Sahuaro Hybrid Pepper Seeds

(Synonym: Biggie Chile™)

Days to Maturity: 68 from transplant

Here's a workhorse of a pepper you'll wonder how you ever got along without. Giant 9-inch fruits mature from bold green to deep red, packing nutrition into every bite. And although it's classified as a hot pepper, Sahuaro has such a mild bite that you can eat it raw as well as use it for stuffing, grilling, and baking.

Scoring just 500 on the Scoville Heat Index, this improved Anaheim type is crunchy-peppery-sweet straight from the plant, softening as it turns red. The peppers taper nicely to a point, adding plate appeal to their many merits. Most of all, though, they're adaptable. Chop them up for salsa, toss a handful into your spaghetti sauce, make them the foundation of Mexican meals, and keep a few on hand for garnish. You'll get absolutely enormous yields from this vigorous plant, so there will be plenty of Sahuaros to go around.

Sahuaro is a sport of the famous Big Chili II, and its good breeding shows. It's very resistant to sunburn, and demonstrates a great disease resistance package (much improved over the original Big Chili). You'll find it just a terrific all-around pepper for fresh, pickled, or dried eating. It can even be ground into a spice.

Sahuaro seeds are best sown indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before last anticipated spring frost. If you're growing them alongside tomatoes, as so many of us do, start the pepper seeds a week or two before the tomatoes. They will sprout in about 10 to 15 days at temperatures between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Transplant them into the garden when they have at least two sets of true leaves and the last frost is 2 to 3 weeks past. Space the seedlings 18 to 24 inches apart in full sun and enriched, moist, well-drained soil (as you would use for tomatoes). Water the plants well all season, keep them mulched to preserve soil moisture, and feed them before planting and again after 6 weeks. Stake them if needed to hold up their heavy fruit.