Rain Forest Pepper Review
The Rain Forest pepper originally hails from the southern rainforests of Brazil. I, however, got these seeds from a company out of California. And aside from a slight visual difference, the peppers I harvested this year seem to be consistent with online descriptions of the original.
My single Rain Forest plant that I grew in a 13 gallon pot was easily one of the most – the Chiltepin and Wiri Wiri plants aside – prolific varieties I had in my garden. The small, compact plant starts producing green pods that grow upright before adding on some weight during ripening and hanging from long stems toward the ground. As mentioned in the intro, there was one aspect of the ripe peppers’ appearance that differed from what I had seen online. The skin of every ripe pepper I picked had no glossiness to it – they all had a matte finish to the medium red coloring. That visual trait certainly set it apart from the rest of the plants.
The interior of the red peppers contain a good number of seeds and placenta that nearly fills the cavity. Once cut open, a lightly fruity aroma with soft grass notes lingers in the air. The Rain Forest has a rather subdued aroma, but the flavor is more impactful as you chew through the crunchy flesh. A solid amount of fruitiness leads the way for a light bitterness that sits in the background. This is quite the tasty pepper.
The heat for the Rain Forest is mild to medium at its peak. The burn builds gently to a manageable plateau that hits the back of the tongue with a soft stinging trait. A light bit of whiskey chest warms with each swallow. I found the burn on this pepper to be enjoyable from start to lingering finish.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Rain Forest all season long. It’s an easy plant to grow and maintain. Plus the ripe fruit are pretty darn tasty with just the right amount of burn to make it an ideal addition to salsas as well as snacking right off the plant. It reminds me of the Aji Rico I grew a couple of season ago. It will be revisited in future seasons.