Cheiro Roxa

Sweet, fruity chinense flavor with citrus and a light floral perfume. Sweeter and less fierce than a typical habanero, with a short-lived burn and occasional faint bitterness.

Cheiro Roxa is a rare Brazilian aromatic chili in the pimenta-de-cheiro group. Plants are bushy, 60–100 cm tall, with dark stems and purplish-green leaves. Pendant pods are 1.5–3.5 cm, lantern- or UFO-shaped, and start nearly black-purple before ripening to pale pink, lilac, or peach — often several shades on one plant. Flesh is medium-thick and crisp. Heat is typically 60,000–80,000 SHU, hotter than cayenne and milder than most habaneros; flavor is sweet, citrusy, and lightly floral. In Brazil the peppers season stews, sauces, and marinades; gardeners also grow them as ornamentals. Open-pollinated heirloom; no documented commercial breeder.

Named from Portuguese cheiro (aroma) and roxa (purple) for the floral perfume of the ripe pods and their anthocyanin-purple fruit and foliage. It belongs to Brazil’s pimenta-de-cheiro aromatic Capsicum chinense group and has been grown for generations in the Northeast, especially inland Bahia. International seed catalogs sell it as Purple Perfume. One Italian source calls it a color sport of Cheiro Recife; that parentage is not independently confirmed.