Erotico

Erotico is an Italian Capsicum baccatum hybrid associated with Massimo Biagi and the Carmazzi family, and Carmazzi describes it as having originated in the company’s greenhouses at Torre del Lago in Tuscany. By January 2013 it was already being presented publicly in Italy as one of the milder peppers used in guided tasting and pairing courses connected to Peperita.

It is best known for its distinctly erotic pod form, with elongated fleshy fruit that taper and curl into a pronounced appendage at the blossom end. Plants are tall, rather slender, productive, and often benefit from staking once heavily set with fruit, commonly reaching about 1.0 to 1.5 m. Pods are generally about 7.0 to 12.0 cm long and around 20 mm wide, ripening from pale green to a vivid orange, sometimes described as golden orange or turmeric orange at full maturity. The flavour is repeatedly described as aromatic, fruity, vegetal and floral, with notes compared to citrus peel, bitter orange, orange blossom, and sweet pea. In the kitchen it is treated as a flavour first pepper and is repeatedly linked with goat and sheep cheeses, shellfish, fish carpaccio, white meats, steamed vegetables, savoury pies, smoky sauces, compotes, chilli powders, honey based products, and even strawberry sorbet.