Everything You Need To Know About Piquin Chillies

Description: This chilli is not well known in Australia. This is a shame as they are a great chilli and one that is on my must grow list. The piquin is an early member of the annuum species and is believed to be closely related to the original chilli plants.

The term piquin covers a variety of wild and domesticated species that are generally less than 3 cm long. Though the names piquin and chiltepin are frquently used interchangeably, generally the term piquin is used for for the domesticated varieties (conical) and chiltepin used for the wild varieties (spherical).

Heat: 7 out of 10 (50,000-100,000 Scovilles)

Flavour: They can be used fresh or dried. My friends and I are extremely partial to the dried form with it's distinctly smokey aroma - even though they are not smoked!

When fresh they are great in salsas, and when dried, they are great crushed and sprinkled into soups and casseroles.

Growing: The plants are easy to grow and will thrive in the general conditions discussed in the growing pages. I've never grown them ourselves, but friends have reported their growing to six feet high and there are reports out of the USA of them achieving 15 feet in glass houses.

The small fruit are usually erect (point up).

Name: Piquin (Capsicum annuum) also commonly spelt as pequin.

Some Relevant Links:

More Piquin Photos: hold your cursor over the image for more information.