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Little River Cooperative

Aji Dulce Pepper

$12.00 USD
$12.00 USD
Sale Sold out

Cachucha / Aji Dulce Pepper
Capsicum Chinense

days to maturity: 60 - 210 days
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: spider mites & white fly
harvest notes: pick peppers as they mature to encourage new buds to form.
scoville heat units: 1,000 - 5,000
annual

Aji Dulce, cachucha or ajicito, is any of a variety of sweet perennial peppers found in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is most widely known in Venezuela, where it refers to a specific native variety of Capsicum chinense related to the habanero, but with a much milder, smoky flavor. In the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, ají dulce or ajicito is grown commercially and is an important ingredient for sauces, such as recaíto, sofrito, and mojito isleño (a fish or meat sauce), as well as stews, rice, and a great variety of local dishes.

Aji Dulce translates to “sweet pepper” which refers to its flavor profile. The fruit looks exactly like a spicy habanero type pepper, but the flavor profile lacks the heat of a habanero but does have a smoky flavor with hints of citrus and a mild sweet pepper flavor. 

Like all other peppers, Aji Dulce can be grown as a perennial here in South Florida where we have no frost, and is treated like an annual in all climates where frost occurs in winter. Aji Dulce plants tend to stay small and have a compact and wide growth pattern, but they are super productive nonetheless. If you want to save seeds make sure there aren’t any other peppers around that it could cross pollinate with, harvest a red ripe pepper, and dry and save the seeds for next season. 

Our main pest issues with peppers are mites (which are microscopic) which make the growing tips of the plant shriveled and waxy, root knot nematodes (which effect the overall health of the plant by eating and distorting the root system) and whitefly (which hide out on the underside of the leaves and suck juices out of them). 

Materials

All of our plants are produced using OMRI certified organic materials (potting mix, fertilizer & pesticides) however our nursery is not certified organic. Plants are shipped in compostable peat moss pots and we use heirloom & organic seeds whenever possible.

Shipping & Returns

We ship plant orders every Monday. Due to the nature of shipping plants we only offer expedited shipping for our live plant orders. Our returns & exchanges policy is also quite strict since its hard to control the quality of a plant once it leaves our facility, however we do our very best to make sure that each and every customer is satisfied with their plants. Read more about our policies here. 

Size

All of our plants are potted in 4" pots and their foliage size varies based on how large the plant is naturally when its root ball is the correct size for the pot. If a plant is too tall for our shipping box we may prune it to fit (bonus: many plants do better after being pruned since they make bushier growth). We do our very best to ship all of our plants in the "sweet spot" of maturity however so long as the roots have colonized the pot we will consider a plant mature enough to ship.

Care Instructions

When you receive your plant its critical to get it out of its box and into the light the day it arrives. It will also want to be removed from its compostable plastic wrapping and given fresh water to drink. Keep in mind, this plant was grown in the tropical humid climate of South Florida, so if it's terribly cold or dry where you are it'll need to be hardened off before planting outdoors. Visit our care instructions page for more thorough info about caring for your new plant friend.

  • What Our Customers Have to Say:

    This is a great, local organization with really knowledgeable & friendly staff. They make gardening easy and accessible, and I've purchased many high quality plants and equipment from them.
    -Kate Black (5 star google review)

  • And Another One:

    How lucky we are to have a resource like Little River Cooperative here in Miami, not only for the access they offer to a great selection of plants and produce, but also for the knowledge they provide and the sense of community they foster!
    -Nick Vagnoni (5 star google review)