C. praetermissum (aka. Cumari)

[Fatalii]

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[JohnF]

I have a Cumari that came from a Brazilian exchange student. It is a chinense. Described as having a "smoky tropical fruit flavor"- it is a favorite of several friends.

[Fatalii]

Resembles "Cumari o passarinho" chinense a lot.

http://juuri.org/fatalii/?word=passarinho&u=g&c=search

[luca]

Yes, it's not what we call "the real cumarí" in Brazil.  It's one of the "fakes", which are actually C. chinense, like Cumarí o Passarinho (which in my opinion is a misnomer) and Cumarí-do-Pará, for instance.

Cumarí actually just means "chile" in one Brazilian indian language, so technically any chile could be called cumarí, but the name is nowadays usually used to describe C. praetermissum varieties and a few C. chinense that have been misnamed...

[JohnF]

So, any C. praetermisssum is 'Cumari' ? That doesn't seem a very useful term--like calling all baccatums "Aji"

[luca]

So, any C. praetermisssum is 'Cumari' ? That doesn't seem a very useful term--like calling all baccatums "Aji"

Yes, you're right.  That's why so much confusion arises.  In fact, most people in Brazil call "Cumarí" whatever chile plant they find growing in the wild, so there might even be some rarer wild species being called cumarí... But as a rule of thumb, cumarís are C. praetermissum.

IMHO, it's a little bit "less bad" to call all C. praetermissum "Cumarí" than it is to call all C. baccatum varieties "Ají", because there are not as many variations of praets as there are of baccas.

"Ají" has pretty much the same origin.  It simply means "chile" in the andean countries... It just happens that C. baccatum is the most common species consumed there, so Ají is almost a synonym of baccatum... like Cumarís are almost a synonym of wild praets. :roll: Unfortunately, as we all know, chile common names are a real pain in the neck.

[JohnF]

Well, you are right about the massive confusion of chile names which is why I try to be as precise as possible so as to not add to the confusion. I have 10 C. praetermissum from various seed banks and 1 from Mats and 5 baccatum var. praetermissum ( a whole other debate). At least they all have number designations.

[luca]

I agree entirely! I also try to avoid changing names of the plants to the maximum! And try to make people think twice before giving names to varieties they don't know or translate names and this kind of stuff.

It's good when they're already registered in some seedbank and have an assigned accession number, but that's not always the case, especially with wild plants and land races from Brazil...

As to the C. praetermissum/C. baccatum var. praetermissum, I'll even avoid entering discussion I've seen it before and I know it's an endless one :lol:

BTW, there are other variations of the word "Cumarí", like "cumbarí", "comari", "comarim" etc., but they're all pretty much the same word with different spellings.  As it is a tupi (Brazilian indian language) word which has no original written form, it is converted to Portuguese in several different ways.

[Darlochileman]

Hi Guys,

I totally agree with the confusion and inaccurate naming conventions. Thiswas one of the main drives behind the creation of the chileman database to try and add some order to naming conventions. Its an almost impossibel take though :cry:

Does anyone no anything about Cumari do Para? I think it was the USDA that lists it as a Chinense.

Mark

[luca]

Hi Mark! Good to "see" you!

Cumarí do pará is indeed a C. chinense.  It is has yellow, small pods (pretty similar do "Cumarí o passarinho" and the one John posted above).  It tastes really good, but IMHO it is nothing like a real cumarí (C. praetermissum).  It's taste is very chinense-like, but a bit more citric than habas, for example.

The pod shape also resembles a "real" Cumarí, but it's a bit bigger and yellow, instead of the usual C. praetermissum red.  I think it hsa been named "Cumarí" because of this pod shape similarity.

[JohnF]

Hi Mark

I know you too are concerned to get at least some order in this chile naming business. I have a suggestion regarding seed bank varieties. To me it would be less confusing if the chiles were listed by their accession numbers and then, if they have one, a common name. For instance PI 152217 AKA Aji Amarillo is clearer, to me, than Aji Amarillo ( PI 152217),  as there are Aji Amarillos which are not USDA peppers. This would hold true for the other seed bank accessions also. Just my 2 cents.

[luca]

Mark, you can see some pictures of "Cumarí do Pará" here:
http://wiki.pimentas.org/wiki/Cumari_do_Par%C3%A1

[koolguymike]

thanks for your link luca.

[Aji Inferno]

Mark, you can see some pictures of "Cumarí do Pará" here:
http://wiki.pimentas.org/wiki/Cumari_do_Par%C3%A1

Looks pretty much like a semi-wild chinense..?

[luca]

Hmmm... I'm not sure how wild it is.  What I know is that it is comercially grown in the state of Pará in the North of Brazil.