Rocotos

Hairy leaves, purple flowers, black seeds: a rocoto looks like no other chilli, and behaves like none either. It copes with cool weather, lives for years if you overwinter it frost-free, and makes you wait for its first fruit.

Allow three to five weeks for germination and a first harvest that takes its time. In return, a rocoto overwinters somewhere frost-free and bears twice as much in its second year. The black seeds are normal.