PlantFiles: Anaheim Pepper
Capsicum annuum 'Numex Big Jim'

Healthy, prolific plants set tons of peppers. These things get BIG! Many over 8" They are thick walled for a tapered pepper and I don't find them to be overly hot at all, I use them like a bell. Now someone with a more sensitive mouth may think differently, but they are among the mildest hot peppers in my garden.

This variety was developed here in the Las Cruces area of New Mexico by New Mexico State University. I like it a lot but it is strange for the fact that it can have mild and hot chiles on different branches of the same plant. A more improved variety is R-Naky, developed by Roy Nakayzma of NMSU. R-Naky is consistant in flavor from plant to plant. Both are excellent for chile rellenos.

I have been growing New Mex Big Jim for the last 5-6 years here in the hot Sacramento Valley with consistant success. It is one of my wife's very favorite roasting peppers along with Big Chili which is even larger (world's largest to 12"). Big Jim produces 8-9" fruit with moderate heat (1,000-1,500 SHU). Germination so far has been 100 per cent. Very compact plant so I plant 2 to a cage with a very large production.

Supposed to produce very large Anaheim peppers - I sure hope so, because we could use a freezer full next fall!