PEPPER Seeds, CHOCOLATE CHERRY, Mild

CHOCOLATE CHERRY PEPPER - Great for Pickling, Canning, And Stuffing

Hot Chocolate Heirloom. Named for its cherry-like shape, this little pepper is a moderately hot version of the popular sweet cherry. Plants are widely adapted throughout the US. Vigorous and productive. The pretty little golf ball-sized fruits mature from green to red. Add them to salads, or use them in pickling and preserving.
Compact branching plants, 2' tall. Fruits are small, 1-1.5" in diameter, flattened round cherry-type that ripen from dark green to beautiful chocolate brown. Some fruits have little to almost no heat, but others have some nice
heat. Great flavor. Well suited for stuffing and do very well in pots. We love them fresh, stuffed with home-made cream cheese.

Pepper Germination: Start pepper seeds indoors in peat pots about 8 weeks before the last expected spring frost. Sow them 1/4" deep and keep the soil at 80-85 degrees F until germination; provide sunlight or a grow light 
for 12-16 hours a day. When the outdoor temperature reaches 60-65 degrees F during the day and no less 
than 50 degrees F at night, transplant the seedlings 12-16" apart. Exposing the plants to the weather for several hours a day before transplanting may help prevent shock. Peppers also grow well in containers or raised beds.
Growing Red Cherry Hots Pepper Seeds: Keep the soil evenly moist and weeds under control; mulching the plants may help with this. If excess heat and sun cause the plants to wilt, provide shade.

Harvesting Cherry Pepper: Harvesting hot peppers is basically a matter of personal preference. Generally, the longer the peppers mature on the vine, the hotter they will taste. Mature peppers, however, signal the plant to 

stop producing; if the peppers are picked when still at the green stage, the plant will go on producing. Always use a knife or scissors to remove peppers to prevent damage to the fragile stems.