Varieties Grown

Cayenne and tabasco peppers

Jalapeno peppers - young

Jalapeno peppers - mature

Califoria wonder bell peppers

Bishops Crown peppers

Cayenne, tabasco and jalapeno peppers

Bishops Crown pepper

Varieties grown

Seed companies break peppers into two categories: hot and sweet. The hot types include Cayenne, Tabasco, Jalapeno and Bishops Crown. The sweet types include Bell peppers such as California Wonder.

Hot Chilli peppers

Cayenne

The fruits are slim, pointed and slightly curved, ranging in length from two to eight inches. Most of the fruits are green, ripening to red. They can be used in either the green or the red stage. Examples are 'Large Thick Cayenne, Super Cayenne and Long Red Cayenne.

Jalapeno

Jalapeno is one of the most well known hot peppers. The three-inch-long by one-inch-wide conical fruits can be eaten green or red, and their mildly hot flavour is popular on nachos, salsas and pickled. Varieties include Jalala and Jalapeno M.

Tabasco

The tabasco pepper is a variety of the chilli pepper species Capsicum frutescens originating in Mexico, best known for its use in Tabasco sauce.

The tabasco plant has a typical bushy growth, made stronger by trimming the plants. The tapered fruits, around 4 cm long, are initially pale yellowish-green and turn yellow and orange before ripening to bright red. Tabascos rate from 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale of heat levels and are the only variety of chilli pepper whose fruits are "juicy", i.e., not dry on the inside. 

Bishops Crown

This chilli pepper is a member of the Capsicum Baccatum species. It's shape resembles a bishop's crown, hence its name, and can be very spicy, with a fruity flavour. It is red when mature and measures about 1 inch long and 2-3 inches wide.

The bishop's crown has a wide range of heat from 5,000 to 30,000 Scoville Heat Units on the Scoville Scale.

The flavour of this pepper is both spicy and fruity when fully ripened. They can be used in salsas, hot sauces, or dehydrating to make spicy chilli flakes or powders.

Sweet Chilli Peppers

Bell peppers 

The bell pepper is the fruit of plants in the Grossum cultivar group of the species Capsicum Annuum. There are around 200 varieties in the Bell group, including California Wonder, and Northstar.

Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colours, the most common being green, yellow, orange and red. Red bell peppers are ripened green peppers.

Characterized by large, blocky fruits with three or four lobes, these peppers are about three inches wide and four inches long, and they taper slightly. Starting as dark green to yellow-green, most turn red when fully ripe, although some turn yellow or orange, and even brown or purple.

Bell peppers are regularly harvested and used when green.

Learn how to grow these in growing peppers.