Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream is an American Capsicum annuum cultivar developed by the United States Department of Agriculture as a dual-purpose ornamental and culinary pepper. It was bred from a cross between the sweet bell pepper Cadice and the sweet squash-type pepper Tennessee Cheese, with the desired plant type identified in the fifth generation and then stabilised under controlled pollination before release in the twelfth generation. In cultivar listings it is already recorded for U.S. adaptation in 2002, and by 2003 it was being promoted commercially as a compact ornamental sweet pepper.

The plant has a spreading, prostrate habit rather than a tall upright one, making it especially suited to bedding displays, borders, and container growing. USDA release data describe plants averaging about 30.5 cm tall and 70.0 cm across, with dark green foliage and upright fruit held above the foliage in clusters of three to four. The pods are smooth, cone-shaped to banana-shaped, about 7.5 cm long and 3.0 cm wide at the shoulder, with pericarp thickness of 4 mm. They begin green and ripen to a bright orange-red in about 70 days.

Tangerine Dream became notable because it was bred to look ornamental without losing eating quality. Its fruit are sweet and essentially non-pungent, and live descriptions repeatedly present it as a pepper that looks hot but is mild enough for everyday use. It is commonly associated with fresh eating, salads, pickling, roasting, stir-frying, baking, stuffing, and decorative kitchen-garden planting. In produce and garden trade it is also linked with edible landscaping and seasonal ornamental sales, including use as a colourful holiday pepper sold alongside indoor decorative plants.