It might be best for you to call the Costco you obtained them from, ask for the lawn and garden department, ask for the ordering person, and then ask what they ordered.

If it was a hybrid, it will not be true to either parent plant. I'm actually not sure why you're asking if you purchased the seed to begin with from a wholesale club. Usually one asks that question when they are saving seeds from a plant they purchased from someone, grew, and then harvested the seeds for the following year which is when you ask that type of question.

violet_z6 - Sorry if it was unclear. I purchased the peppers themselves NOT the seeds. I saved the seeds from the peppers. I doubt they would know what they are in produce dept. And I didn't save the package, but I know it did not have the name of the pepper on it. I will look next time to see if there is a company's address I can write to and ask.
You can buy these peppers at any grocery store not just Costco. They come in cellophane wrapped packages. I just thought someone would recognize them by my description and be able to tell me their name.
C

I grow lots of chili peppers and I know which ones at the store you are talking about. I don't know what they are called but you might want to post this also in the hot pepper forum (with a pic if you can). Someone there might have an idea

kendra

soonergrandmom - they kind of look like that. They remind me of a chili pepper in shape but are sweet.

ardnek710 - I will check it out.

Thanks everyone.
C

Older thread, but in case you haven't found a name, i've run into them under "Dulcetta" from ecoseeds.com (Redwood City Seed Company) and Reimer Seeds used to sell seed by a similar name, but it's not in their current online seed offerings (unless they've renamed it).

I did the same thing with saved seed. I germinated 16 seeds, thinned out to the healthy ones, planted 3 and gave a few away. I got a surprising 50%+ germination rate out of the 16 seeds i planted (my goal was to have 3-4 final plants for myself). I just hope the seed i germinated out of these peppers won't become some cross pollinated monster no matter how the final fruits ripen.

From your description they sound like either banana peppers or Cubanelle peppers.

nc-crn - I had a dozen germinate from a dozen seeds planted but am just down to 3 plants now. They are planted in the garden and only time will tell what they produce.

kubotabx2200 - Thanks for the names. I will look them up.
Clare

For what it's worth, here's a picture of my from-seed plants.

Given I have no idea where they were grown, what they were grown near, and how many other kinds of peppers were around these plants its all still technically a mystery. I just hope they fruit with a similar taste or my surprise crop is at least edible. I have no plants to compare it to because i've never grown pure seed before and this is my first experiment with this one. I know the peppers aren't hybirds and very little else about them.

{{gwi:54573}}

by nc-crn - They look good to me. Do they look like the pepper you got the seeds from? And the other proof will be in the taste. Good luck, hope you like them.

After looking up and reading about "Dulcetta". My peppers might be those.
Clare

All the peppers on all 3 plants so far look like the peppers i took seed from except for 1 pepper (the one in that picture in the lower left) that seems to have more pronounced lobes. That pepper was also the first pepper formed on any of the plants. The rest seem to be coming in a normal-looking horn/bullet type shape.

Judging by the final commercial end product we see in stores the peppers look like they have really irregular growth habit as it is, but ive never seen a lobed one. Its a very light lobe on the pepper, but its still pronounced. Time will tell what i really have there.

Found out Reimer seeds used to call the pepper "Dulceko" but they long longer sell the seed. It was either same or highly similar, supposedly.

they "no longer" sell the seed...that should read.

Checking in 1 month later.

Me and the g/f just got back from a nice vacation so we missed the yellowing of the peppers. There are a few starting to yellow (in between yellow and green on the plants). I assume I'll eventually get a few red ones if i leave them on the plant long enough.

I did find one with a nice chunk eaten out of the bottom of it with ants all in it (fun), but that was the only casualty.

Now, here's the curiosity (at least to me)...

There is a very pronounced 3-lobed pepper. It was the first pepper that came in on this particular plant. None of the other peppers on any of the plants exhibit this.

{{gwi:54576}}

That said, I know so little about these peppers and where they were grown (and what other pepper plants grown near).

I plan on saving the seeds to grow next season for what it's worth.

Just curious... what makes you believe they are not hybrid?

The only seed suppliers I've tracked down that have the seed promote(d) the seed as open pollinated.

As of now, the only US distributor of the seed (ecoseeds.com/redwood city seed) only sells OP seeds.

