Bishop's Crown Seeds

Few chillies are as much fun to grow as the Bishops Crown. Its pods are shaped like a little three-cornered hat, or a bishop's crown, or, if you prefer, a tiny flying saucer, and they bring a sweet, fruity flavour with a gentle-to-medium kick. As charming to look at as it is good to eat, it's a genuine conversation piece in the garden and on the plate.

The Bishops Crown is a Capsicum baccatum, and it goes by a wonderful pile of names thanks to that distinctive shape: Christmas Bell, Joker's Hat, Friar's Hat, Nepalese Bell, and more. Found in Barbados and likely indigenous to South America, it's an old variety, later carried to Europe from Brazil. The pods have three or four flat "wings" tapering to rounded points around a central cavity, ripening from green to a bright red (some strains orange), and a tall, vigorous, very productive plant carries them in generous numbers.

The flavour is the appeal: sweet, fruity and tangy, with tart, almost apple-like undertones. Cleverly, the heat is unevenly distributed, the flat wings are mild and sweet, while the central core around the seeds carries the real warmth, so a single pod gives you both. The heat builds slowly and never gets unpleasant, which makes it wonderfully versatile.

This one's for the grower who wants something fun, productive and genuinely useful in the kitchen. It's easy to grow, wildly productive, mild enough in the wings for the whole family, and its roomy shape makes it superb for stuffing, plus it's excellent pickled or fresh in salads. If you want a chilli that's a talking point and a workhorse, the Bishops Crown is a delight.

As a baccatum, the Bishops Crown is a rewarding, productive grower, and it's noted as being easy to grow, though like all baccatums it likes a decent season, so give it a good start in NZ.

Sow seeds indoors from late August to September, or a week or two earlier if you can offer steady warmth, since baccatums do best with a long run.

If you like, soak seeds for 12 to 24 hours before sowing to soften the coat, then pat them dry. Sow two seeds per cell, about 5mm deep, in good seed-raising mix. Keep them consistently warm at 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. Baccatum seeds are generally reliable and usually germinate within a week or two, though a heat pad helps keep them even.

Keep the mix moist but never soggy. Once seedlings are up with a couple of true leaves, pot them on and keep them warm and bright.

When they reach 100 to 150mm tall and the weather has warmed properly, move them to their final home, in the ground or a pot of 20 litres or more. It does well in containers and garden beds alike, in well-draining soil. Full sun and a bit of shelter suit it well.

Plan for size: this is a tall, vigorous baccatum that can reach 1.2m or more and crops heavily, so a sturdy stake or cage is worth having. Get it in early rather than trying to prop up a loaded plant later.

The Bishops Crown makes a tall, vigorous, exceptionally productive plant, often reaching well over a metre, and it can bear 30 to 50 or more of those distinctive winged pods. It's a genuinely heavy cropper, so a sturdy stake or cage is worth having once it starts to load up.

Pinch out the main growing tip early to encourage branching. On a plant this productive, more branches means even more of those crown-shaped pods.

Water consistently, keeping the soil moist but never waterlogged. Pots dry fast in a NZ summer, so check them regularly, and steady watering also heads off blossom end rot on the pods.

Feed with a tomato fertiliser once flowering starts. Chillies and tomatoes want much the same things, so keep it simple.
This is a generous, reliable cropper, and a tall plant hung with dozens of little crowns is a genuine sight. Keep picking to keep it productive through the season, and you'll have plenty for stuffing, pickling and fresh use.

Being a baccatum, it's a perennial worth overwintering. Bring it somewhere frost-free, cut it back in autumn, and it'll return in spring with a head start, well worth it given how tall and productive these plants get.

Expect your first ripe pods around 90 to 120 days from transplant, after which a healthy plant will keep cropping generously for a long stretch.

The pods start green and ripen to a bright red (some strains orange), in that unmistakable three or four-winged crown shape. Pick them fully coloured for the best sweet, fruity flavour, though they're usable green too. Snip them off with scissors rather than tugging, since the branches can be brittle on a tall, loaded plant, and pick regularly to keep the plant productive.

