Unknown Long Asian Pepper

[Father'sDaughter]

My husband went to our favorite Sichuan restaurant to pick up a take out order the other day. It was the middle of the afternoon so the place was pretty deserted. At one of the back tables, all the waitresses were working on stripping the stems and seeds out of cases of peppers.

My husband asked what kind they were and all they could tell him was that they were a long Chinese pepper for stir frying, ones that “many Chinese families grow.” He asked if he could have a few seeds (I’ve trained him well), so they put not just a handful of seeds, but also a strip of one of the peppers in a bag for him.

It has a bright, grassy/citrusy flavor with just a small punch of heat that hits mostly on the tongue, and as you can see, is light green, quite long, and pretty thick walled.

Anyone have any thought on possible varieties?

[clkeiper]

it looks and sounds like the variety Takara Shis.hito Hybrid in my seedsnsuch catalog. or maybe just the Shi★★★★o op.

[Father'sDaughter]

It is not a Shish ito. I have grown the OP ones for the past two years (have a bag of them in the fridge right now), and the Takara Hybrid sounds about the same as the OP. Shish itos are wrinkly and only about 3-4 inches long. This one looks more like an Italian frying pepper, but tastes nothing like it, and as you can see is about 9-10 inches long.

Thanks for taking a stab at it!

[KarenO]

Maybe a green long Thai?
KarenO

[gdaddybill]

You might check out Evergreen Seeds online. They have a CA address but specialize in Asian seeds--most seem to be from Japan, Taiwan and Korea. If it's mildly hot it may be listed in the Sweet Pepper section. Shi sheet o is.

[Father'sDaughter]

Thanks for the replies. I looked at all the ones on Evergreen and found two possibilities based on pictures and size, Korean Hot Pepper Hybrid Long Green and Ten-Pu-La (aka Sweet But Not Hot).

I can not find anything other than the same boilerplate description for Ten-Pu-La anyplace that sells the seeds, so I do not know if, like Shish ito it does have some heat but has landed on the Sweet Pepper page at Evergreen. From my taste test of the piece of pepper included with the seeds, I would put it at the same heat level as a Shish ito. And the description of how it is used matches how the restaurant uses it.

[oakley]

I buy something like that occasionally in the Winter months at
the local International store. They call it Korean Long Green.
Sometimes just Long Green. Might be it.

Might be a hybrid but worth growing if the mild heat is what you
like.

The ones I buy have a bit of heat up towards the stem end.

[dmforcier]

Maybe you could send a pic to Evergreen.

[gdaddybill]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Thanks for the replies. I looked at all the ones on Evergreen and found two possibilities based on pictures and size, Korean Hot Pepper Hybrid Long Green and Ten-Pu-La (aka Sweet But Not Hot).

I can not find anything other than the same boilerplate description for Ten-Pu-La anyplace that sells the seeds, so I do not know if, like Shish ito it does have some heat but has landed on the Sweet Pepper page at Evergreen. From my taste test of the piece of pepper included with the seeds, I would put it at the same heat level as a Shish ito. And the description of how it is used matches how the restaurant uses it.

Ten Pu La had no heat for us. We had three plants and the plants are beautiful. The green peppers were okay fried, spiced up with olive or grape seed oil and seasoning salt. The red ones weren't as "green" tasting. This is hard to describe- the green peppers were just not tasty fresh whereas the red ones were a bit better fresh though not really sweet. I will grow it again and use in a stir fry, for example.

[NewWestGardener]

Ten Pu La, Tempura? Just sounded Japanese to me, especially "r" and "l" are the same in the language.

I'm familiar with the long green ones, very common in China. We call them "jian jiao"-- pointy pepper, referring to the shape vs. the bell shaped ones, a way of differentiating between hot and sweet varieties.

[gdaddybill]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Thanks for the replies. I looked at all the ones on Evergreen and found two possibilities based on pictures and size, Korean Hot Pepper Hybrid Long Green and Ten-Pu-La (aka Sweet But Not Hot).

I can not find anything other than the same boilerplate description for Ten-Pu-La anyplace that sells the seeds, so I do not know if, like Shish ito it does have some heat but has landed on the Sweet Pepper page at Evergreen. From my taste test of the piece of pepper included with the seeds, I would put it at the same heat level as a Shish ito. And the description of how it is used matches how the restaurant uses it.

Ten Pu La is a beautiful pepper-no heat and not much flavor either but it should work for frying with lots of Schichimi Togarashi spice. The plant is stately too-tall, beautiful foliage and just hanging with green and red peppers.