The "bell" one that grew came in mostly bullet-style at first but the bottom of it fattened up later. The bottom of the pepper lobed up deeply, too, on the bottom. I'll take a top/bottom picture a little later. It's a cute mini-bell looking pepper. It's a crapshoot that the seed i'd get from the mini-bell would stay just that and not express any of the "normal" looking peppers in a future generation, but it doesn't cost anything but time to save/grow it next year and see what I get out of it.

It's my understanding that bell-type peppers and chili-type peppers usually don't (or easily don't) cross pollinate, but I'm not really sure about that as fact.

Either way, I'm extremely pleased about the production of these plants. I have 15+ chilies on each plant blooming nicely and more smaller ones coming.

How did you track down seed--I mean, how did you find out what the supermarket peppers were? Did you get an actual variety name?

I haven't seen any mini peppers up this way in the supermarkets like any mentioned here in this thread... plus no Costco around here. Usually, supermarket peppers of any kind are hybrids--purposely done so customers can't duplicate them and bypass buying them. Likewise for much produce, especially tomatoes & peppers. You would need to grow out a large number of plants of saved seed to see many differences if they are hybrids... 16 of each color is a good starting point. I've grown F2 seeds of Jingle Bells mini bells and have seen differences.

As for peppers crossing, they are notorious for crossing, even between subspecies. Most sweet peppers are capsicum annuum, many hot are capsicum chinense, baccatum, frutescens, etc.

See a good chart on the pepper forum FAQ below about which cross with which...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pepper FAQ cross pollinating chart

So many new varieties are popping up lately, all of them hybrids. I've grown a similar sweet variety called Zsa Zsa (miniture bell with blunt tapered shape) that starts yellow, changes to orange and finally to red. They are very productive, often a dozen peppers on each plant. They are not as appreciated as I had hoped because of the size and taper(they will not stand if stuffed). But this early in the season they are a beautiful pepper and the thicker flesh makes them a great salad pepper.

Many people seem reluctant to try new peppers because they think they may be a hot pepper crossbred. Many of the newer hot pepper hybrids are actually quite mild in comparison to older counterparts. There is even a sweet habanero called Savory for those who want to scare friends by popping a few in their mouth at a gathering.

I have had peppers cross before. That is why I stopped planting hot peppers and also I am the only one who eats them. Thanks for the chart.

Most of my pepper seedlings died, long story, but I did save one so it will be interesting to see what it produces.

I never did find out what the name of them were. Here is a picture of them. They come in hard plastic containers too. This one says it is from Mexico. Website on package: www.masterstouch.com
Clare

{{gwi:54580}}

Nope, never seen them before!

"How did you track down seed--I mean, how did you find out what the supermarket peppers were? Did you get an actual variety name?"

Internet postings and seed catalogs. My first breakthrough was actually on a search on this forum. Someone here had grown them for his wife and had his peppers labeled "dulcetta". I found out ecoseeds/redwoodcity sold this as their trademarked name for the pepper. The picture they had of it was as dead-on as the description. The Reimer seeds info came from a friend as they're semi-local to my area.

Thanks a lot for the pepper crossing link, too.

Here's the picture of the bottom/top of these peppers.

{{gwi:54583}}

The thing that I find unique about these isn't the lobing as much as it is the quality/symmetry of the lobing. It stands up very well with a uniform look. If i could coax more of these on a plant it would make a nice stuffer with a good presentation.

That said, there's nothing guaranteeing I can keep the trait at all or coax it out without years of work. I also don't know what it tastes like yet or how much of a seed cavity it has. If its not as super-sweet as the fruit of the seed source it's no better than the mini-bell plants that are around these days. If the fruit wall is super-thin its also pretty useless.

I've had some other peppers off the plant and they are super sweet, though.

Just a fun curiosity that came from the seeds i planted.

OK, did anybody see this link below? It says they are hybrids and a Seminis product...

Here is a link that might be useful: Vine Sweet Mini Peppers

Whatever I grew they look and taste exactly like what the seed source was from (with the exception of that one).

Given these things run around $3 a pint here in NC grocery stores its nice to see how productive these plants are. On each of the plants I have 15+ fruits producing with more flowers being produced vigorously.

