even though having been to (and lived in) the top world metropolises nothing prepares you for mexico city, it definitely lives up to its reputation! despite the talk about it being a dangerous place, atmosphere is very lively and people unbelievably friendly. made some time to visit local markets to do some chilli hunting, mountains of fresh and dry chillies were ubiquitous (mostly poblanos and jalapeños) and scent of smoked chipotles ever present. a kilo of nicely corked jalapeños was only seven pesos (half a euro or three quarters of a buck). unfortunately it appeared to be slightly early in the season as there were few habaneros, manzanos or other less usual varieties. pictures shown are from la merced market. i found a couple of seed stalls and got commercial stuff for standard mexican varieties. food is paradise as it is universally spicy, dressed with plenty of different salsas and guacamole.

finally I came across a chile parado ("quiet chilli") plant in a chinampa (semi floating flower and vegetable garden) in xochimilco, one of the last remains of what aztec agriculture must have looked like in the lake bound tenochtitlan. the chile parado is most likely an annuum variety with unripe fruits pitch black and erect, but what is most striking is the stem furriness (likely to originate from a wild variety). couldn't help going for my second chilli plant smuggling attempt and succeeding, despite being searched twice in mexico city and amsterdam airports (staff at the latter didn't mind allowing a live plant into europe yet intercepted my duty free tequila!)

Dude, that looks like a definite place to visit..


-Sale

Lainaus käyttäjältä: "whitekoohii"the chile parado is most likely an annuum variety with unripe fruits pitch black and erect, but what is most striking is the stem furriness (likely to originate from a wild variety).

Beautiful plant! Looks pretty much like Goats Weed except the pod shape. The dark colour of the pods must be from the high amount of the UV radiation from the sun. I'd love to try to grow that variety next season.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: "whitekoohii"the chile parado is most likely an annuum variety with unripe fruits pitch black and erect, but what is most striking is the stem furriness (likely to originate from a wild variety).

I did some research about the plant and at least according to this page the plant is also called Chile Mira el Cielo and is a frutescens variety. Although the picture in that page looks similar, there is no sign of furriness. Also it states: "Parado technically means stopped, but the nickname amusingly refers to an aroused male." Different variety with same nickname, maybe?

EDIT: And it seems like a different source calls Mirasol with the same nickname. In Finnish we have a proverb "A dear child has many names", which fits well in this occasion.

Hmmm... Mirasol "Looks at the sun" is definitely an "annuum" and pretty different from that picture. This one seems to have some frutescens traits, but it's hard to tell from the picture. Could also be a hybrid between annuum and frutescens.

Thats the place in my dreams;) Great pictures WK!

Regards

Patrik

Lovely plant WK ! Only you to smuggler a live pepper from Mexico to Europe ! Lol
Congratulations

Margarida

My Goats Weed has a pretty similar look as the Chile Parado.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: "whitekoohii"the chile parado is most likely an annuum variety with unripe fruits pitch black and erect, but what is most striking is the stem furriness (likely to originate from a wild variety).

I first assumed that the black pigment in the pods would be a result of heavy sunburn, but now I'm not so sure about it anymore... My Goats Weed has now similar black colour, but here far up north the sun is not shining that powerfully anymore in September. Could it be a similar colour change as with e.g. Black Hungarian, which turns from green to black in a pretty early stage before maturing to red nearly 2 months later?

uff, took a long time to change the setup into some comprehensible english... cannot understand how you can manage the undecipherable finnish!

jussi, does the goat's weed have pre-mature black fruit, such as the hungarian black does?

WK nice to see you about haven't seen you much about this year,the goats weed ripen from green to black to a fluorescent red.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: whitekoohii - huhtikuu 12, 2009, 11:29:50 apjussi, does the goat's weed have pre-mature black fruit, such as the hungarian black does?

Just a year late reply I guess.

I think I answered to you by email last summer about this, but just to let also others to know... GW doesn't have black pre-mature stage, but the ones I had got black pigment when unripe due to the sun.