7.22.2010

Capsicum annuum 'Gypsy'

There's a whole bunch of Gypsies living in my garden and I'm not talking about the freewheeling nomads, but the hybrid capsicum plants that produce prolific numbers of sweet tapered peppers.  

Although gypsy  peppers resemble banana peppers or the tapered shape of hot peppers they are actually the sweetest peppers I've ever tasted.  They have thinner walls than bell peppers so they are great for stuffing and roast/grill quickly.  Once they reach their mature size (2" - 6") they can be eaten in any of the colour stages green -> yellow -> orange -> red.  The white/green colour of the early pepper is tart and found in many hungarian dishes while the later deep red peppers are incredibly sweet and evoke more of a mediterranean taste.  The peppers are also great just on their own - either fried in olive oil or raw as crudites. 

When I planted them they were all scraggly, and dying and only had a tiny plug's worth of roots.  I planted a whole bunch of them figuring some would end up dying and I'd weed them out... well I was wrong and now I have so many healthy pepper plants that I don't know what to do with them all!   These plants are incredibly tough, not just tolerating but thriving in both the strong rains of the early spring and the excessive heat that we've had in the past few weeks.  They're also uniquely early producers in the pepper world, producing fruit just 60 days after sowing and require very little watering or feeding.  (interesting note - they're also resistant to tobacco mosaic virus among other diseases)

I almost can't believe these are the same plants...

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