Shishito Peppers: My Brief Love Affair

14 varieties of peppers from 2018. The Shishito peppers are the three small green peppers. Mellow Star are to the left of the Shishito, and Fushimi are to the right.

In 2014 I bought a six pack of Shishito peppers from a local farm stand. I had read about these small green peppers from Japan, which were now being served at high-end restaurants. I was excited to try them. And so it was with great anticipation that I harvested the first few peppers, and then proceeded to chop and saute them. And (drum roll), we didn't like them at all! They didn't taste good. Something wasn't right, because these peppers were supposed to be amazing.

So I went back online and learned how to prepare them in the recommended way. Fry them up whole in a cast iron skillet, with a small amount of olive oil until they blister and brown. Then remove them from the heat and sprinkle them with fresh lime juice and salt. Ah, that was it. Now they tasted exquisite! Most were mild and delicious. We were hooked.

The pepper plants produced abundantly. I harvested a huge amount of peppers and then the plants produced even more. We feasted on them. My partner Denny was soon addicted. But I thought they would be even tastier with some sweet red frying peppers cooked beside them. And so we began roasting a half and half mix of sweet ripe peppers with Shishito green peppers. We did not let the Shishito peppers ripen to red, as many of those turned unbearably hot for my palate. Some of the green ones would get ridiculously hot, too.

So thus began my love-hate relationship with Shishito peppers. I loved them until I got a painfully hot one, and then I hated them. I swore that I would never eat them again. But then I did. Sometimes I remembered to first nibble tentatively on the bottom of a pepper, to test it for heat. But I really wanted to consume them whole with abandon. There had to be peppers that tasted as good as Shishito, which wouldn't also give you that “surprise your mouth is on fire” kind of heat. I was determined to find some.

So within a few years of researching, growing, and trialing different varieties, I discovered many frying peppers that I liked even more than Shishito. Gorgeous peppers with exotic names like Fushimi, Manganji, Corbaci, and Figitelli, turned out to be even tastier than the famed Shishito. Shishitos were short and small, and they had that unbearably hot temper. While these other peppers were elegant, longer, and almost always sweet. (See my Sweet Pepper Reviews, for a detailed critique of these and other handsome eligible peppers.)

Now we fill our freezer with bags of many varieties of green, yellow, orange, and red peppers. We do not cook them first. (However, we have found that they keep best when stored in vacuum sealed bags.) All winter long we feast on these delectable peppers. The frozen peppers go right into the hot skillet (no need to thaw them first), and cook in about the same amount of time as the fresh ones. Some varieties, are even more tender once they've been frozen. Denny says he actually prefers frozen peppers over fresh ones! The frozen peppers capture the rich smells and flavors of summer. With each bite they transport me back to the garden. They taste like grace.

Red Mellow Star with green Shishito and a smaller Red Lunchbox pepper

So now that I'm tending so many other fantastic peppers, perhaps no one will notice if I no longer court Shishito. I could quietly eliminate them and they might not be missed. I took a risk and stopped planting their seed. But like an old lover that won't let go, they have quietly managed to slip back in.

We grow a pepper called Mellow Star. Mellow Star is a hybrid cross of a sweet red pepper with a Shishito. It is a somewhat larger pepper that turns red and sweet and does not get hot. I save my own seed from Mellow Star peppers. Even though it is a hybrid, most of the seed grows true. But every year, at least one of the Mellow Star plants just happens to revert back to its Shishito parentage. The peppers on those plants are smaller and have the same tendency as Shishitos to turn hot. Denny prefers them that way. He likes some spice and surprise mixed in. So I surrender. My ex pepper and I have come to peace. We are on reasonably good terms now. Our affair is over – I think!