Peter Peppers

    One of my colleagues, esteemed manurepsychologist Erik Everhart, told me that he used to grow an heirloom pepper which was, in South Carolina, called a "peter pepper."  He described this pepper as looking like an old man's shriveled penis.  I went on an Internet search and found a classified ad from a chap in Goldsboro, NC, offering peter pepper seeds.  I got one pod for Erik and one for me and grew a few in my garden.  Here is a picture of one of my peter pepper plants being overgrown by gomphrena.

    Here are some close-up shots of a peter pepper:

    As you can see, the name is well deserved.

    I was told that this pepper is quite hot.  I took a few down to my brother in Wilmington, NC, and to my great disappointment they were not the least hot.  I have since learned that some of them have no bite and others will blister your lips and burn relentlessly for hours after just a tiny nibble.  Even when picking peppers from the same plant, one can be hellishly hot and another have only a hint of heat.

    I have misplaced the address of the chap in Goldsboro from whom I got the seed, but one should be able to get peter pepper seed at Victory Seed or at Reimer Seeds.

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Dr. Karl L. Wuensch



This page most recently revised on 17. February 2007.