Buena Mulata

Description

Few chillies arrive with a story like this one. The pods are long, slender cayennes that start out a deep violet, then travel through salmon, orange and brown before settling into a glossy red — usually with several of those stages hanging on the plant at the same time. It is the kind of plant that stops visitors mid-sentence.

The heat is honest cayenne level, but there is a sweetness underneath it that cayenne simply does not have, and it deepens as the pods redden. Picked purple they are sharp and green-tasting; picked red they turn richer and meatier. Both are worth having. They dry into a powder with remarkable colour, and they make a seriously good hot sauce.

Buena Mulata was kept alive by the American folk artist Horace Pippin, who traded rare pepper seeds with a Pennsylvania beekeeper in 1944 — seeds in return for bee-sting treatment for an arm he had injured in the First World War. The seeds then sat in a family freezer for decades before the variety was grown out again and shared with the world. Every packet is a link back to that garden.

Tall, striking plants, quick to ripen at around 75–80 days, and as happy in a big pot on a terrace as in a bed.

Some chilies are worth tasting before you grow them. → Explore the Vault

Each pack contains approximately 8–10 or more seeds per variety.
Seeds are packaged in a certified EU seed packaging facility in accordance with applicable regulations.

Categories: Fatalii’s Favorites , Chili Seeds , C. annuum , Medium , Hot , Easy to grow