Choricero (Gernika, Txorixero)

• Grown, sold, and described by Bunny Hop Seeds
• Time to maturity: midseason
• Heat: low heat
• Approx. number of seeds per pack: 15+
• Capsicum annuum
• Bagged Bloom Seeds

“Choricero,” also called Gernika and Txorixero, is a type of sweet, mild pepper that is one of six very common Basque varieties. I have seen it sold by vendors under all three names. It has been listed as a “super rare and delicious pepper…” which is true in part. It is indeed delicious. But it is not a rare variety by any means.
A wonderful member of our gardening forum, who lives in Spain, wrote, “In basque language it is written Gernikako piperra. In spanish pimiento de Gernika. Translated in english Gernika pepper. Officially it is called like that after the local research station registered this variety. Before of that, it was also unofficially called pimiento Vizcaíno. Churicero comes from the word chorizo. Chorizo is a typical spanish red pork sausage and traditionally they would use the dry ripe Gernika peppers in powder to give color the chorizo sausages. That’s the reason why it’s also called churicero.”
Choricero is a very useful and easy to grow pepper. I grew mine in a pickle bucket with little attention, and it produced until frost, Dec 22. The productivity was excellent; in fact, better than that of Hungarian Spice. Choricero has many uses. “When green, they are often fried in oil and salted, served as an appetizer before the main meal. Or, allowed to ripen further until they turn red, they are used in a number of dishes in Bizkaia, including bacalao a la vizcaína. As with Espelette peppers, they can also be dried out and used as seasoning” (https://buber.net/Basque/2020/11/08/basque-fact-of-the-week-basque-peppers/).
This is described as a mild heat variety, but mine were watered so much by tropical weather events that all I tasted was sweet, without heat.
NOTE: One packet per order for now, as quite a few people have asked about it.