Types of Peppers to Grow

At Sandia Seed we have seeds for over 101 peppers of the world to grow in your garden! There are many types of peppers to grow, ranging from sweet to super hot, so there is a pepper for everyone. 

Golly, it's really hard to choose just one pepper considering the huge range of flavors, heat levels and colors they provide. Sorry, but it's just too hard to narrow down to just one pepper, so here are a few of our top favorites for the best peppers to grow:

• Shishito peppers – one of our all-time favorite sweet peppers, they are so productive and they have outstanding flavor. We like to saute them in a pan with some olive oil and salt, delish!! Be careful, however, sometimes a Shishito pod will be spicy every once in awhile – not knock your socks off hot, but it will have some kick!
  
  
• Green Chile from New Mexico – You really can't beat the flavorful delight of New-Mexican roasted green chile – the smoky-sweet, succulent flesh is packed with exceptional flavors that are out of this world! They come in a variety of heat levels and sizes, so be sure to grow several varieties to kick your kitchen flavors up a notch! One of our favorites is the Legacy Big Jim Green Chile, which is a very large pepper with pods that get to 8-10 inches long! These beasts are packed with flavor and are easily roasted on a grill and peeled for use in all sorts of dishes including green chile sauce.
  
  
• Habaneros – these hot peppers are PACKED with flavor unlike any other peppers. These are, hands-down, our favorite flavored pepper for hot sauces and salsas. They have  fruitiness and depth of flavor that is unrivaled. And, while many people think of Habaneros as being all-heat, once they get a taste of a salsa or pico-de-gallo with habaneros, they realize they crave more. Not sure why these taste so good, they just do! And, we also have several types of Habaneros, even a couple of sweet Habaneros without heat, so be sure to try growing all of them!
  
  “I think the best thing about the habanero is just how good it tastes. I can't  think of another pepper with that amount of spice that just tastes so wonderful.” - says Rob
  
  
• Jalapenos – a classic, these crunchy thick-walled pods pack a great flavor and heat. They are essential for salsas, hot sauces, and poppers of course! We have several types of Jalapenos you can grow, so try them all. One of the great things about Jalapenos is that many of them are the fastest hot peppers you can grow, harvesting in about 65 days from planting the seeds, so if you're impatient and want your peppers faster, make sure to grow some Jalapenos! Jalapeno plants are also very productive, so you'll have plenty of pods to share and use in the kitchen. One of our favorite types of Jalapeno peppers is the Lemon Spice Yellow Jalapeno, which has a ton of heat with up to 30,000 Scovilles, and they are just so pretty in yellow, they glow in the garden!
  
  
• Chimayo Chile –  This heirloom chile grown for generations in the Chimayo Valley of northern New Mexico is infamous for it's fantastic red chile flavor. 
  
  
• Aleppo Pepper – This special and hard-to-find pepper is also known as the Halaby pepper. It is commonly dried and used as pepper flakes in Mediterranean cuisine. With beautiful deep red color, rich fruity undertones and an aromatic flavor, this is one of the best peppers  that you'll love to grow for your spice cabinet! Aleppo peppers make the most delicious red pepper flakes.

Learn about all the pepper families below.
View all of the different types of pepper plants with pictures here » 

Capsicum annuum: Life span: 1.5-3+ years
These annuum peppers make up for many of the most common peppers that you may already know – and include some of the largest peppers. In this family you'll find Bell Peppers, sweet/Italian Peppers, Serrano, Cayenne, Paprika, Hatch Chile Peppers, Banana Peppers, pretty ornamental peppers like the beautiful NuMex Twilight pepper, plus the productive and fast growing Jalapeños.

Capsicum baccatum: 
Life span:  4-6 years
This family of peppers includes South American varieties including Ají Amarillo, Ají Limón. These types of peppers have differently shaped fruits than most other peppers, some say their shape looks like tulip flowers. They also pack a lot of fruity flavor and heat! 



Capsicum chinense: 
Life span:  3-5 years
This family is  commonly known as a "habanero-type pepper – and Includes the hottest peppers in the world, including Habaneros, Scotch Bonnets, Trinidad Scorpions, the Bhut Jolokia Ghost Peppers, and the world-famous Carolina Reaper – the hottest pepper you can grow. While these have a lot of heat, they also have a ton of flavor! Habaneros, especially, are one of our favorites for flavor. 


Capsicum frutescens: 
Life span:  3-8 years
These are a more wild pepper variety, having genetic proximity to the cultivated pepper Capsicum chinense, and are originally native to Central and South America. They still grow wild today in these tropical and subtroical regions! The types of peppers in this family include the infamous Tabasco Peppers, Malaguetas, Thai Hot and many of the peppers grown in India. These plants typically produce the most peppers in their first year and are most often grown as an annual.




Capsicum pubescens:
Life span:  5-10 years
Rocoto and Manzano peppers are the longest lived chile pepper plants. They have distinctive multi-stemmed woody vining plants, with purple flowers, black seeds, fuzzy darker green leaves. These are the longest lived peppers, and can live between 5-10 years in the right conditions, some reports have mentioned Rocoto pepper plants that were 15 years old. Rocotos grow in the Andes and like high day/night temperature fluctuations.