 degrees and above. Key ingredient in West Indian jerk sauce.

Heirloom, 72 Days 2,500 – 10,000 SHU
Perhaps the world’s best known, most versatile and most popular hot pepper, the Jalapeno pepper originated in Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. Smoked and dried jalapenos are called chipotles. The blunt, tapered, 3” by 1” fruits are usually used when dark green; they turn red (and hotter) when mature. They have thick walls and do not dry well as whole peppers, but are excellent for canning, pickling or used fresh in salsas and many other Latin American and Southeast Asian dishes. The plants are erect and sturdy and although very productive, generally do not require caging or other support.

Open Pollinated, original seed brought to Eve from Italy, 85 Days or longer
Unique, brilliant scarlet, small, pendant peppers shaped like flaring bells are gracefully borne mostly on the main stem of tall, exceptionally pretty plants. Flesh of the fruits is tasty and mildly piquant, seeds and ribs are hotter. Traditionally used to season pasta dishes, but they’re so ornamental, we recommend growing some for arranging in a vase too! If season is cut short, harvested green they will ripen to scarlet quickly indoors. We grow ours 2 to a big pot – some years the plants have reached over 5′ tall and born over 90 peppers!

Open Pollinated 75 Days 2,000-4,000 SHU
A Cayenne pepper with distinctly larger and thicker-walled fruits, which are moderately hot  and turn fiery red at maturity. The plant is fairly open in structure, so plant 2 together for better sunscald protection. The long, narrow peppers dry easily and are great for hot sauces, pickles, curries, chili and salsa.

Heirloom 70-80 Days
A New Mexico heirloom that produces long, smooth, pendant fruits with a mildly hot flavor that ripens green to red. Loves the hot days and cool nights of New Mexico and Colorado. Vigorous, compact plants have heavy foliage that prevents sunscald. Performs well in containers.

Open Pollinated 75 Days 500 – 2,500 SHU
An 8”-long, thick-walled, mildly hot Anaheim type pepper excellent for stuffing or roasting.  Turns red when mature and is used in New Mexico for dried pepper wreaths and ristras. A unique feature of this pepper is its incredible continuing production after the initial harvest.

Open Pollinated 78 Days
Easy, prolific 4-8″ long dark brown, smoky, fruity, a ‘secret’ ingredient in award-winning chili.

Open Pollinated 70 Days, 30,000 to 50,000 SHU
A twist on the classic Cayenne pepper, this exceptionally ornamental pepper is one of the hottest Cayennes, with excellent flavor. Elegant 2’ tall plants are covered with dozens and dozens of light purple blossoms which turn into dark purple, thin peppers about 3” long, a bit smaller than a regular cayenne, that eventually ripen to deep red. They can be used fresh, pickled, dried, or ornamentally, as hot pepper flakes, in salsa or hot sauce, and in countless Latin American, Indian, Caribbean, African and Asian dishes. Eve has enjoyed growing Purple Cayenne in a 16” diameter pot in her front yard.

 Open Pollinated 85-100 Days
Early maturing, productive, mildly hot 7 x 1” high-quality fruits ripen from green to red.  Often used green, fresh or pickled, or dried when red.

Heirloom 75-80 Days 500-750 SHU
Also known as Yellow hot chili pepper and Guero chile, the Santa Fe Grande chile pepper is a very prolific cultivar from New Mexico, typically producing 20 to 50 peppers. The pretty, conical, blunt fruits are about 2” long growing upright on 24” plants. They mature from pale yellow to bright yellow to orange-red with mild heat and slight sweetness. Works well either cooked or fresh for salads, salsas, pickling, and other dishes based on chile peppers. Resistant to tobacco mosaic virus.

Heirloom 85 Days
Originated in the mountains of Mexico. Plants are 2-3’ tall, and the 2.5-4” blunt peppers are about 5 times hotter than Jalapeno.  Use fresh, no steaming or peeling required.

Open Pollinated 75 Days 300–600 SHU
An Anaheim-type variety with very mild flavor,  making it a great choice for chili rellenos. The exceptionally long, green peppers can grow to 10″ by 1.5” and weigh ¼ pound. They mature to red, but are commonly used in the less mature, green form. The heavy-yielding plant is known to be very disease resistant, making it easy to grow. Great for stuffing, drying, salads, salsas or pickling.

Heirloom, 85 days.
Imported to the US in 1846 from Tabasco, Mexico, this pepper made its way to Avery Island, LA, where the McIlhenny family used it in a hot sauce that became so popular and famous that now Tabasco sauce is synonymous with hot sauce. The 2”-long, tapered Tabasco is a very hot pepper, borne in copious quantities on a short, compact plant.

Heirloom 85 Days 25,000 to 40,000 SHU
Thai Hot pepper is seriously hot, and gorgeous in a container. The 8”-12” plants are ornamented with up to 200 small, upright, conical fruits that ripen to bright red. Early pinching will produce a bushy 8″ plant that can be pulled, roots and all, and hung to dry for winter use or grown inside for ornamental and edible enjoyment. Extremely hot, Thai peppers can be used fresh or preserved in oil or vinegar. They are used in many Thai and South Asian dishes.