Datil Pepper Dreams In Phoenix Arizona

Like so many people I had never heard of the datil pepper. My brother had moved to St. Augustine years ago and he told me about the datil pepper and how it was so popular with the people in the local area. Sauces, jellies, mustards and relishes are made from the peppers - many using 'secret' family recipes. He explained that datil peppers were largely grown by smaller, independent farmers and sold at farmer's markets and to Datil pepper sauce manufacturers. There were no large commercial farms at the time and I'm not sure if there are any today. His plan was to grow the peppers and make a few bucks. From his
first crop he was kind enough to overnight a few fresh peppers to me in Phoenix. He also sent dried datil pepper flakes. I was immediately a fan. All the heat of a habanero pepper and woodsiness of the scotch bonnett blended with its own unique sweet citrus overtone.

Part of the mystique of the datil pepper, beyond its magical flavor and heat, is the claim that it can only be grown in St. Augustine, Florida. Apparently there is something in the soil, or the humidity level, or who knows what that makes it impossible to grow the datil pepper anywhere other than St. Augustine. That was a problem because I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and I wanted to grow those wonderful peppers for myself.

Still, several years ago I tried and failed at growing datil peppers in Phoenix. I was devastated. My guess at the time was that it was just too dry to grow them in the dessert.  But last year, upon retiring from my job, I decided to try again.

My brother had since moved to Kentucky and was no longer in the datil pepper business. So I ordered away datil pepper seeds from a guy on the internet. Out of the 12 seats that I planted only three survived the seedling stage and ultimately only one survived beyond that. I decided to do everything in my power to make that one plant survive and to get it to produce peppers. I mean I promised to myself that I would fight any battle of pestilence, bad weather, temperature, humidity, soil, anything that would get in my way of helping that single plants survive and produce the illusive datil pepper.

Indeed, the challenges were great. The conditions in Phoenix, Arizona are far different than those of St. Augustine, Florida. Our weather is extremely hot and dry. And the difference between the day and night time temperature can be extreme.The weather in St. Augustine is occasionally hot but most of the time, moderate and very humid. I had my work cut out but I put together a plan and then I modified it as I learned more about the datil pepper and growing hot peppers in general. Thank God for the Internet and thank God for all the kind people that have shared their experiences with growing datil peppers.

As of this writing I have a beautiful datil pepper plant with dozens of peppers in various stages of their growth. Below is a photo that I took when I discovered the first pepper. I was thrilled. The entire process took about a year - but I did it. Yes, I'm proud of what I accomplished but I'm really looking forward to making and eating salsa, hot sauce and jellies - all made with fresh datil peppers picked off my own, home grown, datil pepper plant.

First datil pepper spotted!