Cole Canyon Farm : Chile Peppers

colecanyon@colecanyonfarm.com

CHILE PEPPERS

CHILES (A/P)
In general, peppers are grown as annuals and come in sweet and hot (chile) varieties. In fact, many peppers can be grown as perennials in our mild coastal climate, and we offer a number of those types. Ideal seedlings for transplant will have sturdy stems and buds, but no open flowers. If you are planting in sandy soils, make sure you add calcium and phosphorus.
            Bell Peppers: These are grown as annuals. All varieties start green but ripen to a variety of colors including red, orange, yellow, purple and white. Begin harvest as soon as the pepper has matured to the size and color desired to insure more production. In general, the more color, the more food value.
            Ethnic Peppers, Sweet: Our favorite is the Italian type of pointed peppers that are grown like bells and produce great quantities of 4 – 8 inch long peppers. The plants are very vigorous and produce for months in protected areas of your garden. Italian in origin, these are named after the nose or horn of the bull!
            Hot Chiles: We offer a great assortment of hot chile seedlings and plants from April though early fall. Many of these plants are perennial in our climate if protected during the short days and cold winds of winter. Many do well in pots and can be brought in during winter months; others will survive in the garden if pruned and mulched heavily. So if you have a taste for the heat of exotic and hard to find chile, you should find old favorites and some terrific new varieties on our list. Please check “On The Truck” for new additions.

A word of caution: some of these chiles are very hot and can burn. Always wear gloves when harvesting and preparing. Do not allow children to pick or eat the peppers unless supervised.

