Jasmyn Rissie Hot Pepper (Medium Heat)

Jasmyn Risse pepper plants. A South African hot pepper (medium heat) grown by Shine Springs Farm

The Jasmyn Rissie is a South African pepper that’s relatively rare in the United States. I’ve never seen a plant in any of the box stores and have never seen any farmers selling the Jasmyn Rissie at their farmers market stands.

The Jasmyn Rissie is what we call a medium-hot pepper. It’s not nearly as hot as a habañero pepper, and probably a bit less hot than the average hot jalapeño pepper.

The pepper itself is round shape, about 2″ – 3″ in diameter, maybe size of a small plum or large cherry. Green at first, as usual, and turns a beautiful red when fully-ripened. I let them finish ripening on the countertop for a few days after gathering. If you refrigerate the green ones that will delay the ripening process.

The peppers are great for eating raw (if you like some heat) and for stir-fries or in recipes. They’re probably a bit small for stuffing, but not out of the question since small stuff mushrooms are a thing.

The photo below shows a jar of Jasmyn Rissie peppers just after I’d jarred them in brine to start the lacto-fermentation process. That’s my preferred way to preserve peppers at the end of the season.

Four jars of hot and sweet peppers undergoing lacto-fermentation in salt brine. From left to right: Quart jar of mix of hot peppers; second from left is a half-gallon wide mouth jar containing mostly round green Jasmyn Risse (which turn red when fully ripend); third jar from left is half-gallon Mason jar containing a mix of sweet banana peppers, Petit Marseillais, Hungarian Paprika and Melrose peppers. 4th jar is a Fido jar also containing the banana, Petit Marsellais, Hungarian Paprika and Melrose peppers.
Lacto-fermenting peppers in salt brine. The second jar contains mostly Jasmyn Risse — the green round peppers. There’s one red Jasmyn Rissie in middle of jar, lower left center. The orange pepper near top is a Brazilian starfish. The orange at bottom is a Petit Marseillais, a French heirloom. The two jars on right side contain a combination of sweet banana, Petit Marseillais, Hungarian Paprika and Melrose peppers.

I grew Jasmyn Rissie for the first time in 2020 and found it to be a hardy plant and prolific producer, both at the farm (where it was dry for a good bit of July and August) and in my raised bed garden at my house in Birmingham. Production really kicked in in September. This year, I planted extra plants to sell, along with the peppers when they are ready.