Gloves aren't essential for this one given its mild-to-medium heat, though if you're prepping a big batch and want to keep the hotter cores in play, it's worth washing your hands well afterwards and keeping them from your eyes. The wings themselves are mild enough to handle freely.

The plant will keep flowering and setting fruit until the cold shuts it down, so expect a long, generous harvest through late summer and autumn.

For storage, the Bishops Crown is versatile. It's superb fresh and a classic for pickling, the crown shape looking lovely in a jar. It dries well too, and dried and ground it makes a sweet, fruity powder that's a fine paprika substitute. Fresh pods keep a week or so in the fridge, and they freeze fine, whole or chopped.

Let's set expectations: this is a mild-to-medium chilli overall, sitting at around 5,000 to 30,000 SHU, but with a clever twist. That's a fairly wide range, from about jalapeno level at the bottom to serrano territory at the top, but the key thing is how that heat is distributed within the pod.

The flat "wings" of the pod are mild and sweet, carrying most of the fruity flavour, while the central core around the seeds and membrane holds the real warmth. So a single pod gives you both a gentle, sweet, family-friendly part and a hotter core, and you can dial the heat up or down simply by including more or less of the centre. Remove the seeds and core and it's genuinely mild; include them and you get a proper medium kick.

The heat builds slowly and, as growers often note, never gets unpleasant, which makes it wonderfully approachable. And the flavour is the real draw: sweet, fruity and tangy, with tart, apple-like undertones. As with any chilli, growing conditions nudge the heat, and a long hot summer produces fiercer pods.

For most cooks, that built-in flexibility is the appeal. It's a chilli the whole family can enjoy, with the option of a genuine medium kick when you want it.

An easygoing, robust, productive plant, and baccatums are often noted for their hardiness, but the usual watch-list applies.

Aphids will go for the soft new growth in spring. A blast from the hose or a squash between the fingers handles small numbers, and ladybirds and lacewings do the rest if you let them. Whitefly can build up in a warm greenhouse, so yellow sticky traps and decent airflow keep them honest.

At the seedling stage, damping off is the main risk. Use fresh seed-raising mix, avoid overwatering, and give trays a bit of air movement. Slugs and snails will happily mow down young transplants overnight, so protect new plantings until they've toughened up.

On the disease front, most trouble is water-related. Overwatering invites root rot, and erratic watering can bring on blossom end rot, those dark sunken patches on the pod tips. Consistent moisture and free-draining mix prevent most of it, and baccatums are generally tough customers.

Nothing here is dramatic. This is an easy, robust, forgiving plant, and a well-watered, well-drained, well-staked plant in a sunny spot will crop heavily and reliably all season.

The Bishops Crown is a genuinely versatile kitchen chilli, thanks to its sweet, fruity flavour and that clever mild-wings, hot-centre design.

Stuffing is a signature use. Despite the small size, the pod's shape gives it a surprisingly roomy central cavity, ideal for stuffing with cheese or a savoury filling for a fun, bite-sized appetiser. Just go easy, since the walls are thinner than a bell pepper's, so don't overfill them. Sliced off at the end and cleaned out, they make lovely little edible cups.

Fresh, they're superb in salads and salsas, the sweet, fruity wings bringing flavour and gentle heat, with the option of the hotter core for more kick. And they pickle beautifully, the crown shape making a striking jar, a very popular way to enjoy them.

Dried and ground, they make a sweet, fruity powder that's an excellent paprika substitute, lovely as a marinade or seasoning for meat and seafood. And whole, the pods make a genuinely eye-catching garnish, a little edible crown on the plate.

The through-line is versatile, sweet, fruity flavour with adjustable heat. Whether you're stuffing, pickling, tossing into a salad or grinding into powder, the Bishops Crown brings good looks, gentle-to-medium heat and a lovely fruity taste to the kitchen.