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De Cayenne Chilli Variety

Capsicum annuum

Chili Cayenne plants is a Capsicum annuum species and belongs to the nightshade family. Annuum means annual in botany. However, cayenne plants grow older than twelve months when properly cared for and wintered.

Origin

The origin and name of this chili variety lies in the city of Cayenne in South American Guyana1. In 1498, the coast of Guyana was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Cayenne City was later founded there by French settlers. It is too likely that this spice will be exported from the port city of Cayenne to Europe and therefore bears the name.

Because of its shape and origin, de Cayenne chili is also called cow horn, Guinea chili or “Spanish pepper”. The slightly smoky and bitter taste is excellent for sauces. The thin-walled chilies are easy to dry.

Scoville

The chilies have a medium to high sharpness of 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville. On a sharpness scale the chili is often marked with a sharpness grade of 8.

Processing

Cayenne Chili Powder

You can dry Chili de Cayenne well and grind it to powder. Halved pods are dried in the oven or drying appliance. If the oven is slightly open, it takes about 6 – 8 hours at around 70 °C (158 °F). The drying time is about 6 – 8 hours. Then grind in a universal mill or manually with a mortar.

You can determine the degree of sharpness yourself before drying. Remove their chili seeds and scrape out the placenta wall with a knife. This is where most of the Capsaicin is to be found. For storage, add a few grains of rice to the dry spice powder. This prevents clumping due to moisture.

Chili oil

The dried chili peppers are also ideal to make chili oil yourself. In a clean bottle add the dried peppers until a layer of about 5 cm is formed. If you like, you can also add garlic cloves and mustard seeds. Pour over good olive oil, sunflower oil or peanut oil for Asian cuisine. Store the mixture in a dark and cool place. Shake every two days. In one week you will have excellent chili oil.

Pickle in vinegar

Remove styles from fresh cayenne pods. Cut several times laterally. Bring salted water to the boil with vinegar and add chilies or peppers. Simmer for about an hour. Pour the hot broth into preserving jars for preservation.

Cayenne pepper and chili oil are perfect for seasoning Mexican and Asian dishes. Cayenne is used classically in Cajun cuisine. Cajun cuisine is the cooking style used by French immigrants in Guyana, among other places. In the sometimes fiery and spicy Chinese cuisine, vinegar is often used for preserving.

Fresh cayenne pods contain vitamins A, B6, E, C and riboflavin, potassium, iron, copper and manganese.

You can read more here about pickle & preserving chilies.

Chili Plant

Cultivation

In most online shops for chilies you can get seeds of the famous chili variety. In spring, also in DIY stores or discounters. Ten Cayenne seeds cost about two euros. Under normal conditions, eight out of ten seeds grow.

Before you plant the chili seeds, it is better to soak them in lukewarm water. It can also not hurt to use chamomile tea or diluted lemon juice instead of water. A germination temperature of 22 to 28 °C is ideal. The germination period is 6 to 20 days. Our Cayenne chili seeds germinated in the mini greenhouse on the 12th day.

You should start growing them early in the year. If there is enough space in the apartment, it is advisable to grow it in January or February. After an acclimatization phase, the small cayenne plants can be planted outside in mid-May. In the Southern Hemisphere, you should start to grow plants in July.

Coconut spring tabs are a good substrate in the nursery. A cultivation soil in a flower box is well suited. The soil should be permeable. Chili plants will soon shrink in stagnant water.

A sunny location is important both indoors and outdoors. Cayenne chili varieties need at least eight hours of sunlight. When fully grown the beautiful plants reach a size of 60 - 80 cm, which corresponds to about 2 - 2.6 feet.

Care

The young plants should be isolated or pricked far from 40 cm. A nutrient-rich tomato soil is perfect as a plant substrate. The soil should have a pH value of 6.2 to 7.0. Chilies like the sun. Make sure that the new location gets as much as possible ten hours of sunlight.

Capsicum annuum dislikes extremely hot weather, even less cold, wet weather. In autumn, you can hollow chili plants into the house for wintering.

Harvest

Already after three months after flowering you can harvest spicy fruits. The pods have little flesh. The 10 to 20 cm (8 - 11”) pointed chilies are long and slender.

Don’t get impatient if their pods stay long green. Only the fully developed chili changes its color from green to yellow to red.

De Cayenne Facts

Variety name Cayenne
Species Capsicum annuum
Origin Guyana
Plant size 60 - 80 cm
Maturing period 70 days
Scoville 30,000 - 50,000 SHU
Germination period 6 - 20 days
Germination temperature 22 - 28 °C
Planting distance min. 60 cm