Sang Cho

Sang Cho is a South Korean Capsicum annuum grown for elongated, slightly wrinkled fruit that mature red and are used fresh, dried, or ground. Retail and grower listings describe the plant as productive, with a long harvest window of about 4 to 6 months, and reaching about 100 to 120 cm tall. The fruit is used in Korean cooking where chilli flavour and red colour are wanted, and it is also sold as suitable for stir-fries, rice dishes, salads, and for drying into a paprika-like powder.

The pod shape shown across seller records and product images is long, narrow, pendulous, and tapering, with smooth to slightly wrinkled skin. The plant carries green foliage and produces fruit heavily through the season. One live image set shows both green immature pods and ripe red pods on the same plant, matching the way sellers describe its ripening pattern.

A notable conflict in the live source record is heat. Happy Valley Seeds lists Sang Cho at 100,000 SHU and describes it as very hot, while The Chilli Factory describes it as not too hot and positions it more as a flavour-and-colour chilli for dishes that do not need heavy heat. That leaves Sang Cho looking more like a variable market name in circulation than a tightly standardised modern commercial type.

The name was already circulating in grower lists by March 2015, where Sang Cho appeared among named Korean chilli types being compared and identified by hobby growers. That fits the way the pepper is still sold now, as a recognised Korean heirloom-style chilli passed around through seed sellers and home growers rather than as a recent branded hybrid release.