Once you’ve chomped into a fresh bell or Anaheim pepper, the ones from the market taste like Saran Wrap. There’s nothing hotter than a habanero you grow yourself.
Must timid tasters settle for boring bells? What if you seek a new experience — a flavorful hot pepper that won’t permanently brand your taste buds or force you to rush dinner guests to the ER?
It’s true: There are interesting, easy-to-grow pepper varieties that bring the flavor without making your head explode.
If you plan to purchase your plants, you’ve got time to mull over the possibilities.
Peppers need soil at 60 degrees, so whatever variety you choose, don’t transplant peppers too early. Hold off until nighttime temps stay above 55.
Steve Aegerter, owner of Garden Guy Design in Denver and a CSU Extension Master Gardener volunteer, advises waiting at least two weeks after the last frost. You can push that date a little by using Wall-O-Waters, he said. Memorial Day is the rule of thumb.
If you want to start your own chiles, remember that they are slow to germinate. Start them now; they need eight to 10 weeks before they’re ready to plant. To start seeds indoors, Ryan Schmitt, horticulturist with Broomfield-based Botanical Interests, stresses three things:
• Even a sunny window will not be light enough for peppers. Rig up a shop light or two, equipped with a combination of cool and warm fluorescents (see pages 6-8 for more detailed instructions on seed-starting).
• Heat from the bottom helps pepper seeds germinate faster. Place them on a heat mat designed for seedlings, on a furnace vent or radiator.
• Use seed-starter, not potting soil or garden dirt, for the best mix of moisture, nutrients and air and to avoid diseases that can strike seedlings.
Five Easy Species
Pepper flavors to savor
1. Pasilla Bajio
Ryan Schmitt, staff horticulturist with Broomfield-based Botanical Interests, recommends this pepper, which ripens from green to dark brown and works beautifully in mole when dried. “The seeds come away from the placenta very easily,” he says. (Removing seeds keeps the damper on any pepper’s fire.) This chile has a complex, smoky flavor that’s both sweet and warm.
2. Anaheim NuMex Joe E. Parker
Developed by the Chile Pepper Institute, this is another mild pepper that’s great fresh, dried, stuffed or fire-roasted. Plus, it ripens more quickly than other Anaheims. “They do really well here,” Botanical’s Schmitt says.
3. Cajun Belle
Josh Kirschenbaum of Territorial Seeds in Cottage Grove, Ore., recommends this 2010 All-America Selection. Shaped like a bell, it’s 2 to 3 inches long. It starts out sweet, he says, “and finishes up with a nice kick of spice — not ridiculous, though.” Cajun Belle grows well in containers, delivers in about 60 days, and can be harvested green or red.
4. Señorita
For a little more heat, this spicy small pepper looks and tastes like a jalapeño, but its Scoville heat-unit rating of 350 reveals its gentler side, says Steve Aegerter. Can’t find Señorita? Kirschenbaum recommends Felicity, another mild jalapeño.
5. Giant Marconi
For flavor in a sweet pepper, try the enormous Giant Marconi, which grows a foot long — or Cal Wonder, an easy-to-grow heirloom bell that ripens to red or orange.
