Welcome Shawn! Another thing to check is to look for a small hole in the stem. This would indicate a stem borer, which often attack pepper plants in our part of the US. You basically have three main possibilities:
•Too much water leading to root or crown rot.
•Too little water leading to wilt or salt buildup in the soil. Soil should be flushed, leached periodically so plenty of water comes out the drain holes. If there are no drain holes, that’s a big problem.
•Insect damage: most commonly a stem borer; once inside the stem, it’s hard to control. A less common issue is beetle grubs, especially Japanese Beetle grubs munching on the roots. Other root insect pests include root mealybugs, frequently brought in by ants, which “farm” them.
Peruvian cuisine often calls for unusual ingredients, like Aji Amarilla, Aji Panca, Huacatay, etc. That may explain why there aren’t more restaurants. It is slowly spreading in urban areas. Some dishes, like ceviche, are easier to get ingredients for. I used to be married to a Peruvian lady and spent a lot of time in Peru; the food is amazing! Somewhere in this thread is my email, should you want seeds. I grow the plants, which get 7 feet high here (VA), in a heated mini greenhouse, with the main crop coming in from Oct.-Feb. I don’t grow them but every few years, using freeze dried or frozen Aji between grow-outs. A lot of seeds get collected, plenty to share.
Huacatay, a.k.a. “Black Mint”, is a marigold and comes up like a weed here. I get mine from my neighbor, who is also married to a Peruvian.
Gaston Acurio’s cookbook on Peruvian cuisine is a classic, he just doesn’t list the Peruvian dish names (Peruvian) in the English version, so the most famous dishes are hard to locate within the book.
Thanks for the info, @bogman. It seems that my plant is reacting to the fall weather. I brought it inside, checked the soil (needed water) & had it looking better. However, in the process I brought some flying critters into the house, so I was asked to put the plant back outside - & now it’s wilting again. We’re only in the 50s, which I thought it could tolerate.
My wife isn’t convinced that what we have is an actual aji amarillo plant because the peppers are still pretty small, so I may take you up on your offer for the seeds. I appreciate your generosity!
Wilting can have a lot of reasons, from too little water to actually too much!
Make sure the pot has drain holes. Put on a saucer or in a bigger pot without holes and water in that. Leave to stand for a couple hours, then throw the water that remains. The plant should have taken up what it needs.
Over-fertilised can also be an issue. It can make it difficult for the plant to take up water.
Then unrelated
Are there any alternatives to aji ammarillo that grow like heat?
No problem! Just start the seeds in early Feb.; they take a while to size up. 50 degree nights are no problem. We’ve had them go into the mid 30s F with no issues. The plants are pretty tough, except for going pollen-sterile when it’s hot.
As far as flavor, I’ve not found any pepper that’s the same. There are some similar, (sort of) peppers, all Capsicum baccatum:
•Aji Chinchi Amarillo-smaller, thinner walled, similar color, smaller plants.
•Sugar Rush Peach-A modern breed, low growing, super productive, peach-colored, juicy fruits which are about as close as Aji Amarillo as I’ve tried. Still different, lacking the almost grapefruity component.
•Lemon Drop-Again: Lemon Drop is NOT Aji Limo (a persistent internet lie). Lemon drop is a smaller, hotter yellow pepper with a distinctly fresh, citrusy taste. Low growing bushes. The core tends to have a soapy taste, in addition to being blazingly hot; it’s best to remove it. If you’re careful about removing the core and septa (“veins”), it can almost stand in for Aji Amarillo.
All the above C. baccatum have set copious amounts of peppers in Virginia during periods when months of 90 degree F+ ( 32C) days would have sterilized Aji Amarillo.
It seems entirely possible for a breeder to use heat-tolerant varieties to cross and back-cross Aji Amarillo with, say, Sugar Rush Peach or Chinchi Amarillo, to create a pepper with the same qualities and flavor, yet has tolerance to hot temperatures. With a warming climate; this would be a good project.
