Classic Chef's Chilli Seeds
Below you will find a list of a range of classic chillies from across the world. All the seeds are available in single packets and most are also included in one of the World Of Chillies seed collections. All seeds come hermetically sealed and attractively packaged in fully labelled foil packets.
Buy 3 packets of seeds or more in the World of Chillies Shop and you'll receive a free copy of the Little Book of Chillies - a 56 page introduction to the world of chillies.
The Golden Aji is a variety of chilli coming from the lowlands of Peru, where Aji literally means 'chilli'. It is a popular chilli for its distinctive fruity flavour and gorgeous colour that imparts itself into food it is cooked in. Golden Aji is fairly large chilli plant which is relatively cold-tolerant. Golden Aji pods grow to around 10cm and are pretty hot at around 100,000ScU.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Tall, high-yielding plants are named after their area of origin, near L.A. Smooth, thick-skinned pods have two separate cells. A good stuffing chilli that freezes well too. 1,000ScU.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
A type of Mexican Poblano; large, glossy, heart-shaped pods that mild and aromatic. They are used green for stuffing and dried to dark brown for use in Mexican moles. 1,500ScU.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Red fruiting Scotch Bonnet with quite large globular shaped fruits, 5 x 3 cms. Used for cooking and ideal for sauces. Extremely pungent and strong aroma.
This is an extremely hot chilli, packing a punch at 300,00 scoville units in fruits about 2 inches in length which start out a brilliant lime green, maturing through orange to red. Fruits are borne on a medium sized plant, around 70cm to 90cm with a very open habit.
Sow in UK Jan - Early March for crop this season.
The Bangalore Torpedo is native to eastern India. Long thin fruits reaching 12cm that drop like pendants from the plant, maturing from light green through to red and becoming hotter and hotter as they do. A very pretty, classic chilli that matures quickly in 90 – 100 days.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Bishop's Crown chillies are a very unusual-looking variety of chilli originating in Barbados. Chilli pods resemble, yes you've got it, a Bishop's hat with their three distinct sides.
These chillies are also sometimes known as 'Fryer's Hat' chillies and 'the Christmas Bell'. The wings of the pods are mild and sweet-tasting but the centre of the chilli pods have some heat.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Cayenne chillies are the classic chilli - the colour and shape you'd probably go for if you were asked to draw a chilli; long, red, tapered pods. Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana in Southern America and that's where these chillies originate.
Today, there are literally hundreds of Cayenne Hybrids around the world. They are easy to grow, quite cold tolerant and have good heat and flavour. Chillies get to 40,000 - 50,000ScU.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Cayenne chillies are the classic chilli - the colour and shape you'd probably go for if you were asked to draw a chilli; long, red, tapered pods. These are obviously a golden version which put a great colour into food.
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana in Southern America and that's where these chillies originate. Today, there are literally hundreds of Cayenne Hybrids around the world. They are easy to grow, quite cold tolerant and have good heat and flavour. Golden Cayenne chillies are considerably hotter than the standard variety at 70,000-80,000ScU.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Chi Chien is a highly ornamental chilli from China, producing a profusion of pungent and flavoursome pods that stand proud in little clumps on the plant. Pods are around 8-10cm and fairly thin-skinned. Their quite distinctive flavour is perfect for Szechuan dishes and all Chinese food.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
AKA the Mexican Tree Chilli, so called because of its woody stem and impressive size. The Tree Chilli produces some very distinctive pods with an earthy flavour and some serious heat.
They are prized in their native Mexico for both these properties as well as the fact that of all chillies, they keep their rich red colour the best once dried. For this reason they are often used decoratively as well as in the kitchen.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
This is a popular`Yellow Wax' type, proved to be prolific and easy to grow. Fruits start out a pale yellow as they grow long and tapered with a gorgeous waxy appearance. They then turn orange and red at maturity. The Hot Wax originates in Hungary and is sometimes known as the Banana Chilli. Use fresh in salads or sauces or pickle to preserve. 10,000ScU
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Next on the list, the traditional Habanero chili has a Scoville rating of up to 350,000 ScU. The name Habanero is Spanish for from Havana.The pepper is used in cuisine throughout the Yucatan. This popular hot pepper has fruits which are small and wrinkled, measuring 3.5-6cm long and 2.5- 4cm wide and ripen from green to light orange.
