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Aha! Picante Hot Pepper V.1
60-70 days to green fruit
80-90 days to ripe
Capsicum chinense
Delectable diversity: Each plant of Aha! Picante Hot Pepper, like each of us, is a unique expression of deliciously never-before-seen pepper! A kissing cousin of habanero, savor a spectrum of glossy, searing hot crimson and tangerine fruits in glorious sizes and shapes from sleek, tapered habanero-style to ribbed round beauties to flying saucers and beyond. If you love hot peppers, brilliant colors, diversity and delectable surprises as well as easter egg hunting, Aha! Picante will delight you all summer long.
Aha! Picante Hot Pepper mature quickly even in cool, short seasons and are part of Fruition’s See(d)ing the Change project, as are are YOU! Together, we are sowing the world we dream of, where deliciousness and diversity are embraced, amplifying the beauty and abundance that is resistance as well as resilience. Learn more here!
Aha! peppers are a cross between Habanada and Aji Dulce — two brilliantly tropical, citrusy-sweet peppers — Aha, get it?!! — and Friends, we learned (the hilariously hard way!) that though heat is the dominant trait of peppers, the genes affecting heat may be either ‘turned off’ or turned so far ‘down’ as to taste sweet. Turned off, the next generation is sweet; turned down, the gene is still ‘on’ and thus the next generation is, frankly, flaming hot. Long story short (and we can’t wait to share more!), what began as a ‘sweet pepper project’ has turned into three distinct peppers: one hot, one not and one that is, well, quite the combination.
Organic Aha! Picante Hot Pepper
Planting Method: Transplant Only
When to sow: 8-10 weeks before last frost
Seed Depth: 1/4 inch Days to Germination: 7-10 at 85°F
Sowing and seedling care: Sow indoors 2 seeds per soil block & thin to strongest 1. 80F heat mats will germinate seeds best; after germ, set to 70F days & 60F nights. Good light is essential: Younger, less stressed seedlings are healthier and more abundant than older, more stressed seedlings.
Move to 3-4” pots with first true leaves. Harden off (reduce water & temp 3-7 days) & transplant when night temps are above 50F. Pluck off any flowers at planting.
When to transplant: After last frost
Transplant Spacing: 12-18 inches Sun Needs: Full
Days to Harvest: 60-70 days to green, 80-90 days to red fruit
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Pamela Fontes May (verified owner) –
I grew only three of these in 2022. and all produced vermilion-colored fruits with the wide ruffly middles, like a peplum waist. They were sweet and fruity, with no heat to the flesh and some shocking heat in the placenta. They were very similar to our red Scotch Bonnet peppers. The plants were healthy despite our lengthy drought and relentless heatwaves here in Western Massachusetts, and held up well through a couple light frost with a cloth cover. Can’t wait to see what grows from these seeds this year!