Carmen Pepper

Sweet and fruity, similar to a red bell pepper but with more robust sweetness even when green, lacking the grassy or bitter notes common in other immature sweet peppers.

Fruit is an elongated horn that tapers to a point, averaging 6 inches long and 2.5 inches wide at the shoulder, about 5 ounces, with medium-thick walls and a wide cavity. It ripens from green to a deep carmine red. Flavor is sweet and fruity even while green, without the grassy edge common in immature bells, and sweeter once fully red. The walls take roasting, grilling, and frying, and the cavity is wide enough to stuff. Plants are upright and productive, about 28 to 30 inches tall with a 16-inch spread, and they set fruit across a wide temperature range. Johnny's lists about 60 days to green fruit and 80 days to red. AAS trials recorded red fruit about 75 days after transplant.

Johnny's Selected Seeds released Carmen in 2004 after years of hand-crosses at its Albion, Maine farm, as a garden version of the Italian corno di toro, or bull's horn, frying pepper. Plant breeder Janika Eckert named it for the title character of Bizet's opera Carmen. In 2006 it won an All-America Selections award for shape, sweetness, yield, and earliness.

How hot is Carmen Pepper?

Capsi’s sourced range is 0 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 Carmen Pepper taste like?

Sweet and fruity, similar to a red bell pepper but with more robust sweetness even when green, lacking the grassy or bitter notes common in other immature sweet peppers.

How do I grow Carmen Pepper?

Carmen Pepper: about 75 days to maturity, warm season climate, full sun, hardiness zones 8-11.

What can I substitute for Carmen Pepper?

red bell pepper, Marconi pepper, Cubanelle pepper, Corno di Toro, Bell Pepper, Cubanelle