Rocotillo

The Rocotillo is a small, squat chilli shaped like a flattened scotch bonnet, with mild heat (around 2,000 SHU) and a sweet, tropical, fruity flavour. Despite the bonnet looks it carries little of the burn. Originally Peruvian but widely grown across the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico, it suits salsas, hot sauces, pickling and stuffing where habanero flavour is wanted without the fire.

History & lineage

Two distinct peppers are sold as "rocotillo": the original Peruvian Capsicum baccatum recorded here, and a Caribbean Capsicum chinense type of uncertain descent. They look and taste alike. Despite the name (meaning "little rocoto"), it is not the rocoto, Capsicum pubescens.

Culinary uses

Caribbean cooking, especially Puerto Rican dishes. A mild stand-in for scotch bonnet or habanero where less heat is wanted: salsas, hot sauces, pickling, stuffing and tropical cocktails.

Growing it in the UK

Baccatum wants a long season and grows tall and sprawling with it, so sow in early February and plan for a large pot and something to tie it to. Germination is given as 14-21 days. 90 days to maturity is an ordinary season here — sow in February and it will ripen without a fight.

At 60–90 cm this is a substantial plant. Give it a 10-litre pot or a greenhouse border, and stake it before the fruit sets rather than after. The record puts the yield at heavy, so start feeding weekly with something high in potassium as soon as the first fruit sets — a plant carrying that much will run out of steam otherwise.

Read from this variety's own record — the figures are in the panel opposite.