Jalapeno?

Let's see the plant.

Here's a photo of the plant w/ green fruits. The largest plant is almost 5 ft tall, having over-wintered in the ground. The peppers are hot with a lot of seeds but not fleshy like the jalapeño.

Japone?

hmm i thought japones are small slim peppers

Not Japs. Not Japones at all. Japones grow upright in clusters like many Thai varieties. Even the fruit looks just like that of Thai Hots I've grown. Any heat to them?

Kevin

Hi Kevin,
Apparently we're in the same neck of the woods. Yes these peppers do have quite a bite to them. As for Thai hots, aren't they upward-pointing? These peppers are pendant and aren't as pulpy. The skin is rather thin, not much of flesh but lots of seeds.

I haven't grown japones, but in the market a couple days ago there was a bin of peppers that looked just like those in the original pic: size, shape, color. They were labeled "japone".

Dennis

otcay: yep. In fact, I don't see one bit of difference in Thai hots and Japones -- same leaves, size plant, size peppers, pepper shape, growth habits, etc.

I'd say they're Jalapenos, but yours are extremely bright red and have that deformation on the points. I've gotten deformed Jalapenos in the past but it wasn't as severe as yours and certainly not on every pepper like yours. Yours actually has some "lobing" going on, which goes against Jalapeno pod shape. and no corking in a batch of red japs --- unheard of in my experience. I stand firm-- not Jalapeno and not japone. Maybe you got some seed where a Jap crossed with a habanero... dunno. Can you ask the person you got the seed from what they grew last year?

Dennis: Maybe the bin was mislabeled? Either that or they have a different strain of Japone in Texas. Japones just means Japanese, so maybe they're calling those Japones because it's a japanese pepper variety. I get the same issue out here in SoCal. The markets call Poblanos & Anchos by something totally different -- pasillas.

Kevin

They don't look like the Japone's I've grown for several years. The Japones I grow are slim and about 2-3 inches long, thin skinned, and the plants are tall. They are similar in apprearance to the 'De Arbol Chili' pepper'.

Japones are also refered to as 'Japanese Chili' pepper.

the green ones look a lot like Pimiento De Padrons.
Pam

There we go! I think Pam nailed it. I was thinking something like that or Corno di Toro or a sweet like Carmen and others. I knew it was something I've never grown...lol

I guess padrons do the whole Poblano thing -- some are hot, others not.

Kevin

I can see a slight resemblance except that Padróns are sweet peppers. These are quite hot. One pod cooked in soup will flavor the whole pot. You have a sharp eye, Kevin, to see the unsual tip on the peppers. It is consistent on all pods with the unusual hook at the end.

Padrons start getting hot after they reach about an 1.5-2" long. I've not let any turn red, but i've had some overlooked green ones reach 4-5 inches that were really hot. 3" seems short for fully ripe. They don't look exactly like my padron, but I grow in zone 7 in pretty heavy shade.

Depending on your fertilizer, padrons will be thin-walled or thicker. I prefer to under fertilize and have delicate peppers that ballon out when frying and then collapse as they cool. The immature seeds dissolve, and the peppers are filled with hot flavored liquid. Yum.

They say every once in awhile you will hit a hot padron, I fixed some Tapas awhile back and every single one of them was hot, not jalapeno hot, but hot. I have had some too that were jalapeno hot. I have never had a SWEET padron, they all taste like a chile pepper vs a sweet pepper. Funny thing too, I have 2 padron plants, one the fruit looks like yours, the other one, they look like a cross between a poblano and a padron. THey are from the same seed source, and the fatter one tastes exactly like a padron, the smaller fruit looks more padron-ish, but if left on they get big and look more poblano-ish. very strange.
Pam

Here's today's harvest.

Pedrons are harvested and used green, like peperoncini, shishito .. as I have gathered. But I suppose ripe ones can taste even better.

Nice. Leave the calyx and stem attached though... they'll stay fresher much longer.

Kevin

I can't eat them fast enough so i wash and clean them before handing it over to mom up the coast. She grinds them up into a paste then use it year-long until the next summer when i'l have another crop.