Hungarian Black Seeds

The Hungarian Black is that rare thing: a genuinely beautiful ornamental that's also a properly good eating chilli. It's a Hungarian heirloom with striking purple-tinged foliage, lovely lilac-purple flowers, and glossy jet-black, jalapeño-shaped pods that ripen to a deep red. Add a mild, sweet, smoky flavour and you've got a plant that earns its place in the flower border and the kitchen alike.

The Hungarian Black is a Capsicum annuum, an heirloom from Hungary, a country with a deep and proud chilli-growing tradition (this is the home of paprika, after all). The whole plant is handsome: dark green, purple-flushed leaves, purple flowers, and pods shaped just like a jalapeño that emerge a glossy, deep black-purple before ripening through to a rich red. A compact, bushy, productive plant carries them beautifully.

The flavour is a genuine bonus. Unlike many ornamentals that are all looks and no taste, the Hungarian Black has a mild, sweet flavour with a subtle smokiness, especially once the pods ripen red, when they sweeten further. It's a proper, usable chilli, not just a pretty face, with a gentle heat that suits the whole family.

This one's for the grower who wants beauty and usefulness in one plant, and it's a brilliant choice for ornamental borders, patio pots and edible landscaping. The heat is a gentle medium, so the pods are genuinely usable in the kitchen while the plant itself, with its purple flowers and black fruit, is a real showpiece. A gorgeous, productive, dual-purpose chilli.

As an annuum, the Hungarian Black is straightforward and rewarding to grow, and quicker off the mark than the superhots, which makes it a great choice for beginners and ornamental growers alike.

Sow seeds indoors from late August to September. You can start in July with steady warmth, but there's less urgency than with the slow chinense types, so spring sowing suits it well.

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. Annuum seeds are generally obliging and usually germinate within a week or two.

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. Good strong light helps bring out the richest purple-black foliage and pod colour.

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 10 to 15 litres or so. Its compact, bushy habit makes it a superb container and border plant. Full sun is key for the best dark colour, with a bit of shelter.

The plant is compact and well-behaved, so it rarely needs staking, though a short support helps if it's carrying a heavy fruit load.

The Hungarian Black makes a compact, bushy, ornamental plant, typically around 60 to 90cm, with dark purple-flushed foliage, lilac flowers and glossy black-to-red pods. It's a genuine feature plant, as at home in an ornamental border as in the veggie patch.

Pinch out the main growing tip early to encourage branching. More branches means a fuller, bushier plant and more of those striking pods.

Water consistently, keeping the soil moist but never waterlogged. Pots dry fast in a NZ summer, so check them regularly, and steady watering keeps the plant looking its best.

Feed with a tomato fertiliser once flowering starts, but go easy: modest feeding gives good foliage colour and a compact habit, whereas too much nitrogen can green things up and loosen the shape. Chillies and tomatoes want much the same things, so keep it simple.

Full sun is the key to the best colour: the more light, the darker and richer the black pods and purple foliage. It flowers and fruits prolifically through summer and into autumn, staying covered in purple blooms and glossy dark fruit.

Like many chillies, it can be overwintered as a perennial. Bring it somewhere frost-free, cut it back in autumn, and it'll return in spring with a head start on anything grown from seed.

Expect your first pods around 70 to 85 days from transplant, which is quick as chillies go and one of the perks of a productive annuum.

You can pick at two stages, and both are lovely. Glossy black, the pods are at their most striking and carry a gentle, slightly sharper heat. Left to ripen through to a deep red, they sweeten and develop their fullest, mildest, smokiest flavour. Pick according to your taste and how the plant looks best to you, though a mix of black and red pods on one plant is a real picture.

Snip them off with scissors rather than tugging, since it's easy to disturb the neat plant. And with a gentle heat like this, no gloves are needed for handling.

At 1,000 to 5,000 SHU there's very little on these pods to trouble your hands, so harvesting and prep are relaxed. Just the usual sensible wash-up afterwards.

For storage, the pods are lovely fresh, keeping a week or so in the fridge, and they freeze fine, whole or chopped. Being jalapeño-like and relatively thick-walled, they're better fresh or frozen than dried, though a glut of red ones can be dried and ground into a mild, smoky powder.

Let's set expectations: this is a mild chilli overall, sitting at around 1,000 to 5,000 SHU. That's a gentle, family-friendly heat, from below a jalapeño at the bottom of the range to about jalapeño level at the top, the kind of warmth most people find pleasant rather than challenging. Its appeal is looks and flavour first, with just a gentle kick.

What you get alongside the mild heat is a genuinely nice flavour: mild, sweet and subtly smoky, especially once the pods ripen red, when they sweeten noticeably. Black, they're a touch sharper; red, they're sweeter and rounder. It's a proper eating chilli, which sets it apart from the many ornamentals grown for looks alone.

As with any chilli, individual pods vary, and heat shifts with the season, the sun and how the plant was grown. A long hot summer generally nudges pods towards the top of that mild range.

For most growers, that gentle heat is exactly right: enough to be interesting, mild enough for the whole family, and paired with a sweetness and smokiness that make the Hungarian Black genuinely worth cooking with, quite apart from how good it looks.

An easygoing, robust plant with the usual short watch-list.

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.

Nothing here is dramatic. The Hungarian Black is a tough, robust, forgiving plant, and a well-watered, well-drained plant in a sunny spot will crop and colour up beautifully with very little fuss.

The Hungarian Black is a genuinely usable kitchen chilli, and its mild, sweet, smoky flavour makes it versatile, especially given its jalapeño-like size and shape.

Fresh is where it shines. Use it much as you would a jalapeño: sliced into salads and salsas, chopped into sauces, or added to just about anything that wants a gentle, sweet, smoky warmth. The black pods add a striking colour to a fresh dish, while the red ones bring more sweetness.

Its size and shape make it good for stuffing, a milder, prettier alternative to a jalapeño popper, filled with cheese and baked. And it's lovely on the barbecue or roasted, where the gentle smokiness comes forward.

Being from the home of paprika, it's fitting that a glut of ripe red pods can be dried and ground into a mild, sweet, smoky powder, a nod to its Hungarian roots. And of course, those glossy black and red pods make a genuinely eye-catching garnish.

The through-line is gentle, sweet, smoky versatility with real good looks. Because it's mild and properly flavoured, the Hungarian Black is a chilli the whole family can enjoy, and one that brings colour to the plate as well as the garden.