Xcatic

Mild-to-medium heat with a slightly sweet, aromatic, faintly citrus character. The point is perfume and body more than burn; roasting adds a gentle smoky note. Heat varies from pod to pod, as expected in a landrace.

Xcatic (Maya xkat iik, “blond chile”) is a Capsicum annuum landrace from the Yucatán Peninsula. Pods are slender, pointed, and slightly wavy, typically 9–18 cm long and 2–3.5 cm at the widest point. They are harvested pale yellow for the kitchen and ripen through orange to fully red. Heat is mild to medium and uneven across plants. The flavor is slightly sweet and aromatic rather than aggressively hot, which is why cooks add whole roasted pods to stews and pickles instead of grinding them as a primary heat source.

Xcatic is a Capsicum annuum landrace of the Yucatán Peninsula, grown for generations in Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo. Its Maya name, xkat iik, means “blond chile,” a reference to the pale-yellow pods picked for the kitchen. It is a staple of Yucatecan cooking—roasted whole into turkey and seafood escabeches, blended into crema de chile xcatic, or stuffed—and is distinct from the region’s habanero. There is no single historical breeder. INIFAP later released the selected cultivar Catiknifap from accession P108 collected in Muna, Yucatán, in 2013, and producers have been pursuing a geographic indication for chile xcatic.