Korean chili pepper
Also known as gochu · 고추 · putgochu · 풋고추 · honggochu · 홍고추 · Korean hot pepper · Korean red pepper · Korean dark green pepper · Korean long green pepper
Long, slender Capsicum annuum peppers that are the backbone of Korean cooking — eaten green as putgochu, ripened to red as honggochu, and sun-dried into gochugaru and gochujang. Mild to medium heat with a sweet, fruity warmth rather than a sharp cayenne bite.
About 1/2.5 the typical heat of a Capsi Jalapeño (25,086 SHU).
Growing
~90 days to maturity
Fruit size
8–15 cm
Flavor & Use
Fresh green pods taste grassy and crisp with gentle heat. Ripe and especially sun-dried fruit adds sweetness, light fruitiness, and a faint smoke that is the signature of gochugaru — warmth more than fire, without cayenne’s sharp bitterness.
Culinary
About
Korean chili peppers (gochu) are a Capsicum annuum landrace group, not a single named hybrid. Fresh pods are typically 8–15 cm long and about 1–2 cm wide, slender and slightly tapered, ripening from glossy green to bright red. Green fruit (putgochu) is crisp and grassy, often eaten raw with ssamjang, pickled, or sliced into stews; fully red fruit (honggochu) is sun-dried as taeyangcho and ground into gochugaru for kimchi, jjigae, and tteokbokki.
Backstory
Chili peppers originated in the Americas and reached Korea in the late 16th century via Portuguese trade through Japan, around the time of the Imjin War (1592–1598). Yi Su-gwang’s 1614 encyclopedia Jibong Yuseol records them as nammancho or waegyeoja, and farm manuals by about 1700 already described how to grow them. Within a few generations they became essential to kimchi, gochugaru, and gochujang. Yeongyang County in North Gyeongsang is now one of South Korea’s best-known production districts. A minority of Korean food-history papers read older “gocho” texts as evidence of pre-Columbian chilies on the peninsula; mainstream botany treats Capsicum as a Columbian Exchange crop.
Appearance
Growing
Heritage
ExploreWe don't have a documented family for this pepper yet.
Sources
FAQ
- How hot is Korean chili pepper?
- Capsi’s sourced range is 65–43,596 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 Korean chili pepper taste like?
- Fresh green pods taste grassy and crisp with gentle heat. Ripe and especially sun-dried fruit adds sweetness, light fruitiness, and a faint smoke that is the signature of gochugaru — warmth more than fire, without cayenne’s sharp bitterness.
- How do I grow Korean chili pepper?
- Korean chili pepper: about 90 days to maturity, temperate climate, full sun, hardiness zones 9-11.
- What can I substitute for Korean chili pepper?
- Capsi does not have that recorded yet.