Chapeau de Frade (aka Bishop's Hat)

Fusion_power · November 4, 2010

I grew about 16 of these peppers this year in part because I had a plant last year and enjoyed the peppers and in part because Sandhill can use the seed. Since I had a fairly large amount of saved seed, I grew out a tray of plants this past spring and sold them locally. Since then, I've had excellent reports about this pepper for both flavor and production from several of my customers.

The species is Capsicum Baccatum. The peppers are shaped like miniature bells (and I mean like a true bell shape, not the pseudo bell shape of most sweet peppers) with lobes that hang down at the lower edge of the ripe fruit. You can cut off the lobes and they are sweet and fruity or cut down to the seed and the pepper is nicely hot with a heat range similar to Cayenne peppers. These peppers are excellent made into hot sauce and provide flavor in cooked foods that is comparable to the perfume/seasoning peppers.

What I found to be amazing about them is the extreme level of drought tolerance. The plants were seriously stressed by several months of dry weather in late summer. They dropped leaves and the leaves they kept shriveled up and looked dead, but with a bit of water, they perked right up and kept on growing. By comparison, other pepper plants such as sweet bells, habaneros, and others were seriously stunted and refused to set fruit until I started watering daily. The Chapeau de Frade peppers set fruit almost regardless of stress and temperature but the fruit did not start to grow until the plants got water.

This is a long season pepper. They take at least a month longer to mature fruit than most other peppers I've grown. If you want to grow them in northern states, please start the plants indoors at least 2 months before settled weather, then put them out in fertile soil and water them as needed.

DarJones

November 4, 2010	#1
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Chapeau de Frade (aka Bishop's Hat) I grew about 16 of these peppers this year in part because I had a plant last year and enjoyed the peppers and in part because Sandhill can use the seed. Since I had a fairly large amount of saved seed, I grew out a tray of plants this past spring and sold them locally. Since then, I've had excellent reports about this pepper for both flavor and production from several of my customers. The species is Capsicum Baccatum. The peppers are shaped like miniature bells (and I mean like a true bell shape, not the pseudo bell shape of most sweet peppers) with lobes that hang down at the lower edge of the ripe fruit. You can cut off the lobes and they are sweet and fruity or cut down to the seed and the pepper is nicely hot with a heat range similar to Cayenne peppers. These peppers are excellent made into hot sauce and provide flavor in cooked foods that is comparable to the perfume/seasoning peppers. What I found to be amazing about them is the extreme level of drought tolerance. The plants were seriously stressed by several months of dry weather in late summer. They dropped leaves and the leaves they kept shriveled up and looked dead, but with a bit of water, they perked right up and kept on growing. By comparison, other pepper plants such as sweet bells, habaneros, and others were seriously stunted and refused to set fruit until I started watering daily. The Chapeau de Frade peppers set fruit almost regardless of stress and temperature but the fruit did not start to grow until the plants got water. This is a long season pepper. They take at least a month longer to mature fruit than most other peppers I've grown. If you want to grow them in northern states, please start the plants indoors at least 2 months before settled weather, then put them out in fertile soil and water them as needed. DarJones