Cachucha / Aji Dulce Pepper
Capsicum Chinense

days to maturity: 60 days
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: spider mites & white fly
harvest notes: pick peppers as they mature to encourage new buds to form.
scoville heat units: 1,000 - 5,000
annual

Aji Dulce, cachucha or ajicito, is any of a variety of sweet perennial peppers found in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is most widely known in Venezuela, where it refers to a specific native variety of Capsicum chinense related to the habanero, but with a much milder, smoky flavor. In the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, ají dulce or ajicito is grown commercially and is an important ingredient for sauces, such as recaíto, sofrito, and mojito isleño (a fish or meat sauce), as well as stews, rice, and a great variety of local dishes.

Aji Dulce translates to “sweet pepper” which refers to its flavor profile. The fruit looks exactly like a spicy habanero type pepper, but the flavor profile lacks the heat of a habanero but does have a smoky flavor with hints of citrus and a mild sweet pepper flavor. 

Like all other peppers, Aji Dulce can be grown as a perennial here in South Florida where we have no frost, and is treated like an annual in all climates where frost occurs in winter. Aji Dulce plants tend to stay small and have a compact and wide growth pattern, but they are super productive nonetheless. If you want to save seeds make sure there aren’t any other peppers around that it could cross pollinate with, harvest a red ripe pepper, and dry and save the seeds for next season. 

Our main pest issues with peppers are mites (which are microscopic) which make the growing tips of the plant shriveled and waxy, root knot nematodes (which effect the overall health of the plant by eating and distorting the root system) and whitefly (which hide out on the underside of the leaves and suck juices out of them).