Re: [CH] Chile question and brewing tidbit
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Fri, 15 Jan 1999 15:20:59 -0800
> anyone have a few Aji seed or even some tips on growing them.
'Aji' is, basically, just the word used in South America in the exact same
way the word 'chile' is used in Mexico. It so happens that more fruits of
Capsicum baccatum are used in many South American countries than any other
species of chile, which is probably why many of us have the erroneous
impression that 'aji' refers only to C. baccatum var. pendulum. But it
doesn't. In South America, fruits of C. chinense, C. frutescens, and C.
baccatum are all mostly called aji something-or-other. (C. annuum are
hardly grown there, pubescens are called by a special name, namely
[lr]ocoto, and I think the tiny bird chiles from C. cardenasii, C.
chacoense, C. eximium, C. praetermissum, and C. tovarii also have distinct
names not aji).
And even if aji referred only to cultivars of C. baccatum var. pendulum,
there are thousands of named varieties of C. baccatum var. pendulum --
nearly as many as the varieties of C. annuum. So of course tremendous
differences exist between those varieties with respect to plant size and
shape, vigor, precocity, fruit size/shape/color/pungency/flavor, etc. --
just as there are between the many varieties of C. annuum.
One generalization that could be made, however, is that plants of most
varieties of C. baccatum var. baccatum tend to be significantly larger in
size than plants of most varieties of C. annuum/frutescens/chinense.
Also, in my experience, most varieties of C. baccatum prefer basically the
same conditions as most C. annuum cultivars, not the higher humidity
conditions preferred by most C. chinense cultivars.
--- Brent