Aji pepper plants

The South American branch of the genus, and the biggest part of what we grow.

By Debra Austin

Species: Capsicum baccatum

What makes a pepper an aji

Aji is the Spanish word for chilli, and in practice it points at Capsicum baccatum, one of the five domesticated species and the one South America kept mostly to itself. Ajis were being grown in Peru and Bolivia long before anyone in Europe had seen a pepper.

You can identify a baccatum in flower without waiting for a pod. The petals carry green or gold spots where a chinense or an annuum flower is plain white. The plants run tall and wiry, often past four feet indoors, and they branch wide rather than up.

What an aji tastes like

This is why people grow them. Ajis lead with fruit rather than burn: citrus, apricot, melon depending on the variety, with the heat arriving late and staying polite. A Lemon Drop is sharp and lemony, a Sugar Rush Peach is close to eating the fruit it is named for.

If you have only eaten jalapeños and habaneros, a baccatum is the one that changes your mind about what a pepper is for.

Aji, rocoto and chinense, told apart

Confusion runs in two directions. Against a chinense (habanero, scotch bonnet, the superhots), an aji is milder, fruitier, later to ripen and far more forgiving of a cool night. Against a rocoto, which is Capsicum pubescens, the giveaway is the seed: rocoto seed is black and its leaves are hairy, and no baccatum does either.

The name is the other trap. Plenty of peppers sold as aji are not baccatum at all. Aji Charapita and Aji Dulce are chinense, and Aji Panca is often sold dried rather than as a plant. We list the species on every product page for exactly this reason.

How hot aji peppers are

Most of the baccatums we grow sit in the medium band. The range on this page is computed from the plants listed below, not from a single variety. Charapita and aji dulce are chinenses that wear the word aji. They have their own pages so the species stays honest.

Growing them

Baccatums take cool nights better than a chinense, which is why we lean on them for indoor growing and for anyone starting late in the season. They are slow to first flower and then relentless: a single plant will keep setting pods until something stops it.

Give them room. A seven to ten gallon container suits a full-sized aji, and staking pays for itself once a plant is carrying fruit on long side branches.

The Aji Peppers we grow

Questions people ask

What does aji mean?

Aji is Spanish for chilli pepper. In the seed trade it almost always means Capsicum baccatum, the South American domesticated species.

Are aji peppers hot?

Most sit in the medium band, hot enough to notice and mild enough to eat whole. A few run hotter. The range across the varieties we stock is shown above, taken from our own data.

Is every pepper called aji a baccatum?

No. Aji Charapita and Aji Dulce are Capsicum chinense. We print the species on every product page so you can check before you buy.

Do aji peppers grow well indoors?

They handle cool nights better than chinense varieties do, which makes them one of the better bets under a light or on a windowsill. They need a large container and something to lean on.