Mad Hatter

Mad Hatter is a United States bred Capsicum baccatum hybrid developed by PanAmerican Seed and released into public circulation by late 2016, when it appeared among the 2017 All-America Selections winners. It was bred for North American growing conditions and is presented as a high-yielding, vigorous specialty pepper with a distinctive three-sided flattened disc shape and a sweet, floral, citrusy flavour.

The plant is large, vigorous, and mounded to upright, usually reaching about 91.5 to 122 cm tall and about 91.5 to 122 cm wide. It is described as needing ample space, performing best in-ground with support, and producing heavy crops of unusual flattened fruit with broad lobes or wings. The pods are about 5 to 9 cm long and about 5 to 6 cm wide, with a crunchy, crisp texture and a shape that gives the variety its theatrical name.

Mad Hatter is primarily treated as a sweet pepper rather than a hot one. The fruit can be harvested green or left to ripen fully red, with the flavour intensifying and sweetening as it matures. In hot, dry climates, a small number of fruit may develop a slight touch of heat close to the seed cavity, but the wings are consistently described as sweet. It is grown for fresh eating, salads, pickling, stuffing, and ornamental display, and its defining identity is a large, productive, sweet baccatum with green foliage, green-to-red winged fruit, and a bright floral-citrus flavour.