Hot capsicum soup

[Mark_Riga]

I've grown some of Mr. Fothergill's peppers this year '(Sweet) Romano mixed'. The harvested peppers are red, about 6 to 10inches long. One was included in a veg. soup that has a decidedly chilli flavour. The flesh of the pepper is very sweet but you get a decidedly hot aftertaste from any seed. It has grown near some chilli plants I have. Could the problem be crossing with the chillis or would it be from the seed packet?

I know they can cross and you need to take precautions if you want to save seed but I didn't think the current years crop could be affected.

[Zelenina]

You're right, Mark. the current year's crop couldn't be affected. But it's possible that a cross with a hot pepper happened in the seed grower's field, or that they weren't a very pure strain, or a stray seed got into the wrong packet. Are they hot off all your plants? If so it might be a case of mislabelling. Also some sweet peppers occasionally develop a bit of heat near the seeds if the plants are stressed.

[Mark_Riga]

Well at £2.15 for 50 seeds I'd expect them to be true to type. I've not tried any from other plants from the same packet yet. The block capsicums I've grown, 'California Wonder' and particularly 'King of the North' have tasted fine. In fact I would definitely recommend King of the North. I'll see what the others Romano plants are like and if they are similar see what Mr. Fothergill has to say for himself.

[Zelenina]

If it was my soup I'd be adding a chilli or two to spice it up a bit more. But if you don't want any heat you could take out the seeds and seed membrane before using the peppers, which I think most people do with sweet ones. Let us know how the rest turn out.

[burnie]

I recently went on an open day at a local nursery that supplies plants to the trade, they have an automatic seed sorter/dispenser. If those packeting seed use a similar machine, I'm not surprised that a few seeds get muxed ip.............................

[veggiechicken]

I understood that sweet pepper seeds have a "bitter" taste and are normally removed for that reason.

[Zelenina]

There are three possibilities that I can see.
1. It may be the result of some kind of carelessness or mistake by the seed grower or supplier.
2. It may be normal for this variety to make a bit of heat around the seeds and seed membranes, but most people don't notice it because they remove those parts (why would you even want the seeds in a soup?) so they are classified as sweet peppers.
3. Non-hybrid varieties always have a certain amount of genetic variation, some more than others, and it could include variation in heat level. Many people think that's an advantage because you can select the type you like best to save seeds from.

[Mark_Riga]

I've checked 3 other plants, all peppers on them still green, and the pith in those and the seeds have no heat in them. The packet was of mixed (sweet) peppers red, green and yellow in the picture so could be just the red variety that is suspect. When I prepare peppers, I generally take out the seeds but don't bother to remove all the pith and generally not all the seeds but will need to with these. The soup was still tasty but I grow chillis for heat and sweet peppers are often used in salads as well.

We had roast vegetables and soup only Yesterday and my 3 year old grandson was at the table. The King of the North peppers were used for this meal (with aubergine, onion. tomatoes courgettes and a little garlic.

[Zelenina]

Interesting! So maybe it's just the red ones that get a bit hot, or maybe just that one particular plant, or maybe they only develop heat when they're fully ripe. Make sure to report back to us when you've done some more testing.

Yes, it looks on the packet like a 3-coloured mix, but I don't know of any peppers that stay green when ripe. I guess it's really just a 2-coloured mix and the green ones are unripe red or yellow ones.

Sounds like an excellent meal. All home grown?

I've read great reports of King of the North. They didn't do well for me when I tried them, but that might be because I'm not in the north.

I would actually like to find a variety that's sweet and juicy but also mildly hot, to spice up sandwiches and salads a bit. Beaver Dam is one I've heard of that might fit the bill. Does anyone know of any others?