Kitchen Pepper
Grow Shishito for quick blistering in a hot pan: small, thin-walled Japanese peppers that are usually picked green.
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
- Maturity
- 60-75 days from transplant
- Germination
- 25-29 C; allow 7-14 days
- Heat
- 0-500 SHU
- Type
- Capsicum annuum pepper
- Plant habit
- Compact productive frying pepper
- Seed line
- Open-pollinated
- Origin
- Japan
- Best for
- Blistering, frying, grilling, pickling
- Packed for
- Packed for 2026
Good short-season pepper for Canadian gardens and containers; pick green for classic shishito use.
FROM GARDEN TO KITCHEN
Small peppers, ready for the pan.
Pick Shishito green for blistering, grilling or light tempura. Most pods are mild, but an occasional one can bring more heat.
01 / BLISTER
A hot pan. A little salt.
Blister whole green peppers in a hot pan, turning them until tender. Finish with flaky salt and a squeeze of lemon.
02 / GRILL
Thread, turn and serve.
Thread the small pods onto skewers for easier turning on the grill. Serve as a vegetable side with a dipping sauce.
03 / TEMPURA
Keep the coating light.
Dip the thin-walled peppers in a light tempura batter and fry until crisp. Serve promptly with a small bowl of dipping sauce.
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.
From seed to kitchen · Pepper seeds
Shishito pepper seeds
Grow Shishito for quick blistering in a hot pan: small, thin-walled Japanese peppers that are usually picked green.
At a glance
Kitchen use
Blistering, grilling, pickling
Heat
Usually mild; occasional hot pods
Harvest
Green for frying; red when ripe
Species
Capsicum annuum
Why grow it?
Choose Shishito when you want a whole-pepper side dish that cooks quickly. The thin walls suit a fast sear, unlike a thick stuffing pepper.
In the kitchen
- Blister whole pods in a hot pan and finish with salt.
- Grill for a simple side dish.
- Pickle a harvest for a tangy condiment.
Growing in Canada
Start indoors and plan around your local outdoor planting conditions. Harden seedlings off gradually and transplant after frost risk has passed and nights are reliably warm. Allow extra time if you want fully ripe fruit rather than a green harvest.
Explore by kitchen use
Pepper seeds CanadaSweet and frying peppersQuestions about Shishito
Are all Shishito peppers mild?
No. Most are mild, but an occasional pepper can be noticeably hot.
Do I wait for red peppers?
For the classic frying use, harvest green. Pods turn red as they ripen.
Is Shishito a stuffing pepper?
Its small size and thin walls make it better suited to blistering and grilling.
Harvest timing, flavour and heat vary with growing conditions. Keep varieties isolated when saving seed if maintaining the variety matters to you.
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.
