Kitchen Pepper
Early Jalapeño is a compact, early-season choice for fresh salsa, pickled rings and small stuffed peppers. Pick the firm green fruit for a fresh jalapeño bite, or leave some to ripen red.
CASA VERDE · HEAT PROFILE
Mild
- Sweet
- Mild — this variety
- Medium
- Hot
- Super hot
Understanding the heat
A diamond marks the midpoint of a listed range, or the listed value when only one number is given. An arrow marks a stated limit. These are variety guides, not measurements of our seed lot. This guide uses unequal numerical bands: sweet 0; mild up to 10,000; medium 10,000–50,000; hot 50,000–800,000; super hot from 800,000 SHU (display capped at 3 million). Heat varies between fruits and with growing conditions.
Shop all pepper seeds in Canada
- Packet
- 10+ seeds per packet
- Heat
- 2500–8000 SHU
FROM GARDEN TO KITCHEN
Early Jalapeño, from seed to supper.
Green peppers for fresh salsa, refrigerator pickles and small cheese-filled bites.
01 / CHOP A FRESH SALSA
Tomato, lime and a crisp bite.
Finely dice green Early Jalapeño and mix with tomato, white onion and lime juice. Start with a little pepper, then adjust to taste before serving with tacos or grilled vegetables.
02 / MAKE FRIDGE PICKLES
Tangy rings for sandwiches and bowls.
Slice peppers into rings and follow a refrigerator-pickle recipe for the vinegar brine. Keep refrigerated and spoon onto sandwiches, nachos or grain bowls. These are not shelf-stable preserves.
03 / BAKE WITH CHEESE
Small peppers, golden tops.
Halve peppers lengthwise, remove the inner membranes and fill lightly with cheese. Bake until the peppers are tender and the tops are golden. Removing the membranes can reduce heat, but does not make them heatless.
AI-generated culinary illustrations. Serving inspiration, not photographs of our harvest. Select a photo to enlarge.
CASA VERDE · GROWER’S NOTES
Get to know your pepper.
Early green harvest · 10+ seeds per packet
Early Jalapeño pepper seeds
Early Jalapeño is a compact, early-season choice for fresh salsa, pickled rings and small stuffed peppers. Pick the firm green fruit for a fresh jalapeño bite, or leave some to ripen red.
At a glance
Crop
Capsicum annuum
Packet
10+ seeds
Heat guide
Mild on our scale; still a pungent pepper
Harvest
Green first; red ripe fruit takes longer
Why grow it?
Choose it when an earlier first picking matters more than maximum main-season yield. Grower trials describe small traditional jalapeños; this is not a promise of oversized fruit or a heavy crop in every garden.
In the kitchen
- Fresh salsa: Finely dice into tomato, onion and lime. Add a little first, mix well, then adjust to taste.
- Refrigerator pickles: Slice into rings and follow a tested refrigerator-pickle recipe. Keep refrigerated; this is not shelf-stable canning guidance.
- Small stuffed peppers: Halve and deseed, add a modest cheese or cooked-grain filling, then bake until the pepper is tender.
Growing and harvesting
- Start indoors: Provide warm seed-starting conditions and bright light after emergence.
- Transplant: Harden plants off and wait until frost risk has passed and the soil and nights are warm.
- Site: Choose full sun, well-drained soil and steady moisture.
- Harvest: Johnny’s reference lists roughly 60 days to green fruit and 80 days to red fruit from transplanting, not from sowing. Treat those as planning estimates; cool conditions can delay harvest.
Explore the catalogue
Pepper seeds CanadaPepper germination guideCommon questions
Is Early Jalapeño a high-yielding main-season variety?
It is selected for earliness. Johnny’s trials describe lower yield than their later jalapeños, so an early harvest should not be confused with maximum total production.
How hot is it?
The familiar 2,500–8,000 SHU jalapeño guide falls within our Mild band, but it is not heatless and the range is not a test of this lot. Increase amounts gradually.
Can the fruit show small tan lines?
Yes. Traditional Early Jalapeño can develop surface checking or corking. Harvest healthy, firm fruit and discard any that are soft or decaying.
Packet contains 10+ seeds. Begin indoors and protect plants from frost; harvest timing depends on your growing season.
Cook your harvest
Use your harvest in these recipes. Check the variety notes and substitutions in each recipe.
Start indoors 8–10 weeks before last frost. Germinate at 26–30 °C on a heat mat; peppers stall below 22 °C. Pot up to 10–15 cm before hardening off outside after nights stay above 12 °C.
Feed balanced through bloom, then bump potassium for fruiting. Stake taller varieties. More detail in our full Canadian growing guide.
Match the pepper to the technique: thin-walled varieties blister fast in a hot pan; thick-walled ones roast or stuff beautifully; fruit-forward ones make balanced sauces and pickles. The variety's flavour profile is your shortcut — see Choosing the right pepper for a use-case guide.
