Gochujang King

Gochujang King is a Korean Capsicum annuum hybrid grown as a mild hot pepper for both fresh use and drying. It is sold specifically as a Korean gochu type suited to making gochujang and gochugaru, and modern seed sources consistently describe it as a productive field pepper with long, slender fruit and a moderate, food-friendly pungency rather than extreme heat. It has circulated internationally through Kitazawa and later True Leaf Market, while still being presented as a variety from Korea.

The plant is generally described as vigorous, productive, and well suited to gardens, raised beds, greenhouses, open-field growing, and commercial production. Published descriptions place plant height at about 61.0 to 91.5 cm. Reimer Seeds describes green stems, dark green leaves, and white flowers, while other sellers emphasise the heavy yields and reliable set of elongated pods.

The pods are long, narrow, pendant, and smooth-skinned, usually about 15.0 cm long and 13 mm wide. The flesh is described as smooth, shiny, and medium-thick, with the fruit ripening from green to bright red. This shape and ripening pattern place it firmly in the Korean drying-pepper style used for both green harvest and full red maturity.

Its culinary role is central to its identity. Fresh green pods are described as suitable for eating with ssamjang, while ripe red pods are dried and ground into gochugaru or used for gochujang. Public descriptions also recommend it for stir-fries, roasts, sauces, and other Korean dishes, and food writers describing Korean pepper types note that peppers of this style are relatively mild and widely used across Korean cooking.

The earliest solid public record located for the named variety is a 2020 seed report entry listing Gochujang King Hybrid - Korean Gochujang, showing that the name was already in formal seed circulation by that time. By 2021 it was also appearing in grow reports, and by 2022 to 2026 it was being grown and sold more widely through specialist pepper and Asian seed vendors. In grower culture it is treated as a dependable Korean kitchen pepper valued for yield, practical heat, and suitability for homemade gochugaru and gochujang rather than as a novelty or ornamental line.