Are Marconi Peppers Hot?
Naturally, whenever you read or hear the word pepper, you want to know if it’s hot, either to go for it or to avoid it, depending on your preferences and tolerance. Marconi peppers are a sweet pepper, not a hot pepper, so growing Marconi peppers is a lot like growing bell peppers.
We’ve been growing Marconi peppers (red variety), Capsicum annum, annually for years now. These Marconi is a wonderful pepper from Italy that comes on a bit late with beautiful green elongated fruits that gradually redden as the season progresses. The Marconi are typically prolific and produce more fruit in less space than many bell pepper varieties.
Audio Article – Marconi Peppers:
We procured the seed from Baker Creek/RareSeeds.com, and though slow to germinate and grow in flats, this pepper loves it in the garden. The catalogue write-up indicates 80 days to maturity, so getting them planted as seedlings after the last frost will help.
GROWING MARCONI PEPPERS
- DIFFICULTY – Easy to grow and start from flats
- GERMINATION –
- Slow to germinate
- Sow seeds indoors February-April
- HARVEST – marconi peppers reach maturity 70-90 days from transplant to harvest
- 80 days from seed to harvest
- 62 days from seedlings
- WHEN TO PLANT – ASAP after last frost (unless you have a longer growing season)
- SIZE –
- Plants can grow to 6 feet tall and do best with plant supports
- Peppers grow up to 8 inches long
- SOIL –
- moist rich soil
- 4″ or approximately 30% organic compost or other organic matter
- Soil pH between 6.2-7.0
- SUPPORT – Plants do best with support
How to Grow Marconi Peppers
- SEEDS – press seeds into starter medium in seed trays [#affiliatelink]
- SPRINKLE with a light coating of fine soil or vermiculite
- WARM seed tray on heat mat
- WATER until moist but not soaking
- MIST daily to keep moist
- MATURITY
The bottom heat pad helped all of our pepper seeds to germinate. We have the Vivo Sun brand of plant heating pads [#affiliatelink], and germinated them in our indoor greenhouse or cattle panel greenhouse.
Supporting Your Marconi Pepper Plants
One pointer for growing the Marconi Pepper is to provide support as it grows. Ours are nearly six feet tall now and have done well with the “Florida Weave” method lacing jute twine about every two feet up the stem. We also use this method for staking tomatoes, (you can see a how-to video there).
Marconi Green Peppers
The green Marconi Pepper is just as sweet—or sweeter tasting—as green or red bell peppers. Marconi’s are often used for stuffing, like the popular poblanos from Mexico, they’re great for stuffing and for chile relleno casseroles (see our recipes below).
Marconi Red Peppers
The ripened Red Marconi Peppers have a naturally sweet smoky flavor that’s perfect for roasted peppers. The Marconi taste is naturally sweet and suitable as a raw ingredient for salads and garnishing and cooked in any number of ways in stir fry, casseroles, roasted vegetables and in omelets and egg bakes.
Sweet Red Pepper Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information for 1/2 cup raw sweet red peppers is the same for all sweet red peppers.
Nutrients in Sweet Red Peppers
- Calories 31
- Water 92 %
- Protein 1 g
- Carbs 6 g
- Sugar 4.2 g
- Fiber 2.1 g
- Fat 0.3 g
- Saturated 0.03 g
- Monounsaturated 0 g
- Polyunsaturated 0.07 g
- Omega-3 0.03 g
- Omega-6 0.05 g
Vitamins and Minerals
- Vitamin C – 169% of the RDA
- Vitamin B6, (pyridoxine) beneficial in forming red blood cells
- Vitamin K1, (phylloquinone) for blood clotting and bone health
- Potassium, beneficial for heart health
- Folate, (aka folic acid, folacin, or vitamin B9) especially important during pregnancy
- Vitamin E, antioxidant for healthy nerves and muscles
- Vitamin A, (beta carotene)
Source: HealthLine.com
Marconi Sweet Pepper Recipe
We made a delicious chile relleno recipe using green Marconi peppers instead of the usual poblanos. We used a recipe from the FoodNetwork.com and made three tweaks to this recipe.
- We did not pan fry first; placed directly into oiled baking dish instead. This saved a step and was still delicious.
- Used mozzarella cheese sticks instead of shredded cheese
- We used gluten free bread crumbs, instead of flour, for the Chili Relleno “crust”
For stuffing the chilis with cheese, the giant Marconi are best. Or if you’re not growing the giant variety, you can create cut open the peppers to lay flat layered like a casserole dish rather than stuffed and the taste is just as awesome.
Marconi Peppers – a Great Mild Pepper to Grow
Given all these attributes, years of “field testing”, we recommend trying Marconi Peppers in your garden. If you have a small patch like ours, then it’s even more important to decide what vegetables to grow based on maximum yield per square foot. To invest in a variety like Marconi that gives good production in a relatively small space provides the greatest yield for the space, when it comes to other peppers.
Marconi peppers grow well, produce abundantly and have many uses, both as a green and red vegetable. Some varieties even come in purple and golden.
Grow Great Gardens!
For some great Mexican recipes that are great for tossing in your Marconi’s as well as your favorite hot peppers of all sorts.
G. Coleman Alderson is an entrepreneur, land manager, investor, gardener, and author of the novel, Mountain Whispers: Days Without Sun. Coleman holds an MS from Penn State where his thesis centered on horticulture, park planning, design, and maintenance. He’s a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and a licensed building contractor for 27 years. “But nothing surpasses my 40 years of lessons from the field and garden. And in the garden, as in life, it’s always interesting because those lessons never end!” Coleman Alderson