These Italian chili peppers are known for their sweet taste, and fruity flavors, but there is much more that you should know about them before you begin to use them in your kitchen.
This 101 style guide will provide you with everything you need to know about this sweet Mediterranean vegetable, from their flavor, to their ideal growing conditions.
Flavor Profile And Culinary Uses
The Carmen Sweet Italian pepper is classified as a corona di toro type of chili, because it is shaped like a bull’s horn.
They have a sweet, fruity type flavor, and come in at a minimal 0-500 Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
As they have a thicker chili pepper wall than many other chilies, they are ideal for roasting, and end up with a slightly meaty texture when cooked. They are also very structurally sound, again because of the thick chili wall, making them good for stuffing and grilling at high temperatures.
Although sweetest when the fruits are ripest and have a dark red color, they are still delicious when eaten immature or when green in color.
Appearance And Growing Conditions
When fully ripened, the fruits are deep red. As these peppers are native to northern Italy, they have evolved to bear fruits during cooler conditions, and in higher altitudes. Therefore, they are better suited to higher zones and shorter growing seasons than other types of chili peppers.
As well as ripening from a green to a deep, dark red, Carmen Sweet Italian chili peppers, are tapered, and on average stand at around six inches in length by 2 ½ inches in diameter. They tend to weigh about five ounces (142 grams).
The Carmen Sweet Italian chili plant is a medium size plant (standing at about 24 to 36 inches), that grows upright. The chilies fully ripen on the plant.
These chilies can be grown in outdoor, indoor and greenhouse conditions.
If you are interested in growing your own crop of Carmen Sweet Italian peppers, then you can expect ripe fruit on your plants just 75 days after planting into warm garden soil.
You can also expect a big crop – as the plants are widely adaptable, and can slower and fruit in a wide temperature range.
Like all types of chili peppers, Carmen will produce the highest number of peppers when it is grown in full sun, plenty of water, and the correct proportions of soil nutrients.
