Vampire Pepper

A straightforward cayenne-type bite with a clean, building heat and a mildly sweet, juicy note when fully ripe. Unripe black pods lean grassy, like a green bell pepper.

Vampire is a compact, early Capsicum annuum with purple-black lance-shaped leaves, purple flowers, and slender 8–10 cm pods that start glossy black and ripen to blood red. Heat is medium — Tozer Seeds cites 14,000 SHU, with later catalogs stretching to 30,000 — and the flavor is a clean, peppery bite that builds rather than overwhelms. Plants typically reach about 60 cm (RHS 50–100 cm), fruit heavily in containers or open ground, and are widely sold in the UK as an ornamental-edible patio chilli.

Named for its gothic look — black-tinged foliage, purple flowers, and long black pods that ripen to blood red — Vampire was introduced by the British vegetable breeder Tozer Seeds of Surrey. It sits in a small family of Tozer dark-foliage ornamentals; the company bills Nosferatu and Count Dracula as hotter, smaller-fruited cousins. UK and US catalogs market it as an early, prolific patio and greenhouse chilli grown as much for the dramatic plant as for the kitchen.