Yellow Pequin Pepper Review
One of my favorite peppers that I grew in 2018 was the little, but mighty Pequin. Those small red pods packed quite a punch and were more than productive. So, when I was planning the 2019 season about this time last year, I had them on my list to re-grow – that is, until I happened across the yellow variety and well, here we are.
The two plants that I grew this season took a bit of a while to get going, but once they did I was set on ripened fruit as both produced a couple hundred apiece. Each stood well over three feet in the self-watering buckets that housed them, gifting me small yellow/orange peppers that look just like the original Pequin.
Inside the peppers are loaded with seeds which was to be expected based on my experience with the red strain. The walls are about a medium thickness in comparison to the overall size of the pods.
The aroma of the yellow fruit is fairly subtle though there is a light fruit note, soft smokiness (like the red) and an overall peppery character. Thankfully, the flavor has a bit more oomph than the nose would allude to. In fact, for all this pepper lacks in aroma, it more than makes up for in taste and fire. Crunching through the pepper flesh and seeds, the light fruitiness and gentle smokey trait last but a minute before the heat arrives.
The heat of the Yellow Pequin is surprising to say the least. The fire builds fairly rapidly (almost instantly) to a full tongue burn and a stinging character. The pepper builds to an impressive peak of heat that’s actually quite mean. The plateau lasts about 8-10 minutes or so before eventually starting to fade to a lingering sting on the tongue and light smokiness.
This is an angry little pepper. It may look all cute and orange and what not, but it’s just mean. It’s certainly much hotter than the traditional red Pequin that I grew last season. While next year is going to see a more diverse range of peppers grown, I will definitely be revisiting the Yellow Pequin again in a future growing season – right now I still have plenty of these fiery little things to last a good while.