Aji Little Fingers !	This is one of the largest plants we offer, reaching up to 5 feet in height. Plant one and give it room to grow. The pepper resembles a ‘little finger’. (Sold out for ’07)
Aji Rojo !!	This rare pepper grows on a small plant and is fairly mild when green but hot when ripe (dark brown). (Sold out for ’07)
Aji Yellow !	This plant grows to 4 feet and is very hardy in our California coastal climate. Expect 50 – 100 peppers per plant and use them to make a tasty hot sauce. Hot and beautiful!
Anaheim !	Peppers are 7” long making them great for stuffing. Expect mild to slightly hot fruits.
Ancho/Poblano !	It’s a poblano when it is dark green and fresh and ancho when it is red and dried.
Assam !!!!	Very thin Indian pepper, 3” – 6” long. One of the worlds hottest!
Bangalore Torpedo !	Mild pepper for drying. Narrow peppers 5” long and 1/3” wide. Red when ripe.
BIRD Peppers	See Tepin, Pequin and Zimbabwe Bird peppers below.
Bolivian Rainbow	Ornamental/Edible.
Cayenne	Select from the thin or chunky variety. Flavor in both is red hot! (Sold out for ’07)
Cherry, Red Hot !	A lush plant with dark green foliage and round red peppers with just a trace of heat. Very productive.
Chimayo	The earliest maturing hot pepper for roasting. A chunky New Mexico type, and easy to grow!
Cycle City Chile !!!	A plant that found us and its true identity is, for now, unknown. We can tell you that it is a beauty, about 3 feet tall, with an open habit, covered with hundreds of tiny red, juicy chiles that are hot, hot, hot. It has produces most of the year in our unheated greenhouse.
Dame de Noche !!	A lovely perennial plant has a slightly fuzzy leaf, white flowers, and long cayenne-like peppers. Trim it in the late fall, give it a good mulch, and watch it come back to life in early spring.
De Arbol !!!	This tree chile grows up to 4 feet high, 4 feet wide with peppers that are 4 inches long and very hot. We give it 3 ‘muy bravos’ !!!
Elephant’s Trunk !	An East Indian variety shaped like its namesake. Curved chiles are long and thin and harvested from green to red.
Fish !!!	Unusually variegated foliage and fruit. It is said that this plant was brought to the Americas by African slaves and was used to season fish and shellfish dishes. Unlike most ornamentals, this one is prized for its flavor!
Fresno!!	One of our most productive, great pickled!
Habenero !!!!	We offer a variety of this popular chile and most are in the hottest end of the heat scale. Use caution when harvesting and preparing. Habenero plants are generally small and can often be grown in containers. Add calcium in the form of bone meal to assure healthy growth.
Hawaiian Sweet Hot !!	This small 2’ tall plant produces great numbers of sweet and hot fleshy red peppers.
Hungarian Hot Wax !!	This compact little plant produces mildly hot peppers that grow upright and hanging down. They are green to orange to red and very festive. (Sold out for ’07)
Jalapeno!!	We have early ones, large ones, mild ones and hot ones.
Japones !!!!	Commonly used in Szechwan spicy dishes and one of the hottest peppers we offer. The plant is 2 feet tall sporting clusters of red, 2 inch long fruits. (Sold out for ’07)
Manzano !	We offer red, orange and yellow varieties of this proven perennial. Chiles are apple shaped with black seed. Plants can grow up to 8 feet tall.
Marbles	Ornamental/Edible This compact ornamental is most often called ‘cute’. It’s a little hard to find and we are happy to bring it to you when seeds are available. Lovely as an accent in herb gardens.
Nepali Orange !!!!	Beautiful 3’ by 3’ plant loaded with small orange, yellow and red fruit. Native to India via Fiji. Heat increases with ripeness.
New Delhi Long !!	Tall narrow plant up to 4 feet tall with red 3” long fruits. Native of India.
New Mexico	We offer a variety of NuMex including NewMex Big Jim (the largest and great for Chile Rellenos) and NuMex Twilight ( an elegant ornamental with purple upright peppers).
Pequin!!!!!	A favorite in Thailand, this little pepper is one of the hottest we offer. It is also known as a ‘wild bird chile’. We give this one five !!!!! muy bravos!!!!!
Pimiento de Padron !	Thanks to a loyal customer for bringing us these seeds! The Pimiento de Padron is a favorite in Spain as a tapa, or appetizer. They are generally mild but one may surprise you.
Prairie Fire	Ornamental/Edible Tiny 1” fruits pop up out of lush foliage on this miniature plant. Great in containers or garden borders.
Santa Fe Grande !!!	Similar to Fresno but 10 times hotter. Makes a delicious crunchy pickle.
Scotch Bonnet: !!!!	We offer Big Sun, Burkina Yellow, Caribbean Red, Jamaican Red, Red 5 in 1 and Jamaican Yellow. Varied, gorgeous and fruity heat.
Serrano !!	An all round favorite with a little more heat than the Jalapeno. Easy to grow in our coastal climate, it does well in large pots deep into fall.
Sweet Wrinkled Old Man !	This mild pepper is a favorite in Japan where it is known as Shishito. It develops heat as it ripens. Prepared in much the same way as the Padron.
Tepin !!!!!	Considered the world’s hottest pepper (!!!!!) Takes up to seven months to fruit, so best planted in containers.
Thai Bangkok !!!	We offer various Thai peppers and this one, the Bangkok, is the hottest.
Trupti !	A mildly hot East Indian pepper with long, thin curved fruit. A good pickling pepper selected red when ripe.
Zimbabwe Bird !!!!	A rare ornamental pepper from Africa that does well in containers. The peppers are very hot!

Attention Hot Pepper Lovers

One of the most remarkable international collections of hot pepper seeds can be purchased from Redwood City Seed Company, right here in our own back yard. Craig Dremann, the man behind the seed company, searches world wide for the seeds of unique peppers. In a collaboration, Cole Canyon Farm is honored to offer seedlings of nearly every type of pepper available through Redwood City Seed in the Spring of 2008. As you contemplate the types you might like to try, we invite you to take a look at Redwood City Seed Company’s Pepper Picture Gallery. If there is a pepper that you MUST have, we will be taking reservations via email through our web site after January 1, 2008.