Trepadeira Werner

Description

Trepadeira Werner (C. baccatum) is a Brazilian variety named by the grower Werner Mathi, and the name promises something the plant does not quite deliver — trepadeira means climber, but this is not a true vine. What you get instead is a large, rambling bush with long lax branches that can be trained up a support if you want them to be, and that sprawl happily if you do not.

The pods are the real story: round and cherry-like, around 2.5 cm across, with thick, meaty walls that are genuinely unusual for a baccatum. They start pale — cream to white, sometimes yellow — and ripen to a deep red. The flavour is sweet and berry-like, and growers who have raised it keep reaching for the same comparison: a ripe bell pepper without the grassy note, tropical and fruity, with a slight tang at the end. The heat is modest and sits around jalapeño level for most growers, so the sweetness has room to show.

Expect a substantial plant of 90–150 cm, wide as well as tall, and stake it — the weight of fruit alone justifies it. It does well in a large pot. Around 100 days to ripe pods.

Those thick walls make it one of the best pickling chilies in the catalogue, whole or halved, and it holds its shape where thinner baccatums collapse. Also excellent fresh, and the heat can be dialled down by removing the placenta.

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. baccatum , Medium , Bonsai , Easy to grow