Fish pepper plants

Variegated leaves, a Baltimore history, and a medium heat.

By Debra Austin

Species: Capsicum annuum

The Baltimore fish pepper

Fish pepper is a Capsicum annuum kept by African American cooks in the Chesapeake, used in cream sauces where a green or red pod would have stained the color. The foliage is variegated cream and green. The pods ripen from cream to orange to red, often striped. It nearly disappeared and came back through seed savers.

We list Fish Pepper and a Fish x Black Pearl cross. Orange Fish Pepperoncini has fish in the name and pepperoncini in the name. It lives on the pepperoncini page, because that is the pod type.

How hot a fish pepper is

Both the heirloom and the Black Pearl cross are listed at 5,000 to 30,000 SHU. That is a wide medium. Early cream pods are not automatically milder than ripe red ones. Color is a ripeness clock, not a heat gauge.

Why it went into fish

The pale immature pod disappears in a white sauce. That is the practical origin of the name, not a flavor of fish. Ripe red pods dry and grind like a cayenne. Use the cream ones when the color of the dish matters. Use the red ones when you want heat you can see.

Growing fish peppers

Annuum care, with one warning: variegated leaves have less chlorophyll, so the plant grows a bit slower than a solid-green jalapeno. Give it sun and a five gallon pot. The foliage is the ornamental part. The pod is still a cooking pepper.

The Fish Pepper we grow

Questions people ask

How hot is a fish pepper?

The fish peppers we list are 5,000 to 30,000 SHU. Medium, and the range is wide.

Why is it called a fish pepper?

Chesapeake cooks used the pale pods in fish and cream sauces, where a green pepper would have shown. The plant does not taste like fish.

Is the striping only on the leaves?

No. Leaves are variegated, and the pods often stripe as they ripen from cream to red.