Biquinho Yellow Chilli

Biquinho means little beak in Portuguese, and one look at the pods explains it. They are tiny glossy teardrops in golden yellow, each tapering to a neat point, hanging in their dozens off a tidy upright plant. The trick is what happens when you eat one.

This is a Capsicum chinense, the same species as the habanero and the Scotch bonnet, and it carries the whole fruity, smoky, tropical flavour of that family. At 500 to 1,000 Scoville units it has almost none of the heat. There is a whisper of warmth and then sweet tangy fruit. If you have ever wanted habanero flavour without the burn, this is where to find it.

In Brazil the pods are pickled in a lightly sweetened brine and eaten by the bowlful, which is what you may have met on an antipasti board as Sweety Drops. They stay crunchy and they are hard to stop eating. The plant is sturdy and prolific, 60 to 90cm, and a healthy one will give you a hundred pods or more. Being a chinense it is slow to get going, so start it early or you will be waiting on colour in October.