True Aji Amarillo?

I found these in the 2022 sale bin at Ace Hardware this morning. Bogman, are you familiar with this grower?
aji amarillo

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I’ve heard of Sandia, but not bought from them and don’t their reputation.

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Wow. I do not know much about the aji amarillo peppers, but the salsas I had that used them in Peru were spicy but not super hot. This packet says that they are around 800,000 on the Scoville Scale, which is a little more than twice as hot as a Scotch Bonnet. I would have guessed that they were a little bit milder than that. Because they are really tasty in the dishes I remember.

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Thanks for that heads up. I’ll check them out and hope somebody put in an extra zero.

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Exactly. I think it is either a misprint or the peppers are used in a manner that emphasizes the flavor, not the heat. Because they are delicious but not overly “ghost pepper” hot. I did not always get one, but I really liked it when the server would give me one of those tiny dishes with aji amarillo in it. Everything goes better with a bit of it!

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After coming home from a trip to Peru a while back, I found bags of frozen imported aji amarillo in my local Mexican supermarket (SF Bay Area). @ZivBnd, you’re right, they have a very distinct flavor, more notable than their spiciness.

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I just planted some Aji seeds. My understanding is that they take a long time to germinate. (I DO NOT speak from experience). So,don’t toss them if they take a longer time. I also understand they can overwinter in mild climates.

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Mine is probably 4 years old now! It is still ripening last year’s fruit.

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Sorry, I missed this! I’m not familiar with Sandia Seed Co. The Scoville numbers on the front and back of the packet don’t jibe. I generally don’t buy seeds from hardware stores, as they don’t store seeds cold and their longevity drops quickly.

A bit deceptive that there’s no mention of pollen sterility at warm temperatures, over 83°F, (28°C).

Aji Amarillo can be very hot if the core/septa are used. However, the cores are usually discarded. To me, the cores are too hot with a mild soapy taste.

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I’m growing out some rocotillos that you sent, and have limited growing space so maybe I’ll chill the amarillos until August or next year. Do the seeds freeze, or should I keep them in the fridge?
That’s assuming that they’re actually amarillos.

I know one seed saver who freezes pepper seeds, but I have no first-hand experience freezing Aji Amarillo seed; I have been keeping it in airtight jars, in the fridge. It’s very important to keep stored seeds dry and prevent them from gaining moisture which can be present in most refrigerators. I should take some of my Aji amarillo stash and freeze it, to see what happens.

As a side note, I just planted an ornamental pepper, “Black Prince”; the seeds were collected in 1994 and germinated very well! They were stored in the fridge.

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After the seeds are dried initially, store them in a tight container with a silica gel dry packet. I do this with tomato seeds, no refrigeration, and they last over 10 years.

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Thanks for that!
BTW, the rocotillos hatched out at 100% from what I can see. Tomorrow starts our sh*t weather, over 100 and the humidity’s been at 9% for a couple of weeks or more, according to the weather reports on the news. so we’ll see how they fare. Right now they’re wilting at the drop of a hint but I transplanted them later than I should have into several different planters, some of which have local potting soil that dries out way too fast for here. But they perk up and we need to mulch them or something. Mostly it’s because they haven’t had a chance for their roots to spread out
I do wish I had shrinkrap’s incredible drip irrigation system. Not having one keeps me nailed down to the house for a few months.

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Well, there’s a possibility of using a soaker hose with a battery-powered irrigation controller. If you try that, put the controller in some serious shade; the computer chips that hold the watering programs can overheat in the sun and erase the program or damage the unit.
Good luck with the Rocotillos!

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It’s about the prefect heat and meat. Ate aji, the sauce, just about everyday I lived in Ecuador. Homemade bread, butter, dip in aji. Happy place.

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Watered every day, it’s pretty clear that the heat is what bogged them down, just as you predicted. A couple of them were put in planters with jalapenos, and the jalapenos were stressed to the point of not setting fruit, but they didn’t wilt like the rocotillos. The temps have been more “moderate” for the past week, and they’re all putting out buds, though the rocotillos haven’t set any fruit. It’s an interesting experiment, but I’m glad I didn’t plant all the rocotillo seeds this spring, because this has been one literal hell of a summer. And I have no idea if it’s going to quickly turn into an abnormally cold winter. Fortunately I have some heat mats, but putting them into planters will be a challenge.

FWIW, my Aji Amarillo is in a “5 gallon sub irrigation bucket”, although the drip does fill the bucket twice a day.

Like these


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Also, great looking plants in buckets.