Cyklon Chilli
The Polish paprika pepper - a medium-heat, blood-red, thin-walled chilli bred specifically for making traditional homemade paprika
Polish heirloom medium-heat chilli, traditionally grown for drying into homemade paprika. Compact 50-70cm plants, high yields, reliable in UK summers. Sweet warm flavour with comfortable medium heat - the cooking chilli, not the eyes-watering one.
About this variety
A Polish heirloom bred for one job: making paprika. Most of the warm red dust behind goulash, bigos and chorizo comes from a chilli of this type, thin-walled, deep red and mild to medium, and Cyklon has been selected for it over generations. Village rafters across eastern Europe used to hang with strings of these through autumn, ready to grind into a year's supply.
The pods are cone-shaped, around 10cm, slightly curved, hanging pendant and ripening green to a deep ruby red. The thin walls are what matters. A thick-walled chilli dries slowly and unevenly, while these dry cleanly on a string in two or three weeks and grind to a powder that is brighter and more aromatic than anything from a jar. The plant is a compact bushy 50 to 70cm, container-friendly, and will give 20 to 30 pods.
Heat ratings vary between suppliers, which is worth saying plainly, because Polish strains differ and growing conditions shift it further. The most reliable UK figure is around 13,500 Scoville units, which sits between a mild paprika and a jalapeno. It was bred for cool northern European summers rather than Mediterranean heat, and it ripens early enough to be dependable here.