I could care less if i actually manage to get anything out of the saved seed except more flat bullhorn supersweet peppers. I still have some of the seed that produced this crop and will half-and-half the seed collected from this generation along with seed from the last. It'll be interesting and harmless, not to mention a good backup if the next generation shows itself as being bland compared to the seed I have now.

For what it's worth, though I've seen those peppers, I didn't get my seed from the "Master's Touch" pepper. Interesting that their version is a hybrid version, though.

By the way...

These plants have been a dream. It helps having a plant that bugs love like okra planted nearby, perhaps, but the bugs just don't touch these peppers at all.

Here in mid-NC they've been growing happy and except for some "creature" that tried and decided it didnt like 1 of the peppers it's been a truely trouble-free plant.

korney19 - thanks for the link to the peppers. They say they "are usually sterile and unfertile" but I had all the seeds sprout. But then they say "have proven to leave out desirable traits of the peppers when they do in fact germinate." Only time will tell what kind of peppers they produce.

nc-crn - Nice looking peppers and you seem to know your peppers. Glad to hear yours are doing so well. I wish mine were. Something unexpected came up and all my seedlings got neglected. Hope the last one makes it and produces fruit just for curiousity sake. That is why I like heirloom plants, true to seed.

Clare

"exclusively sold in the US by that same company and it's sister company, Franks Distributing of Produce LLC."

Neat.

Okay, I've tried the "Master's Touch" peppers, but the seed source I got mine from was from a similar "plastic clam shell" competitor. Same characteristics and taste to me, nothing even remotely different in the 3 brands commonly sold around here. One of the brands does have peppers that are consistently bigger than the other 2 brands, though.

I think I may have "missed the yellow" on the peppers while I was on vacaction because, well, these plants won't ever go the level of yellow shown in stores.

"Contrary to popular belief, and Although this product is very popular in the 3 colors it is sold (Yellow, Red and Orange), each of these colors are grown separately"

I have all orange growing it seems, but when I visited my friend this weekend we were having orange and red peppers out of his gardens. I didn't think to ask if he got any yellow ones.

With that said, I wonder if ecoseeds' "dulcetta" is a seed mix of these unique colors in separate seeds, if they turn/grow on 1 single plant, or if I have the offspring of some other company's hybrid...

Thanks for adding more info to all this. I love these peppers and I am thrilled they've been so successful.

Quick followup adding to the "knowledge base"...

I bought some of those "Master's Touch" peppers today to match to the outcome of the seed i took off a competitor to their hybrid. The version i have is definately "super sweet" compared to even the ripest of bell peppers and even the (imo) over-hyped lipstick pepper. However, the "Master's Touch" pepper is definitely either sweeter or a different quality of sweetness.

I couldn't find the supplier pack of the peppers i took my seed from, though, for comparison. Maybe it's too early in the season for this particular supplier/farm because i did collect this seed last winter.

Also, about the fruit from the seed I planted...It's very thick (1/4" area) on the inside with the crispness/snap that's typical of the commercial parent(s). Given its handy size and unreal production, I don't think I'm going to be planting any more bells any time soon. It does have a lingering "zing" (not heat, but taste quality) that says "this is a pepper" unlike some bells which are kinda like sweet water. Some may or may not like that quality.

Any way you cut it, though...I still have no idea what I've actually grown. I just know they taste good, are productive, and I know a lot more about this subject.

By the way, they're also very sweet in its green stage. Sweeter than any green bell I've had, but with that "green pepper" taste complimenting the sweetness. I prefer them ripe, but if you cut them up when they're in between colors they really pop out in color in their raw state.

I'm about four years late to be posting this, but I do believe you're speaking of baby bells- I get them from costco all the time, a mixed bag of yellows, reds and oranges. Much more flavorful than big brother. Can't wait til I have the space to grow them.

Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down a bit and see baby bells

Are they the peppadews??

I doubt that what they were discussing 7 years ago on this thread were peppadews, which appear to be a round cherry pepper shape. I grew some seeds from store bought "mini sweet peppers" sold by Pero Farms. They are 2-4 inches long, shaped like corno de toros, have few seeds and have a very pleasing sweet pepper taste. They have thick walls and keep well. They taste much better than any bell pepper I've tasted. All my plants grew like the red one I took the seeds from. I love them!

Here is a link that might be useful: Mini Sweet Peppers