Pepperoncini- I don't know what I'm doing
 

Hi all,

DH bought a pepperoncini start this year, and it's now producing peppers. They're turning reddish with some green still on them. We picked one and it's sweet and spicy with zero heat. So a few questions:

1. When are pepperoncinis ripe?
2. Aren't they supposed to have some heat? (DH ate seeds and all, no heat)


Thanks,

Nan

I got my seeds from baker creek. Same story, not hot. But it is listed as a sweet pepper too. Mine were tough and very little flavor when raw. I threw mine in the fry pan and the taste was slightly more like a pepper. I grew Fushimi after that and those were fantastic cooked or raw. Once in awhile there would be a scorcher but generally most were mild to medium heat. Both were the best producers by far. I think the fushimi grew 8-10 peppers a week for 3-4 months. I love the long growing season in Hawaii.

when i buy them pickled.i seem to randomly get ones with some kick to it...but they are generally sweet

I tried a couple of different pepperoncini types. Mostly they had little or no heat except right at the top of the pepper (stem end). Maybe when pickled the heat spreads throughout - I found that myself with pickled peppers. But the ones with no heat were disappointing to me. A distinctive almost sour taste in any green part was interesting but could have done better with heat.



I have an Italian pepperoncini that I got originally from West Coast Seeds in BC. It's a long thin curly type pepper with a nice rich taste and consistent very mild heat, that ripens from very pale green to red. I really like those better, but they probably don't have the classic taste of the pickled peppers.

There are many types, so it will depend. I have one of the Golden Greeks (even those are multiple variations). They have like 0.1 heat, so barely recognizable.
You are supposed to use them green before their seeds become hard (they seem to ripen unusually fast for a pepper). For grilling or pickling etc. The walls are very thin and when the skin gets hard they are not very useful imo.

Use them green, you say? Then I have a lot of peppers to pick, pronto.


Nan

I've grown Pepperoncini Orange the last couple years. This is not your typical green pepperoncini. It's quite warm, sometimes bordering on hot. It's a very productive 30 inch plant. Thin walled and does not hold long on the plant after turning.
I will send in plenty of seed to Gary's swap if anyone wants to try it.