Hot Pepper, Chilhuacle Negro (Organic)
Capsicum annuum. Hot. 95 days.
Chilhuacle Negro is a dark chocolate brown hot pepper with rich spicy flesh that is a key ingredient in the classic mole negro from Oaxaca, Mexico. When ripe, the medium small-sized, tapered bell shaped fruit are deep purple inside. With very thin walls, they dry rather easily. Fruit are similar to or bit hotter than cayenne peppers and are especially good roasted over an open flame before making into salsa or mole, or as a piquant ingredient in stir-fry. Excellent ground into a powder and used as you would any hot pepper powder. The flavor is so richly fruity is can be reminiscent of molasses or raisins. We’re still working on selecting this great pepper for the Pacific Northwest, and hopefully it will continue to get earlier and more prolific each year.
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Sow indoors in flats with good potting soil as early as February, but no later than April. Keep warm and well-watered. Up pot seedlings into 4” pots when they have their first two true leaves. Transplant out into the garden after danger of frost has passed, typically late May in western Oregon.
Seed Saving
To save seed, wait until fruit is fully ripe. Remove seeds from fruit and dry. Isolate from other pepper varieties of the same species by at least 500 feet.
Hungry Robin –
I grew this pepper last year in Spokane, WA. My garden is zone 5 but depending on weather patterns I can get very early or late frost. This pepper was very productive, loading lots of peppers on 24″ tall plants. When picked the aroma was intoxicating.
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Marietta Bonaventure –
Where did you grow this variety? Oregon
Ideal for drying and turning into chili sauce. Quickly dries down into a wrinkled black nubbin, but it packs a rich, spicy, chocolatey flavor.
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benhedstrom (verified owner) –
Where did you grow this variety? Oregon
When I looked at recipes for traditional mole negro, these were a key ingredient and $20 for 3-5 dried peppers! Was happy to find the seeds here and figured I’d grow them myself in Portland, OR. I’ve been growing and drying them for 3-4 years now and they always turn out wonderfully. Prolific and tasty. I dry them in my dehydrator and make mole with them every winter. With 3-4 plants I always have tons to share. Thanks for providing these seeds!
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Kelly (verified owner) –
Where did you grow this variety? Other
I grew these during our 6 month, annual winter excape from Bellingham WA to Oaxaca state in southern Mexico. We live at 5600 ft in Teotitlan del Valle where the daily temps are in the 80s until March, when they go to 90. I had 16 good plants from the 1 gr of seeds. They produced well and I left our host family with the garden to ripen and harvest, with the request to save seeds. Chilhuacle peppers have become relatively rare in their native state, mostly because there are better cash crops, such as Agave for Mezcal production. I’ll take more seeds next year to help rejuvenate this traditional Mole Negro ingredient.
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