Sow in UK Jan - Early March for crop this season.
One of the best medium thick cayenne varieties for yield and quality. This variety is from Hong Kong with its thick flesh with waxy skin tapering to a point with a very high percentage of straight fruits. The fruits are pendant setting and ripen from green to bright red on highly decorative plants. 50,000 SHU
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Although the Jalapeno no longer figures in the hottest 10 chillies in the world, it still packs a punch if you eat enough of them. The Jalapeno is the chilli of choice for chilli eating contests in the USA and its unique flavour is ubiquitous with Mexican cooking.
The Jalapeno is a very high yielding plant, growing up to a metre under cover and producing a profusion of flowers and short, blunt, conical fruits. The chillies are often picked and used green, but will ripen through to red. 5,000ScU
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Pasilla literally means 'little raisin' and along they do have the dark, wrinkled appearance of raisins when dried, there is nothing little about them as they are 15-20cm long. Pasilla are sometimes known as the Chilli Negro, or Black Chilli.
One of the holy trinity of Mexican Mole chillies, they are a staple flavouring in Mexico, prized for their rich flavour of dried fruit and liquorice.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
The Russian Roulette of chillies as the plant produces capsaicin, but not evenly through its chillies. That means that most chllies are mild, but 1 out of every 5 will blow you away! Pimiento de Padron are a Spanish Tapas chilli and make a great, fun dish for parties.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Pusa Jwala are medium sized plants that produce long, thin, hot pods that hang pendant in abundance. They are one of the most popular varieties of Indian Hot Pepper and are pretty hot at 30,000-50,000ScU. They are a good all rounder for Indian cooking as well as drying well.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Explosive variety of Cayenne pepper that produces abundant, seriously hot chillies at 70,000-85,000ScU. Long, tapered pods grow to around 8cm long and mature to a fiery red colour.
Ring of Fire chillies dry well and are often ground into a chilli powder. They are small plants but heavy croppers with a short growing season.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Large, extremely pungent chillies with distinctive black seeds from the Peruvian Andes. They are sometimes known as Manzano, or 'apple' because of their shape. Rocotos can be more difficult to germinate than other chillies, but are remarkably cold-tolerant once they get going.
They have a very distinctive hairy foliage and are quite large plants. There are numerous varieties of Rocotos, these rounded golden pods chillies that are amongst the world's hottest chillies at around 150,000ScU.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Serrano de Sol is a super hybrid version of the original chilli, boasting cylindrical chilli pods that are twice the size, at 3 inches and two to three weeks earlier to mature. Plants are small and bushy, ideally suited to a patio pot.
Serranos have peculiar hairy leaves and are prolific producers of the fleshy, meaty Serrano chilli so closely associated with Mexican cuisine. Use in the same way as the versatile Jalapeno for salsas, sauces and toppings for dishes like nachos. Delicious and very distinctive. 5,000ScU
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.
Scotch Bonnet peppers are very similar to Habanero peppers in both appearance and heat. With Scoville ratings that top out at 325,000, Scotch bonnet peppers are originally from the Caribbean, taking their name from their resemblance to the hats Scottish men wear, rather than their place of origin.
This is a mixed selection of colours which will include an equal number or red, orange and yellow Scotch Bonnet seeds.
Sow in UK Jan - Early March for crop this season.
As its name suggests, this really is a super chilli. An improved relative of the Thai Dragon, the Super Chilli is a slightly sprawling plant that produces hot little Thai chillies in huge abundance.
Each plant can produce up to 300 fruits per season so if you are short on space and want a good sized crop, Super Chilli could be just the thing! These plants are well suited to patio growth and also produce pretty hot fruits at 50,000ScU. Super Chilli won a Royal Horticultural Society Award Garden Merit in their 2006 Chilli Pepper Trials.
Sow in UK Feb - April for crop this season.








