Caloro
Also known as Cal Oro
Caloro is a Capsicum annuum selection from California, United States. Capsi’s sourced range is 500–5,000 SHU (Vendor Claim). Flavor is tangy, sweet, crisp. Used for Pickled whole or in rings, salsa, relish, giardiniera, hot sauce. Heat is a range, not a single marketing number.
Caloro is a small yellow wax chile grown for pickling. Gardeners pick the conical pods at the pale yellow stage, or leave them on the plant to finish red.
About 1/7.1 the typical heat of a Capsi Jalapeño (31,902 SHU).
Growing
~75 days to maturity
Fruit size
5–8 cm
Flavor & Use
Tangy and lightly sweet when yellow, with a firm wax-pepper crunch. Red-ripe fruit is a touch sweeter and warmer.
Culinary
About
The conical fruit runs about 5 to 8 cm long with thick, smooth walls. Pods are pale waxy yellow at horticultural maturity, then pass through orange before they turn red. Flavor is tangy and a little sweet, with medium heat that many people find gentler than a green jalapeño. Compact upright plants, usually 45 to 90 cm, set fruit steadily and carry resistance to tobacco mosaic virus pathotype 0. Yellow fruit is the classic pickle harvest. Red-ripe fruit is sweeter and works in salsa or sauce.
Backstory
Paul G. Smith released Caloro at the University of California, Davis in 1967 as a tobacco mosaic resistant yellow wax for California growers. In Mexican markets the same fruit class is sold as güero. It is a wax pepper, not a jalapeño, even though many packets use that nickname.
Appearance
Growing
Heritage
ExploreCaloro is a selection of an existing type. The parent isn't linked in Capsi yet.
Paul G. Smith, University of California, Davis · 1967
Parent
Sources
FAQ
- How hot is Caloro?
- Capsi’s sourced range is 500–5,000 SHU (Vendor Claim). Capsi uses a sourced range and a trust tier, not a single marketing number. How we verify heat: https://web.thecapsi.app/learn/heat-and-capsaicin/how-we-measure-heat
- What does Caloro taste like?
- Tangy and lightly sweet when yellow, with a firm wax-pepper crunch. Red-ripe fruit is a touch sweeter and warmer.
- How do I grow Caloro?
- Caloro: about 75 days to maturity, temperate climate, full sun, hardiness zones 9-11.
- What can I substitute for Caloro?
- Santa Fe Grande, Hungarian Wax, Jalapeño, Cascabella