Kitchen Pepper
Hot Portugal brings red chilli heat and a hint of sweetness to roasted pepper sauces, dried flakes and cooked dishes. Its long, tapered pods suit roasting whole or slicing into small portions. Start with a little and adjust: this variety...
CASA VERDE · HEAT PROFILE
Medium
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.
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CASA VERDE · GROWER’S NOTES
Hot Portugal brings red chilli heat and a hint of sweetness to roasted pepper sauces, dried flakes and cooked dishes. Its long, tapered pods suit roasting whole or slicing into small portions. Start with a little and adjust: this variety can vary noticeably in heat from one harvest to another.
Grow Hot Portugal for a versatile red chilli you can roast for sauce or dry for flakes. Thin walls make drying a useful option; ripe red pods also work with tomato, garlic and olive oil in cooked sauces.
Our Medium category follows the midpoint of the published 5,000–30,000 SHU guide. Grower references vary, and some report fruit reaching about 50,000 SHU. These are variety references, not a laboratory test of Casa Verde’s seed lot.
Québec grower La Société des Plantes reports good performance in its cooler, short-season setting. That is useful context, not a guaranteed harvest date for every garden. Start indoors and give plants a warm growing position.
Roasting or smoking can add that flavour. The fresh pepper is better described by its chilli heat and underlying sweetness.
Ripening speed, pod size and heat depend on selection and conditions. Wear gloves when preparing hot peppers and avoid touching your eyes.
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.