Sugar Rush Peach has such a tasty name-are they, by chance, heat tolerant? Like 110 degrees for a week or two? Or should I just stick to our jalapenos and serranos?
I’m not bogman, obvs ( I wanted to use that!) but I think @bogman says they are heat tolerant. I don’t know about 110 for two weeks here, but easily 90 + f for months, almost always cooling to 60’s at night, and they prospered.
Thanks for the fotos- I’ll need to grow some Sugar Rush Peaches next year if I can find seeds, or better yet, seedlings (but I’m not counting on finding a six-pack of seedlings).
The seed bank database shows a vial of seeds. Drop me an email and I’ll send you some.
110 is pretty scorching! Some shade might be indicated! The maximum temperatures here were 98 with 70 degree nights and those peppers did ok. If you can either start early or harvest late, sidestepping the hottest season, that should help. If you grow these, it’d be good to know the plats’ limits.
If the grinders are plastic, that’s a design flaw. Some coffee grinders can work well, if dedicated to spices. I use a very old Vitamix with a grinding blade, or a hand-crank grain mill, made by Victorio. You have to break up the pepper into bits for the latter, so it’ll get picked up by the “worm gear”. The Vitamix, however, is very strong. It’ll make bread flour out of whole grain wheat in about 40 seconds.
Dried Aji Amarillo are called “Mirasol” in Peru. There’s also a variety of Aji Amarillo bred for sun drying, VERY tall with widespread branches.
Hi bogman and shrinkrap (and other Aji growers)! I have six Aji amarillo plants growing this year - some from my saved seeds and some of Robert’s seeds. The plants in the raised bed have produced enormous fruit, which is just showing the first signs of ripening. Unfortunately, through the process of planting seedlings to potting up to going in the ground, I’m afraid my labels got swapped around, so I can’t say for sure which plants are from which source! I’m going to have a huge haul, in any case.
Robert, did you say before that C. baccatum only crosses with other C. baccatums? If so, then perhaps my plants will all remain Aji amarillos from whatever seed I save. But I have a couple C. chinense and various annuum types in the yard, so if they can all cross, I have no idea what my Aji seeds will produce next year.
I’ll let you guys know how this year’s crop turns out once I get some fully ripe peppers.
Your first recipe “Old-fashioned” seems very close to the “Huancaina” Salsa that I am familiar with making. I think that the addition of Peanuts for thickening may be a Bolivian style. I often use it if I am feeding folks with dietary Restrictions, dropping the Dairy and Crackers.
We can get whole Aji Amarillo here frozen, they are of surprisingly good quality.
Thanks for all the detailed Info.
I’m pretty sure C. baccatum can hybridize with C. chinense. Though, I’ve not had hybrids appear from my gardens. The two species are usually separated by 30–60 feet or more. Neither aforementioned species can cross with C. annuum. Hybrids are most likely when the potential parents are close together. So, if you have C. baccatum very close to C. chinense, hybrids may form.
BTW: that hybrids forms a “genetic bridge” and can cross with C. annuum, whereas the original species cannot.
The Vitamix is for larger volumes. Another coffee grinder with metal blades would be the easiest option, dedicated to spices. It’d be hard to get capsaicin out of the grinder! The hand crank mill works for small amounts, but is slower and you need to pre-crush the peppers and use a chopstick to push the peppers into the worm gear, towards the grinding plates. A crank mill may not work as easily for air-dried peppers; I used it mostly on freeze dried Aji.
Thanks for that…interesting. So I can be fairly sure my large aji amarillos are not a result of crossing between them and my bells or jalapenos…that’s good to know. The first ripe peppers in my raised bed are 4.5 inches long x 1.25 inches wide - bigger than ever. The peppers are smooth and uniform and turning bright orange. The plants clearly enjoy being in the raised bed more than being grown in pots. The plants in pots still have no ripe fruit, and those peppers are more convoluted in their surface features.
