Malaqueta hot pepper

[mdvpc]

Photo of this plant today, 6/13/2010. Growing this for the first time. Getting ready to set fruit. Real healthy plant.

Wikipedia info:

Malagueta pepper (Capsicum frutescens var. malagueta, Solanaceae) is a type of chilli used in Brazil, Portugal and Mozambique. It is heavily used in the Bahia state of Brazil . It apparently gets its name from the unrelated melegueta pepper from West Africa (Zingiberaceae).
It is a small, tapered, green pepper that turns red as it matures. It is about 5 cm (2 inches) in length at maturity. It is a very hot pepper, with a range of 60,000 to 100,000 Scoville units (about the same as Tabasco peppers). There are two sizes seen in markets, which will sometimes have different names: the smaller ones are called "malaguetinha" in Brazil and "piri-piri" in Portugal and Mozambique, and the larger ones are called "malaguetão" in Brazil and "malagueta" in Portugal. They are not different varieties, just peppers of different maturities from the same plant.
This pepper is used to season many regional dishes in Brazil and Mozambique and is also used in sauces. In Portugal it is mainly used to season poultry dishes.
One needs to pay careful attention: The malagueta chile (spelled “mala”), used in Brazilian cooking, is often confused with melegueta pepper (spelled “mele”), also known as "Grains of Paradise," a cardamom-like West African spice (Aframomum melegueta, from the Zingiberaceae [ginger] family). Botanical and culinary writers have made the error of referring to the chilli as the African spice, thinking it to be one and the same. One way to avoid confusion is to refer to the former as the "malagueta chilli" and the latter as "melegueta pepper."

[b54red]

I'm also growing it for the first time this year from some seed I received from huntsman in South Africa. My plants look good but I have yet to pick any mature peppers yet. Looking forward to trying them but they may be a little too hot for me.
Do you know what is the best way to use them? I'm planning to use them in a homemade hot sauce and in a vinegar soak for adding to greens.

[mdvpc]

54: I have never grown them before. My plants are just setting fruit now. I usually use hot chile fresh or dry it. Then we use it in everything soups, stew, everything-it's just a part of our daily food.

[b54red]

I am also growing a pepper he sent me and from his writing on the seed envelope I think it is Uyababa. The plant is now about 4 feet tall and just covered with green peppers that look like a cayenne but straiter and just a wee bit shorter than the cayennes I grow. If it tastes similar I will stop growing cayenne because this thing will be a breeze to pick and looks like it will have massive production. If it is a good pepper I will be saving a lot of seed so let me know if you want any because I will be sharing them.

[mdvpc]

54:

Pls keep us updated on Uyababa-and yes, I would love to have seed!

[b54red]

This is an update on the Uyababa. I picked a few the other day and they are about the size of a medium cayenne but with a smoother and straighter pod. I compared the taste and heat with a cayenne and it is much hotter. My guess is somewhere between twice to three times as hot. When you first bite into it you get a strong burst of pepper flavor followed by quickly increasing heat. The plants are now about twice as tall as my tallest cayenne and all were planted on the same day; but it is much slower to ripen. I have been picking red cayennes for over 3 weeks and just now got a couple of red Uuababas.

My Malaguetas are just now starting to put on some small peppers and the plants look really healthy.

[mdvpc]

I have probably 200 fruit that has set on my plants-2 in a container. The fruit is small right now. If all of this fruit matures, I am going to have an awful lot of malaqueta!

[mdvpc]

I just tasted my first malaqueta. Very small, red chile. Hot-probably about 2-3 on a scale of 5. Some folks would find it very hot. Dissipates quickly on the palate. Very good.

[b54red]

My Malagueta's are very small peppers and extremely hot. They look like a tiny tabascos but they are much hotter more like a mild habenero.
Update on the Uyababas. The plants are now about 6 feet tall and they are out producing the Cayennes by a mile. The peppers hang under the plant and are easy to pick because you don't have to stoop. They also pluck off the plant much easier so you don't get as many broken limbs when picking. I had no idea these things would get this big. I planted them too close to the edge of the bed and they stick way out into the walkway between the beds.

[mdvpc]

54

My malaqueta has tons of fruit on it-same with yours? they go from green to a light orange to red.

[b54red]

One of my plants is well over 3 feet tall and very bushy and loaded with peppers. The biggest ones are rarely over and inch long but I do seem to be getting some larger as the season progresses. Man it takes a lot of them to make a small jar of pepper sauce for greens. I hope I'll be able to eat the greens after I add some of the pepper vinegar to them.
I agree they are very tasty; but I looked them up on the Scoville Scale and they were rated between 60,000 and 100,000 and that is hot. Why don't you save some seed from yours and I'll save some from mine and we'll swap. Maybe we don't even have the same plants. I'll also send you some of the Uyababa seed, I think you will really like this pepper. Maybe it goes by another name. This is the name that was on the seed envelope I was sent and right now it is by far the most productive hot pepper I have ever grown.

[mdvpc]

54:

I will send you some seed from the original package. I have my peppers growing right next to each other, so to make sure you get the true variety, thats what I will do. I just pm'd you my address-reply with yours and we will do it.

[franzb69]

pix of the peppers would be nice too. =D

[mdvpc]

Here is a photo of some fruit I picked this a.m. Franz-remind me when I send you the next shipment of seed, and I will put some in.

[franzb69]

These look a lot like our local variety called siling labuyo. Also a frutescens. Still searching around for true seed

Thanks as always Michael