Shishito Pepper
Capsicum Annuum

days to maturity: 60 green; 80 red ripe
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirement: 6 - 14 hours
look out for: white fly & spider mites
harvest notes: pick the first peppers promptly when they reach full size to encourage further fruit set. 
scoville heat units: 100 - 1,000
seasons: fall, winter, spring
annual

Shishito pepper is a sweet, East Asian variety. The pepper is small and finger-long, slender, and thin-walled. Although it turns from green to red upon ripening, it is usually harvested while green. The name refers to the fact that the tip of the chili pepper looks like the head of a lion. For cooking, a hole is poked in the pepper beforehand to keep expanding hot air from bursting the pepper. It may be skewered then broiled (grilled), or pan-fried in oil, or stewed in a soy sauce- and dashi-based liquid. It is thin-skinned and will blister and char easily compared with thicker skinned varieties.