Early Jalapeño
Also known as Early Jalapeno · Jalapeño Early · Jalapeno Early · Jalapeño M-10
Early Jalapeño is a Capsicum annuum cultivar from Veracruz, Mexico. Capsi’s sourced range is 30,388–48,313 SHU (Lab-verified). Flavor is grassy, bright, classic jalapeño. Used for salsa, pico de gallo, pickles, nachos, poppers. Heat is a range, not a single marketing number.
An open-pollinated jalapeño selected to ripen one to two weeks earlier than standard types, with compact plants and classic medium heat. Thick-walled, blunt green pods turn dark red and are equally at home in salsa, pickles, or smoked as chipotles.
Growing
~65 days to maturity
Fruit size
6–9 cm
Flavor & Use
Green fruit tastes like a classic jalapeño—bright, slightly grassy, and crisp—while fully red pods are sweeter with the same medium heat concentrated in the placenta and seeds.
Culinary
About
Early Jalapeño is a compact Capsicum annuum open-pollinated cultivar released by Petoseed Co. in 1977 and also recorded as Jalapeño M-10. Plants typically stand 60–90 cm and set blunt, sausage-shaped fruit about 6–9 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, with thick walls that stuff, pickle, and slice cleanly. Pods are harvested dark green at 60–65 days from transplant and ripen to dark red with characteristic brown corking, or checking, by about 80–85 days. The variety is widely adapted, container-friendly, and especially useful in short seasons. Flavor is grassy and bright when green, sweeter and a touch hotter when red.
Backstory
Jalapeños take their name from Xalapa (Jalapa), the capital of Veracruz, Mexico, where the type was historically processed. Early Jalapeño is a U.S. open-pollinated selection of that type, catalogued by Petoseed in 1977 as a widely adapted, medium-hot jalapeño that colors from green to red. Its earliness and compact habit later made it a standard parent in university breeding, including Paul Bosland’s NuMex jalapeño program at New Mexico State University.
Appearance
Growing
Heritage
Nothing reputable documents a pedigree for this pepper.
Sources
Heat figures in Capsi are tied to a source and a trust tier. How we verify heat
- 48,313 SHU · Lab-verifiedP.W. Bosland (2010) HortScience · HPLC10.21273/HORTSCI.45.3.443
- 44,354 SHU · Lab-verifiedP.W. Bosland (2010) HortScience · HPLC10.21273/HORTSCI.45.10.1552
- 30,388 SHU · Lab-verifiedBosland, P.W. and Coon, D. (2015) HortScience 50(7):1104–1105 · HPLC10.21273/HORTSCI.50.7.1104
- 2,500–5,000 SHU · Vendor ClaimBotanical Interests
- 4,000–6,000 SHU · Vendor ClaimRupp Seeds
- 4,000–6,500 SHU · Vendor ClaimFedco Seeds
- 5,000 SHU · Vendor ClaimHigh Mowing Organic Seeds
- 3,400–8,000 SHU · Vendor ClaimLake Valley Seed
- 5,000–15,000 SHU · Vendor ClaimSandia Seed Company
- Fedco Seeds cultivar listing: 4,000–6,500 SHU, 65/85 days, Xalapa origin, blunt sausage fruit with corkingfedcoseeds.com
- NCSU Vegetable Cultivar Descriptions for North America: 1977 Petoseed Co. entry for Early Jalapeno (Jalapeño M-10)cucurbitbreeding.wordpress.ncsu.edu
- Cornell Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners: sausage-shaped blunt fruit, 60–80 days, dark green to red with brown nettingvegvariety.cce.cornell.edu
- High Mowing Organic Seeds: 5,000 SHU, 65 days green / 85 days red, thick-walled fruit, container-friendly OP plantshighmowingseeds.com
- NMSU report on Chile Cultivars 1913–2016: Early Jalapeño as parent of NuMex Jalmundo, Vaquero, and Spice series; Piñata sport originpubs.nmsu.edu
- Botanical Interests: cooler-climate adaptation, 3×1 in fruit, green-to-red ripening, culinary notes including chipotlebotanicalinterests.com
- Johnny's Selected Seeds jalapeño variety notes: 60-day earliness, 2–2.5 in fruit, rapid checking as a harvest cuejohnnyseeds.com
- Rupp Seeds commercial OP listing: 63 days, thick flesh, 4,000–6,000 SHU, green to red, fresh market and processingruppseeds.com
Last updated 20 Sep 2026 at 08:58
FAQ
- How hot is Early Jalapeño?
- Capsi’s sourced range is 30,388–48,313 SHU (Lab-verified). 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 Early Jalapeño taste like?
- Green fruit tastes like a classic jalapeño—bright, slightly grassy, and crisp—while fully red pods are sweeter with the same medium heat concentrated in the placenta and seeds.
- How do I grow Early Jalapeño?
- Early Jalapeño: about 65 days to maturity, subtropical climate, full sun, hardiness zones 9-11.
- What can I substitute for Early Jalapeño?
- Capsi does not have that recorded yet.