Mattapeno x Shishito

Mattapeno x Shishito is a United States-bred Capsicum annuum hybrid from Matt's Peppers, released through the Matt's Laboratory line. It was publicly listed by Matt's Peppers on 21 December 2024 as Mattapeño x Shishito F2 in Matt's Lab #2, and later grow-outs were being shown as F3 by late 2025, placing it clearly within Matt's continuing variegated breeding work rather than as a one-off unnamed cross.

The cross brings together two very different annuum lines. Mattapeño began as a variegated jalapeño-type plant Matt found while working in a commercial greenhouse and then refined over years into a white-leaved, purple-stemmed, heavily variegated jalapeño with striped fruit that ripen red. Shishito is a Japanese annuum pepper with thin-walled, finger-long fruit that are usually picked green but mature red, and it is culturally tied to Japanese cooking, especially blistered small-plate dishes and izakaya-style serving.

As a plant, Mattapeno x Shishito sits in the ornamental-culinary space rather than reading like a standard plain jalapeño or a plain shishito. The Mattapeño side contributes the variegated foliage and pale-striped jalapeño genetics, while the Shishito side points toward a slimmer, thinner-walled, finger-pepper direction and the familiar green-to-red ripening pattern. Grower posts on later generations also describe the line as slow-growing but capable of carrying a heavy load of fruit, and one later F3 grow-out was specifically noted for showing attractive colour fades in the pods.

Its story is tied directly to Matt's broader project of taking the original Mattapeño and crossing it into uncommon peppers to create new combinations with strong visual character. In this case the result is a variegated jalapeño-shishito hybrid that connects Matt's greenhouse-found jalapeño line with the long-established Japanese Shishito tradition, combining ornamental foliage, mild-to-medium usable heat, and a fruit style that fits both fresh harvest appeal and the blistered, pan-cooked use that made Shishito famous.