familiar with Vezena / Rezha pepper?

[Scooty]

Has anyone stateside grown the Vezena / Rezha pepper? I was thinking buying them from Baker's Creek. Doesn't seem to be listed many other places.

Some of the feedback is described the pepper as being sweet with slow creep and good for grilling. Maybe ~1000 Scoville?

It's described as passable, or rather only for looks in Michelle Hamer's 2015 pepper review. For her, the, De Le Vera is better.

There are a couple of threads at gardenweb and one on chilipepper.nl on the pepper with decent pic. All those seem to have gotten their seeds directly from framers in macedonia, and mention a more complex flavor.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussi...za-pepper-good
http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussi...m-rezha-w-pics
http://www.chillipeper.nl/forum/view...php?f=35&t=707

Based on those threads is that it seems the Vezena / Vezena/ Rehzha / etc.. pepper is more or less a common name, and there might be differences from community to community. I even pulled up some pictures from google (try "mini vezena pepper") that look to be another variant. Instead of think and long, it comes out to be somewhat short like a jalapeno with a bit of less striations.

Anyone familiar with these peppers?

[Gazeofslate]

Both yes and no.
I know this variety through searches I've done and through a Macedonian friend.
In her town and in parts Serbia that pepper is called vezanka piperki/vezanka pepper, which roughly translates to engraved or embroidered pepper if memory serves. It's named like that, you guessed it, after it's singular looks and heavy corking.

They're apparently either sold on markets, turned into a sort of marmelade/spread or dried in ristras/strings hanging from houses much like in Espelette for instance.
I never ate one so I can't speak for it's taste nor attest it's pungency.

Now, here comes the funny part. I don't know if you read the thread I started but I'm growing a vezanka seedling which is displaying a variegated foliage which isn't typical for this variety. What's more, the sole pepper on the plant right now is turning... black, instead of red.

I've had a particularly hard time with germination - which is strange as I never had that problem with other varieties. I have seeds from two sources, a serbian source and from baker creek. It took me three times, so I don't remember wether the seed that sprouted came from baker creek or from the serbian seed source but one thing is for sure, it doesn't look the way it should. It does display a very pronounced corking though. I recently started another seedling to see wether or not I'll also exhibit a variegated foliage and fruits that turn black.

Edit: I just realized you mentioned "Stateside". While I'm not "Stateside", I'm sure you'll appreciate the input nonetheless. Or at least I hope you will.

[KC.Sun]

Here is another source:

http://store.myorganicseeds.com/Mini...-P5470733.aspx

http://store.myorganicseeds.com/Veze...-P5470997.aspx

You can message him and see what he says. I can't say much about this pepper, but he does a good job in customer service.

I think he's pretty well known too where larger farms look for him for reference.

[MarianneW]

http://www.pepperlover.com/pepper-se...red-hot-detail

She's probably the best source and if that's not it, let her know. Judy is the best for rare annuums from the eastern Levant and is very nice to deal with. She has several "embroidered" chiles available. I haven't grown that particular one but I've grown her other offerings with much success.

[Andrey_BY]

This one is originally old Serbian heirloom hot pepper variety called Vezenka (Ve-zhen-ka) or Vezanka (Ve-zhah-nka). It is from the South of Serbia (Leskovac municipality) and also have got another local name Puckovka. Serbians call Leskovac a pepper city.
Vezenka means "a skirt" in Serbian.
It is not Albanian or Macedonian for sure. All Balkan area including other former Yugoslavian countries and Albanians are growing it like a local favorite.
It is most popular in FYR Macedonia these days. That's why they wrongly named it Macedonian Fringed pepper in USA or UK...
The best use is dried or pickled.
http://www.adriadaily.com/drustvo/hranapice/vezanka/

[Andrey_BY]

These are some "say it all" photoes from Donja Lokosnica village which is the most famous pepper growing place in Leskovac region of Serbia.
90% of 1300 inhabitants there has been growing and sun-drying a lot of heirloom paprika this way for more than 100 years
This is a motherland of this legendary Serbian pepper

[KC.Sun]

That's really neat! Thank you Andrey.

Are there other pepper varieties in that area that are famous or popular? OR do many look like your picture? I'm starting to see more and more with similar markings. So I'm not sure if those are crosses or it's a unique trait of peppers in that region.

[Andrey_BY]

Their most popular, prolific and widely grown variety is Kozji Rog. You can see it dried on those pictures.

There is also Kozi Roh hot pepper from Czech Republic (Czechia), but it bears you thin cayenne type fruit.


Serbian heirloom variety Kozji Rog is wider.

[whistech]

Andrey, are the Kozji Rog Serbian heirloom peppers a hot pepper and how thick are the walls? Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Arlie

[Andrey_BY]

Yes, it is a hot one. Walls are usually 3-5mm thick.
Had tried it about 10 years ago. Unfortunately have no fresh seeds now...

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Andrey_BY

Yes, it is a hot one. Walls are usually 3-5mm thick.
Had tried it about 10 years ago. Unfortunately have no fresh seeds now...

TY for the pictures and the background info. Really informative. Does this mean that the Vezenka pepper is just basically a common name? Have they been breed into distinct lines? Like if I compared one from Serbia with one from Macedonia, basically the same? Or still slightly different?

[Andrey_BY]

As I said above Vezenka is an old Serbian heirloom hot pepper which they grow all over Balkan countries. If they don't know about its roots, they call it Macedonian, Albanian, whatever they want, but there is only one Vezhenka which is originally from this Serbian area.

[Scooty]

Gotcha. TY for filling in the blanks.