[fonseca]

I misspoke regarding the origin of Criolla De Cocina. It was the Baker Creek Whole Seed Catalog that states:

This small pepper was collected in 1988 in Nicaragua from a farmer.

William Woys Weaver discusses the origin of the indigenous word chiltoma to describe sweet peppers, and hypothesizes that Nicaragua may be home to the earliest sweet peppers, and further states that Criolla De Cocina is one of the most popular chiltomas in that country:

Nicaraguans of Spanish origin have been cooking with native chiltomas since the establishment of the old cities of Granada and Leon in 1524. In fact, much like the Mexicans, they have preserved a vast array of indigenous varieties, many of which predate Spanish conquest.

So this could very well be an ancient pepper.