The Europeans first got acquainted with red capsicum in 1494. The ship doctor Hanka, who accompanied Columbus, noticed that the inhabitants of the new part of the world season their food with a spice called "agi". This was the red chilli pepper. The inhabitants of South America used it as a seasoning as early as the 14th century, and began to cultivate it from the 15th century.
Returning home, Hanka presented the Spanish Queen Isabella with the seeds of this exotic plant. The Spaniards quickly appreciated this amazing plant and in the middle of the 16th century began to cultivate it in their homeland and use it as a spice.
From here it got to Italy, and then to other European countries. It is not for nothing that red chilli peppers are still called "Spanish". The Hungarians especially liked the red hot pepper - in fact, it became their national spice. Hungarians half-jokingly, half-seriously say: "Whoever remembers Hungary remembers paprika as well." This name of red ground pepper entered the languages of many peoples.
In Russia, red hot pepper has become known since the 16th century, as mentioned in the handwritten Travnik of that time, but it was appreciated much later.
Bitter, pungent or spicy red pepper is an annual herb of the Solanaceae family. Widely distributed in Africa, the Middle East, Korea, India, China, Japan, Mexico and other countries.
There are several types of pepper - Colombian, pubescent, Mexican, Peruvian, etc. Only one has been introduced into the culture - Capsicum annuum (Mexican) vegetable, the rest are of decorative and selective value. It is represented by four subspecies: sweet (large-fruited), large-fruited acute, small-fruited acute and wild. But in everyday life, we most often distinguish between two cultures - large-fruited sweet pepper and bitter or hot pepper.
Depending on the variety, hot pepper bushes are slightly spreading, spreading, semi-stemmed, semi-spreading, of various heights. The fruits are pendant, shortened-conical, elongated-conical, round-conical in shape. In semi-sharp varieties of bitter pepper, the fruits are larger, of different colors, conical in shape, elongated finger-shaped, proboscis, wedge-shaped. The color of the fruit is green, the ripe fruit is red or dark red. The pulp is thin or coarse, 1–2 mm thick, the taste is pungent and pungent.
Hot pepper varieties
- Adjika - early ripening variety. Bushes are powerful, more than 1 m in height. Fruits are elongated, conical, red, weighing up to 80 g, with a thick and fleshy pulp of a rather spicy taste.
- Astrakhan 147 - a common mid-season, high-yielding variety. Plants up to 50-60 cm high. Fruits are solitary, conical, red, curved downwards, smooth, red, weighing up to 10 g, very spicy to the taste. The pulp is coarse, very sharp.
- Ram horn - mid-season variety. Standard bush, height up to 1.5 meters. Fruits are elongated (up to 20 cm), weighing up to 35 g, medium-sharp taste. The color of the fruit changes depending on the degree of maturity.
- Vizier - late ripening variety. The bush is tall, powerful, semi-spreading. The pods are turbid, at first light green, then turn red. The average weight of the pod is 10–20 g. The taste is mild.
- Magic bouquet - mid-season variety. The plant is up to 65–70 cm high, strongly leafy, with an original bundle arrangement of upwardly protruding red glossy elongated-cone-shaped fruits, weighing from 1.5 to 3 g, with a pungent taste and strong aroma.
- Double abundance - an early ripe fruitful variety, in a greenhouse it can give up to 5 tiers of fruits. The fruits are proboscis, 18–21 cm in size and weighing 50–80 g. The fruit wall is thick. Differs in high resistance to viruses.
- Burning bouquet - early ripening variety. The plant is 35–45 cm high, produces many dark red elongated-conical fruits weighing 1–2 grams.
- Indian elephant - early ripening variety. Semi-spreading bushes, height up to 130 cm. Fruit is proboscis, drooping, in biological ripeness the color is dark red. Fruit weight up to 30 g.The taste is mild, pleasant, with a strong aroma.
- Caprice - early ripening variety. The plant is 40-60 cm high, semi-spreading, with a bundle and single arrangement of red oval-shaped fruits, weighing 1.5-2.5 g. It grows well in open ground, and on balconies and windows it is grown in perennial culture.
- Chinese fire - early ripening variety. One of the hottest hot peppers. The height of the bush is up to 60–65 cm. The crop can be harvested in 90–100 days. Fruits in the form of a cone, bent downwards. Fruit length up to 22 cm, weight up to 70 g, deep red color.
- Constellation - bush plant, standard, compact, 55-60 cm high. Fruits are directed upward, conical, smooth, glossy, in technical ripeness - purple, in biological ripeness - red. Fruit weight up to 3 g. Fruit taste is sharp, strong aroma. The plant looks very beautiful on the beds, and especially on the balconies and in the room.
"Ural gardener" No. 21, 2017
