I was poking around at the newly reopened produce store
next to my Trader Joe's, looking for habaneros but all
I found were some Thai chilis and what appeared to be
Manzano chilis. Not having had the latter before, I
gave them a shot.

I found them somewhat hot, but not in the same class
as Thai or habanero. However, wikipedia and other
sources claim they're very hot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocoto_pepper

They differ from other hot peppers in having a thick
flesh, like a bell pepper. Also, the seeds are black.
According to the wikipedia article, most rocoto peppers
are red, but mine were orange, and the photo labelled
as "A Manzano pepper plant with ripe pods" in the article
shows orange peppers, so maybe this is a distinction
between rocoto and Manzano.

I really like these peppers, and I think I'll toss
them in when frying up potatoes and onions. Usually,
I use habaneros to add heat, but the texture of the
little shreds of habanero sort of gets lost among the
onions. I'm thinking the more substantial flesh of
the Manzanos should provide a more interesting texture.

zxcvbob wrote:
>
> I have never seen them for sale. I bought a pkg of seeds and going to
> try growing them in my flower bed next year. (they require a *very*
> long growing season, so it probably won't have a happy ending)
>
> I will start the seeds in 3 or 4 weeks. Other peppers,
> about a month later. Tomatoes, a month after that.

How do you do that? I tried planting some Red Savinas
several years ago, and it was a total failure. A few
years ago, I had some really excellent peppers from
Whole Foods (Red Savinas, I think) and I saved the
seeds. I was thinking of planting them this year.
Although there may be a viability problem, I probably
have nearly an ounce of seeds, so there ought to be
some live ones in there.

About all I know is that I need to start them before
the planting season. Do I need indoor lights to give
them a longer photoperiod?

Mark Thorson wrote:
> zxcvbob wrote:
>> I have never seen them for sale. I bought a pkg of seeds and going to
>> try growing them in my flower bed next year. (they require a *very*
>> long growing season, so it probably won't have a happy ending)
>>
>> I will start the seeds in 3 or 4 weeks. Other peppers,
>> about a month later. Tomatoes, a month after that.
>
> How do you do that? I tried planting some Red Savinas
> several years ago, and it was a total failure. A few
> years ago, I had some really excellent peppers from
> Whole Foods (Red Savinas, I think) and I saved the
> seeds. I was thinking of planting them this year.
> Although there may be a viability problem, I probably
> have nearly an ounce of seeds, so there ought to be
> some live ones in there.
>
> About all I know is that I need to start them before
> the planting season. Do I need indoor lights to give
> them a longer photoperiod?


I have a growing rack that I bought at a garage sale many years ago; it
has three 4-foot fluorescent fixtures suspended by chains (so you can
adjust the height) and holds several 11x22" plastic nursery trays under
each one. I've rewired the fixtures to use F32T8 lamps, overdriven to
about 40W each (Motorola high light-output ballasts.)

Peppers need warmth to germinate, so I start the seeds in a cut off milk
carton *on top* of the fixtures and let the lamps provide gentle bottom
heat. When they start to germinate, I move them down under the lights,
and when they are up about 2" tall I transplant them to little nursery
4-packs. Then eventually to 4" round pots.

I generally keep the photoperiod about 12 hours, to keep from confusing
the plants.

Pepper seeds remain viable for 4 or 5 years, so you should be OK.

Bob

On 27 Dec, 20:49, Mark Thorson <nos...@sonic.net> wrote:

> I found them somewhat hot, but not in the same class
> as Thai or habanero. *However, wikipedia and other
> sources claim they're very hot.

Manzanos are about 30,000-50,000 Scoville units, while habaneros are
about 300,000 Scovies.

> They differ from other hot peppers in having a thick
> flesh, like a bell pepper. *Also, the seeds are black.
> According to the wikipedia article, most rocoto peppers
> are red, but mine were orange, and the photo labelled
> as "A Manzano pepper plant with ripe pods" in the article
> shows orange peppers, so maybe this is a distinction
> between rocoto and Manzano.

What you have is the Manzano Amarillo. It is a relative of the rocoto,
but not the same chilli.

