'Joe's Long Cayenne' Hot Pepper

Capsicum annuum

Origin: Calabria via Toronto via Troy, NY

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~30

Germination tested 11/2025: 90%

Life cycle: Annual

Joe's Long Cayenne' is a popular heirloom pepper originally from Calabria, Italy. It's known for being productive, thin-walled, and with medium high heat (30,000-50,000 Scoville Heat Units). This is an extra-long cayenne pepper, with some fruits reaching a foot in length! The fruits are excellent for drying whole, making hot red pepper flakes, or fermenting into a pungent hot sauce.

This pepper took a long journey from Calabria to wide acclaim: It first arrived from Italy to North America in Canada, and initially became popular among Italian-Canadians living in Toronto. Then it made its way to Joe Sestito of Troy, New York (outside Albany), whose name got attached to it when Dr. Carolyn Male introduced it to US growers through Seed Savers Exchange.

Our seed comes from our friends Dylan Bruce and Cody Egan of Driftless Seed Supply in Wisconsin.

GROWING TIPS: Start indoors a few weeks before last frost, providing warmth and good light. Plant out once soil begins to warm in spring, when you might start corn or beans.