Capsicum annuum
Cayenne pepper, red long pepper: although it bears the name of the capital of French Guiana, it comes from the Amazon basin and spread throughout the world along trade routes. It is the most widely cultivated pepper, found in everything from Tabasco to harissa and curries.
Characteristics:
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Long, slender fruits: 10 to 12 cm, tapered, changing from green to bright red.
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Substantial heat: 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville units — distinctly hot, without reaching the extremes.
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Very productive: one plant provides more than enough to dry an annual supply.
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Dries perfectly: the standard variety for chili powder.
Precautions:
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Wear gloves when handling the fruits, whether fresh or dried. Capsaicin adheres to the skin and resists washing with water: subsequent contact with the eyes causes painful burning.
- Wash your hands with soap and oil rather than water alone — capsaicin is fat-soluble.
- When grinding dried fruits, protect yourself: chili dust is highly irritating to the eyes and respiratory tract. Keep the fruits and seeds out of reach of children.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: full sun and warmth, in a spot sheltered from the wind.
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Soil: rich in organic matter, loose and well drained. It does not tolerate stagnant water, which causes the roots to rot.
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Method: sow from February to April under cover, at 20–25 °C — below 18 °C, the seeds will not germinate. Sowing directly in the ground after the last frosts would be far too late for the fruits to reach maturity. Allow 2 to 3 weeks for germination. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant when nighttime temperatures exceed 12 °C, spacing plants 50 cm apart. Unlike tomatoes, do not bury the stem: peppers do not form adventitious roots, and a buried crown will rot.
- Provide light support: branches loaded with long fruits tend to sag.
Care advice:
- Keep the soil slightly moist, without excess water. Mulch to reduce watering.
- Tip: slight water stress at the end of cultivation increases the capsaicin content of the fruits.
- Bring the pot indoors before the frosts: the pepper is perennial and can produce for several years in a conservatory.
Harvest advice:
- Harvest with gloves when bright red and firm. To dry: string the fruits into a garland and hang them in a dry, well-ventilated place, or put them in a dehydrator at a low temperature. Once brittle, they can be ground into powder.
Beneficial companions:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its white flowers are visited by bees and bumblebees all summer.
- Its foliage provides shelter for ladybugs and hoverflies, valuable allies against aphids in the vegetable garden.
Uses:
- Fresh, dried or powdered, in African, Creole and Asian cuisines. A base for Tabasco and harissa. It pairs well with meat, fish and vegetables — and, more surprisingly, with dark chocolate.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Open a fully red fruit while wearing gloves, remove the seeds, rinse them and dry them flat. Be careful: peppers cross-pollinate easily between nearby varieties, so isolate your seed plants. See saving your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Volcanoes of Auvergne, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to sow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
The most versatile pepper, and the easiest to dry.
