Pimenta da Neyde peppers are a cultivar of pepper that is grown in the north of Portugal. The variety was introduced by Lucas Vasconcelos, who crossed it with a Colombian habanero and called it “pimenta dos ventos” or wind chili.
Pimenta da Neyde peppers has a rich, complex flavor profile unlike any other variety of pepper. It is also more expensive than most chilies and must be purchased by the kilogram. The best way to enjoy these smoky beauties? In your favorite barbecue sauce!
The “baked stuffed peppers” is a dish that takes advantage of the sweet and spicy flavors of Pimenta da Neyde Peppers. The dish is typically made with chicken, but you can also make it with beef or pork.
Many of the most unusual and intriguing pepper types come from the pimenta da neyde. We don’t know much about the origins of this dark purple, nearly black pepper cultivar, but we do know a few things.
So, in this post, I’ll discuss the pimenta da neyde pepper’s origins, plant properties, look, taste, and heat.
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On the plant, there is a pimenta da neyde pepper.
Origin of Pimenta da Neyde
It is popularly assumed that a lady called Neyde Hidalgo discovered the pimenta da neyde in Brazil (Hidalgo da Neyde). It’s thought to be the result of an unintentional hybrid between a Capsicum annuum and a Capsicum chinense variety.
As a consequence, the plants are tall and strong, similar to many annuum varieties, but they have a habanero-like taste and perfume. Fruits are approximately a half-inch broad and 2-3 inches long.
Appearance of the Pimenta da Neyde Pepper
The rectangular fruits of Pimenta da neyde bushes have a deep purple, nearly black hue. The peppers, unlike practically all other pepper cultivars, do not change color when mature.
On the plant, there are many pimenta da neyde chilies.
The only method to tell whether a pepper is ripe is to look inside and see if the placenta is green (unripe) or purple (ripe) (ripe). This makes pepper harvesting difficult, since mature fruits taste better.
What’s the deal with them being so dark? High anthocyanin levels are responsible for the dark color of the leaves and peppers. The ‘purple pigment,’ as it is sometimes called, is triggered by sunshine. Shaded sections of the plant are not quite as dark as those exposed to direct sunlight.
The fruits are the same way, with shaded fruits being a lighter purple tint. As a consequence, the plant puts on a stunning display throughout the season, making it an excellent decorative choice. It has also been a popular crossbreeding plant with other superhot peppers, resulting in a variety of novel hybrids.
Scoville Pepper Pimenta da Neyde
The pimenta da neyde peppers are extremely hot! They have a gentle appearance due to their silky skin, yet they deliver a powerful punch.
On the Scoville scale, the pimenta da neyde is rated between 150,000 and 250,000 SHUs. This location is close to habanero heat, which is noteworthy.
Flavor of Pimenta da Neyde
The pimenta da neyde is probably not the greatest pepper to plant if you want to grow the finest taste hot pepper. While the taste is OK, it is not one of my favorites.
Similar to a habanero, the flavor is somewhat bitter with flowery overtones. Although this doesn’t work in many culinary circumstances, the color alone may be handy in the kitchen. When fresh peppers are sliced open, they bleed, colouring meals in beautiful, brilliant purples.
Peppers Pimenta da Neyde (Pimenta da Neyde)
From the minute the seedlings emerge, growing pimenta da neyde is exhilarating. Even on the cotyledons, the black, purple, and green foliage is stunning.
Pepper seedlings from Pimenta da Neyde (and other dark foliage varieties).
This cultivar is very simple to cultivate. You’ll have no trouble growing pimenta da neyde if you’ve ever grown jalapenos. The plant contains genetics from both Capsicum chinense and Capsicum annuum, resulting in a tall, strong plant with huge yields.
I was particularly struck by how disease-resistant this plant seemed to be. Other surrounding plants suffered fungal problems, but the neyde (and other dark leaf kinds) were unaffected.
Deer gnawing on limbs was the only problem we had. This was most likely owing to the plant’s location on the garden’s border, near a forested area.
Damage to the pimenta da neyde pepper plant by deer.
Crosses of Pimenta da Neyde (Hybrid Varieties)
For pepper producers, dark foliage is unusual and fascinating, so it’s no wonder that the pimenta da neyde has been crossed with a slew of other types. As a consequence, there are a variety of intriguing C. chinense pepper types with dark leaves. Here are a handful that we’ve learned to appreciate.
Purple Reaper (Purple Reaper)
Reaper peppers are purple in color.
Do you know what the Carolina reaper is? This is the purple variety, which is genetically related to the pimenta da neyde. The plant is massive, prolific, and aggressive, yielding dozens of very hot reaper-shaped purple peppers!
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Half-ripe black panther pepper
The black panther pepper is a hybrid of the pimenta da neyde and the bhut jolokia peppers. The outcome is a superhot pepper with black foliage and unripe fruits, similar to the gnarly ghost pepper. It’s fascinating to see the peppers turn from purple to orange to red as they mature.
Tiger Peachgum
Tiger peachgum pepper (ripe).
A newer variant, the peachgum tiger, is a cross of a cross. The genetics of the pimenta da neyde, which gives the plants their purple foliage and dark unripe fruit color, may be traced back to the pimenta da neyde.
The pimenta da neyde was a watershed moment for the pepper community, ushering in some of the most well-known and gorgeous cultivars. I hope you’ve been motivated to try some new pepper kinds as a result of this post. Hidalgo da Neyde deserves a round of applause!
Calvin
One of the first s! Calvin enjoys traveling and performing music when he isn’t gardening or learning more about peppers and botany.
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