Open pollinated Italian frying pepper from our 2022 trials. These blocky peppers have a heat range of 20,000 to 80,000 Scoville Units. Our trial plant was a heavy producer and peppers were largely blemish free. 5" fruit matures green to red and plants are 2' tall.

'This Italian family heirloom pepper was donated to Seed Savers Exchange in 2015 by Chad and Michele Ogle-Riccelli of Des Moines, Iowa. Chad's great-grandparents, Giovanni "John" Ausilio and Rachel P. Scarcello, immigrated from Italy in the early 1900s. Their daughter Theresa continues to grow the pepper, which today is at the center of the family's culinary traditions. It is used for drying, frying, stuffing, canning and making sardas (savory rolls flavored with dried peppers and sardines). When asked why the family chose to preserve this pepper and save seeds form year to year, Chad says, "As Grandma (Theresa Ausilio Riccelli) would tell you, they are her family seeds. Something that special, you love and pass on for generations to come...These peppers are part of our heritage." '-Seed Savers Exchange. Photos: Foster Hill Farm