'Fresno Chili' pepper

Fresno Chili
'Fresno Chili' pepper
Species	Capsicum annuum
Cultivar	'Fresno Chili'
Heat	Medium
Scoville scale	2,500–10,000 SHU

The 'Fresno Chili' pepper (/ˈfrɛznoʊ/ FREZ-noh) is a medium-sized cultivar of Capsicum annuum. It should not be confused with the 'Fresno Bell' pepper. It is often confused with Jalapeño pepper but contains thinner walls, often milder heat, and less time to maturity. It is however a New Mexico chile, which is genetically distinct from the Jalapeño and it grows point up, rather than point down as with the Jalapeño. The fruit starts out bright green changing to orange and red as fully matured. A mature Fresno pepper will be conical in shape, 2 inches long, and about 1 inch in diameter at the stem. The plants do well in warm to hot temperatures and dry climates with long sunny summer days and cool nights. They are very cold-sensitive, but disease resistant reaching a height of 24 to 30 inches.

The 'Fresno Chili' was developed and released for commercial cultivation by Clarence Brown Hamlin in 1952. Hamlin named the chili "Fresno" in honor of Fresno, California. They are grown throughout California, specifically the San Joaquin Valley.

Flowers of the 'Fresno Chile' pepper are white, with black pollen

Immature fruit of the 'Fresno Chile' pepper point upwards

Fully mature fruit hang down on the plant

Fruit (right two) compared to 'Jalapeño' (left two)

'Fresno Chili' peppers are frequently used for ceviche, salsa and as an accompaniment for rice and black beans. Because of their thin walls, they do not dry well and are not good for chili powder. In cooking, they can often be substituted for or with Jalapeño and Serrano peppers. Mild green ones can typically be purchased in the summer while the hot red ones are available in the fall. Depending on its maturity it has different culinary usages.