> I really like these peppers, and I think I'll toss
> them in when frying up potatoes and onions. *Usually,
> I use habaneros to add heat, but the texture of the
> little shreds of habanero sort of gets lost among the
> onions. *I'm thinking the more substantial flesh of
> the Manzanos should provide a more interesting texture.

Traditionally they are used fresh - the thick flesh makes drying
difficult. Try making a salsa of them, they should be very good for
that. They can also be stuffed and baked, if you can take the heat. ;-)

Steve Pope wrote:
> Mark, my experience with Manzanos is they're similar
> in taste and appearance to habaneros or scotch bonnets
> but only a fraction as hot. Still plenty hot for most
> uses. I have used them in a goat roti instead of
> habaneros.
>
> I don't remember them being larger or fleshier or
> having black seeds but that would depend upon how
> they are grown I guess.
>
> Steve


The black seeds is important. If it doesn't have black seeds, it's not
a rocoto pepper. They are also supposed to have thick juicy flesh like
a bell pepper.

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

> Mark Thorson wrote:
>> I was poking around at the newly reopened produce store next to my
>> Trader Joe's, looking for habaneros but all I found were some Thai
>> chilis and what appeared to be Manzano chilis. Not having had the
>> latter before, I gave them a shot.
>>
>> I found them somewhat hot, but not in the same class as Thai or
>> habanero. However, wikipedia and other sources claim they're very hot.

The Scoville scale puts them in the neiborhood of serranos:

http://ushotstuff.com/Heat.Scale.htm


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html

Steve Pope <spope33@speedymail.org> wrote:

> Mark, my experience with Manzanos is they're similar
> in taste and appearance to habaneros or scotch bonnets
> but only a fraction as hot. Still plenty hot for most
> uses. I have used them in a goat roti instead of
> habaneros.
>
> I don't remember them being larger or fleshier or
> having black seeds but that would depend upon how
> they are grown I guess.

What you used probably weren't manzano. These are 10-12 times the
weight of a habanero and 4x as big. And very smooth skinned. Mine
weren't very hot at all. I don't even have anything to compare them
to they were so mild.

I have some pictures of the ones I bought. I've only seen them
once, and they were $4/lb.

Outside (1.5" tall):
http://i44.tinypic.com/m2c76.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/2l9gtg1.jpg

Inside:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2co4to5.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/r8i2qh.jpg

I wouldn't buy them again at $4/lb. They were just a mildly hot red
capsicum.

-sw
-sw

zxcvbob <zxcvbob@charter.net> wrote:

> Blinky the Shark wrote:
>> zxcvbob wrote:
>>
>>> Mark Thorson wrote:
>>>> I was poking around at the newly reopened produce store next to my
>>>> Trader Joe's, looking for habaneros but all I found were some Thai
>>>> chilis and what appeared to be Manzano chilis. Not having had the
>>>> latter before, I gave them a shot.
>>>>
>>>> I found them somewhat hot, but not in the same class as Thai or
>>>> habanero. However, wikipedia and other sources claim they're very hot.
>>
>> The Scoville scale puts them in the neiborhood of serranos:
>>
>> http://ushotstuff.com/Heat.Scale.htm
>>
>
> They are listed in that chart twice. Once at 12-30k, then again at
> 225-350k.

Even with the lower number, the ones I hate weren't nearly as hot as
a serrano.

I'd put the heat level around a rocotillo, which is what these might
actually be:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocotillo_Pepper

(except for the "drying" part).

-sw

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> I have some pictures of the ones I bought. I've only seen them
> once, and they were $4/lb.
>
> Outside (1.5" tall):
> http://i44.tinypic.com/m2c76.jpg
> http://i43.tinypic.com/2l9gtg1.jpg
>
> Inside:
> http://i42.tinypic.com/2co4to5.jpg
> http://i44.tinypic.com/r8i2qh.jpg
>
> I wouldn't buy them again at $4/lb. They were just a mildly hot
> red capsicum.

Yes, that looks like what I bought. I'll reserve
further comment until after lunch.