C. annuum

Shishito

mildFresh

100-1,000 SHU

Origin

Japan; a popular small dish.

Uses

Pan-blistered in a screaming-hot skillet with a little oil and flaky salt, in tempura, or skewered for yakitori. Eaten whole, holding it by the stem.

About this chile

It is almost always mild and sweet, yet it hides a culinary roulette: roughly one in ten is genuinely hot, and nobody knows which until they bite. Its name nods to a lion's head (shishi), after the wrinkled tip of the pod. Its Spanish cousin is the Padrón pepper, which plays exactly the same game: some bite, and some don't.