Black Peppers Guide: Dramatic Looks For Kitchen And Garden

Pasilla Peppers

The pasilla (1,000 to 2,500 Scoville heat units or SHU) is actually a dried chilaca pepper. While most all dried chilies are dark, the pasilla pepper takes things one step further. There are none more black among dried chilies — not the ancho, not the guajillo, not the chipotle. Most of those are shades of brown and red, while the pasilla takes on a raisiny black finish that fits well with its raisiny like flavor (with a little more fruitiness and a hint of cocoa.) This is one of the best flavors on the Scoville scale, and if your need for black chili peppers works with dried chilies, then you’ve met your match.

Black Hungarian Peppers

The Black Hungarian (5,000 to 10,000 SHU) is the best culinary option among black chilies. With a heat that’s comparable to a jalapeño pepper and a sweetness (particularly in its ripened state) that’s much like a Fresno pepper, it’s quite a tasty pepper in the kitchen.

What’s unit to the black Hungarian pepper is its aging cycle. Black is the middle of its maturation cycle on the vine — aging from green, to black, to a jewel tone red. During its black stage, the interior of the walls of the black Hungarian stay green, making for a real dramatic look.

Royal Black Pepper

The Royal Black (5,000 to 30,000 SHU) is a tiny chili, only up to an inch long. But, boy, do the fruits make a dramatic statement. They take on a rich purplish-black hue (aging to a crimson red) and stand upwards from the vine. They pack a heat that can reach as high as a milder cayenne, but more often than not, you’ll receive a serrano pepper level of spiciness. As like many ornamentals, the flavor here is more neutral “peppery” without a lot of depth.

Black Prince Pepper

The Black Prince (5,000 to 30,000 SHU) is certainly true to its name — featuring purplish-black fruits that age to red. These are small chilies, only 2/3 of an inch long, and they cluster into groups that help showcase the many shades of this chili’s blackish hue. There’s a little sweetness to the Black Prince, but beyond that there’s little depth to the flavor.

Count Dracula Pepper

Another aptly named black pepper. Growing up to two inches long, the Count Dracula pepper (5,000 to 30,000 SHU) follows the same color patterns as many of the dark chilies listed here — from a dramatic black to a rich red hue. This pepper’s plant also shares in the darker look, with darker leaves and purple flowers that really enhance the style.

Black Pearl Pepper

One of the most popular ornamental peppers around, the Black Pearl is a real jewel, but not only for the tiny onyx black chili peppers themselves that age to a crimson red. The Black Pearl plant brings its own unique beauty to the table, with purple leaves that border on black and purple flowers. It’s a real looker in the garden.

Heat-wise, the Black Pearl (10,000 to 30,000 SHU) has a higher medium heat, much like other ornamental chilies, so take care popping one of these small beauties in your mouth. It may be edible landscaping, but you’ll be in for a surprise – it’s a heat more akin to cayenne than jalapeño.

Black Cobra Pepper

Want a black ornamental chili with a little more edge? The black cobra pepper is bold with bite. The thin curved chilies jut from the plant like cobra heads aiming to bite. Black is again the middle stage of the aging process, running from green to black to deep red. And again the plant brings its own real style, too. The leaves have fine silver hair that just add to this plant’s uniqueness.

Like all ornamentals, you can eat these chilies. But the heat is high (20,000 to 40,000 SHU, comparable to cayenne pepper) and there isn’t a lot of nuance to the flavor.

Black Cuban Pepper

Speaking of edge – the Black Cuban (40,000 to 58,000 SHU) dwarfs the heat of the other black peppers on this list. It’s potent — at the upper-end of medium heat, nearing extra-hot territory. In fact, it’s as hot as some Thai peppers (50,000 to 100,000 SHU). The Black Cuban is small, roughly an inch in length, and ages from a dark purplish-black to red as they mature. And as to flavor, they — like most other ornamentals — are more about their looks than flavor (or heat balance.) Think “neutral peppery” and you have an idea of what to expect.