Mojca,

It really depends on what your husband's heat tolerance, flavor likes, etc. are. Some people may say the super hots such as Trinidad Scorpion, 7 pot, Naga, etc. Other people who don't enjoy that ridiculous level of heat may opt for more flavorful varieties such as Lemon Drop, Aji peppers (C. Baccatums, etc.).

I also particularly enjoy the flavor of C. Pubescens, but they can be hard to grow ripe fruits from if not in the right climate.

What I'm saying is you may need to be a bit more specific to get answers. :)

Chris

Cayanne and Jalapeno are a couple of good peppers to grow. The taste is wonderful of each and there is some heat also.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Pepper Garden

You might want to try a spectrum of heat to see what your tolerances are. Anchos, Hungarian Hot Wax, Jalapenos, Cayennes and Habaneros will give you a wide range of heat. The seeds are usually fairly easy to find in local stores as well.

Hi Mojca, and welcome!

I am honestly very biased toward the Capsicum chinense species. I believe that they are the best tasting. They are also the hottest, and if you do not cook with them or temper their heat by rinsing well before pickling, etc, they can be overwhelmingly hot for many people.

The only Capsicum baccatum that I have grown that I liked a lot was the lemon drop pepper, some others had good flavor but nowhere near the chinenses, in my opinion.

As Chris mentioned, the pubescens are very good but they are a bit trickier to grow, so if you are ready for them go for it.
Many Capsicum annuums have similar flavor, cayennes, piquins, jalapenos, etc, all have a strong 'peppery' flavor whereas the chinenses tend toward the 'fruity-nutty' side of flavor. The only ones I don't like are the orange habs.

Would you like a list of recommended chinenses?

Beth at www.peppermania.com has a nice selection of chinenses.

Thanks everybody,
you really are nice. I will try to find as many different varieties you mentioned and see.
Mojca

Moj,

Grow one of each main variety.

Chinense - I recommend Caribbean Red or Grenada Hot
Baccatum - Lemon Drop (also known as Hot Lemon)
Frutescens - Tabasco
Pubescens - Rocoto (plan on overwintering this one)
Annuum - I really favor the Anaheim varieties for stuffing

Growing one of each will increase your knowledge of pepper gardening and help you zero in on what you want to grow. I like to grow at least one or two different varieties each year.

I grow the nuclear infernos mostly as a novelty. I can eat them, but it isn't as enjoyable for me as it is to others.

We all find our own level of heat that we like. And that might even change over time, too.

Of the chinense species, my favorite varieties are the Brown Habanero, Red Savina, and Harold's St. Barts. I really don't like the overpowering fruitiness of the orange hab. It clobbers all the other flavors of anything it is in (to my taste)

Of the frutescens species, there's the old stand-by Tabasco and its more disease-resistant brother, ECU/Greenleaf Tabasco. Bolivian Rainbow is fun to look at, but I can't remember what it tastes like as it has been a few years since I last grew it.

Of the baccatum species, its hard to go wrong with any of the Aji varieties for drying and grinding into powder. I've grown Lemon Drop for years (great with chicken and fish) and recently added Aji Amarillo, Aji Colorado, and Aji Panca to the list. These peppers are most common in Peruvian cuisine I think.

Capsicum Pubescens can be a bit problematic for people in the more nothern growing zones, as it usually takes us more than one season to get any kind of production out of it. Once you go Rocoto, you never go back though :) Far and away my most favorite hot pepper. Flesh as thick as a sweet bell, a wonderful flavor, versatile, and hot.

Of the annuums, there are always the Jalapenos and Cayenne, as has already been mentioned, but there's also the wax peppers, the cherry peppers, the anaheim/new mexican varieties, the tepins/piquins, and a whole bunch of other pod types too. If you can't find something you like in a c. annuum, you're just not trying. :) My current favorite of the annuum species is Chile Guajillo, an anaheim/nu-mex type with a distinct flavor. Every year I grow Long Red Slim Cayenne, Biker Billy Hybrid jalapeno, maybe some Hungarian Wax Hot (although I'm liking Santa Fe Grande a little more for pickling) and Thai Hot Ornamental (pretty and loaded with hundreds of little firecrackers)

I guess a better question is what is the intended purpose? How did you intend to use them? Some are good for drying and grinding into powder. Some are good for stuffing. Some are good for roasting, peeling, and turning into pepper mash :) Sure some are good for all of the above, but some are more suited than others to a given usage.

(the mental image of me trying to stuff cayenne like I would a jalapeno or anaheim is making me chuckle)

While I love Rocotos, Lemon Drops and Habaneros, if I could only grow one chili it would be a nice variety of Thai Chili like the Prik Kee Nuu. They can be used fresh or dried, and the heat builds up the later in the season. It's really easy to grab a small handful to spice up dinner. I couldn't cook with Habaneros alone, and Thai chilies won't burn your hands too bad if you only chop a few of them.

I can't comment on where to buy seeds because I just take them from the fresh chili I get at the Asian markets.

I am still a newbie, I have a few varieties purchased from nurseries, have grown jalapeno from seed.
Love chillis and different flavours, but cant buy really hot chillis around here, so I managed to order some seeds online, planted about 10 days ago and I see some are starting to pop out their coats already.

The Variety I have srouting now should be nice and hot,

-White Habanero
-Fatali
-Birds eye Tepin
-Carribean red
-Cherry pepper (this one is just for fun to see if i can catch anyone thinking it is a cherry tomato.)

Source for Thai pepper seeds: kitazawa seed co.
For true pepper fanatics try the folks at thehotpepper.com
My list for 2008:
hot:
2 Thais
Chocolate Hab
Hab
Fatali
Serrano
Fish
Ancho
Jalapeno
Tabasco
and 3 sweet:
cubanelle
banana
yellow bell

Talk about slippery slopes! Hot peppers are as addicting as heirloom tomatoes. I keep adding more to the mix.

I just ordered seeds for the Black Pearl Pepper. Looks like it would look great in the garden as well. I heard its hot, it will be my first time growing it.

The black pearl looks great in the garden, but i think it ends there. It doesn't have a great taste, it is just hot. One that i would recommend that nobody has is the St Lucia peper or trinidad. They are not overbearingly hot, and they have a sweet aftertaste, something i haven't experienced in a hot pepper.

Goose77,

What makes you say no one has this St. Lucia pepper? Do you have a picture of the variety you're referring to?

Chris