Black Prince Pepper Review
This particular pepper plant wasn’t on my originally in my plans when I was drawing them up last Winter. But the seeds arrived free of charge with an order that I had placed and, well, the Black Prince plants were just really intriguing. I was enamored with a dark leafed plant that had pods ripening from dark purple to a deep red/crimson. That was cool enough for me to sow a few seeds and, with a bit of luck, grow out a plant this season.
Most accounts that I’ve read online have Black Prince labeled as an ornamental plant due to its looks and I couldn’t agree more. That said, the peppers are half bad either. The fruit aren’t the most flavorful by any means, but they do offer a well rounded flavor and heat that make them quite versatile.
The plant is prolific in its pod production. It took a bit of time for the first fruit to form after the brilliant purple and white flowers dropped. But once it got going, the small (maybe a foot tall) plant has produced several dozen pods thus far this season. The fruit are roughly the size of a quarter and look like your typical pepper in shape. Their color consists of many shades of red in a smooth gradient from tip to stem. Inside, the medium-walled fruit are packed with seeds.
The aroma is graddy and peppery with a hint of fruit and nose-tingling heat. There’s really nothing all that special about the aroma which is also a trait that follows through in the flavor. The pods are juicy even with a rather tough skin. They have that standard red pepper flavor with a bit more earthiness as a light touch of fruitiness lingers with the slight bitterness from the seeds.
The heat on the Black Prince is of a low-to-mild nature. The pods produce a gentle burn across the tongue that is mellow and creates a comforting warmth that eases to the back of the throat with each subsequent swallow. And it’s that mellow nature that makes the pepper one that is fun to snack on and easy to toss into just about any dish that you want to add a touch fo heat. With so many other pepper varieties that I am interested in, I’m not sure that I will grow this one again in the coming season, but it could certainly make an appearance in the future.