This small, slender, wrinkled Japanese heirloom is great for roasting, grilling, or 'blistering'. Known to have a mild, slightly sweet, smoky, "grassy" flavour, it has become wildly popular of late, due to the element of surprise - 1 in 10 (or 20) peppers is hot! Typically harvested when the pepper is green but you can wait until it turns orange or red for a sweeter pepper. Developed in Japan over 150 years ago, Shishito is a staple in Japanese cuisine and now widely-grown in other areas of the world.

Farm Sweet Digz Farm

Species Capsicum annuum

Days to Maturity 60-75 days

Transitional organic

Growing instructions Grows well outdoors or in a greenhouse. Start indoors, seeding 5mm-1cm (1/16-3/8") deep, early March-early April. Keep soil very warm, give lots of light, and transplant into bigger pots before plants become rootbound. Transplant out when weather is very warm and night lows are above 12 degrees C. Space about 45cm (18") apart. 10-21 days to germination, 60 days to green peppers, 75 to red.