Capsicum annuum.
The sweet pickling pepper par excellence of Mediterranean cooking — those famous yellow-green points in jars you find in Greek salad, on Italian subs, in antipasti, and that get snacked on as an appetizer everywhere between Naples and Athens. A small linguistic ambiguity is worth noting: in Italian, peperoncino literally means "little pepper" and often refers to the genuinely hot varieties (like the calabrese). The variety we call "Pepperoncini" in North America is actually the Italian friggitello, from the verb friggere, "to fry" — because traditionally they're pan-fried whole in olive oil with garlic.
Tapered fruits 5-10 cm long, slightly curved, with a prettily rippled surface — pale yellow-green at picking, then bright red at full maturity. Very moderate heat: about 100 to 500 units on the Scoville scale, the equivalent of a tickling bite rather than a real burn (compared to 2,500-8,000 units for a jalapeño). Fine, crunchy, juicy flesh with a slightly sweet and tangy note that fully reveals itself in fermentation or vinegar pickling. Jarred at the end of summer, they carry through winter to become the soul of countless aperitifs, sandwiches, salads and charcuterie boards. Fried whole in good olive oil with coarse salt and a squeeze of lemon at the end, they're also a dream mezze.
Grower's tip: Like all peppers, it needs a long warm season — start indoors 8-10 weeks before last frost, at 25-28 °C on a heat mat for uniform germination. Transplant only once nights have stabilized above 12 °C, never before. A moderately productive plant compared to a standard bell pepper, but one that can yield 20-30 fruits per plant over the season with regular picking. For pickling, harvest the fruits young — still yellow-green and firm — that's when they hold up best in brine.
- Open-pollinated. Largely self-pollinating, but crosses possible with other nearby Capsicum annuum (peppers, other chilies); isolate or bag the flowers for seed saving.
- Height: 60-75 cm.
- Maturity: 60-70 days after transplant for green fruits, 80-90 days for red.
- Exposure: full sun, sheltered from wind.
- Rich, well-drained, warm soil. Space plants 40-50 cm apart.
- Start indoors 8-10 weeks before last frost. Transplant once all frost risk has passed (early June in Québec).
