[CH] Cuerno de Oro
Jim Weller (Jim.Weller@salata.com)
30 Jan 01 00:38:52 -0800
-=> Quoting Nickolas Tsalis to All <=-
NT> Anyone know anything about the Cuerno de Oro pepper?
I recently came across the most amazing reference site....
the multilingual multiscript plant name database at
http://gmr.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/
It had this to say:
Capsicum baccatum L. var. pendulum (Willd.) Eshbaugh cv. 'Puca Uchu'
SYNONYM(S): Capsicum baccatum L. cv. 'Puca-Uchu', Capsicum baccatum L.
cv. 'Aj! Amarillo'
ENGLISH : Golden horn pepper.
FRENCH : Piment corne dore.
QUECHUAN : Puca uchu.
SPANISH : Cuerno de oro (Costa Rica), Aj! amarillo (mature), Aj! verde
(immature, green or white or pale-green), Cusque$o (dried) , Cuzque$o
(dried).
-----------------------------
And from: http://www.nap.edu/books/030904264X/html/195.html.
Lost Crops of the Incas Little-Known Plants of the Andes
Today, the Andean ajar is cultivated in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador,
Argentina, and Brazil, as well as in Costa Rica, where it is called
"cuerno de oro" (golden horn). This is primarily a lowland species, but
it is found today up to around 1,100 m elevation. It is a sprawling
shrub, distinguished by the (yellow- or green-) spotted corollas of its
flowers and by its long, conical fruits. Although described as a
distinct species more than 150 years ago, it was later regarded as a
variant of the common C. annuum, some types of which resemble it in
everything but the spotted corollas. It was "restored" to the status of
a separate species only in 1951. Andean aji fruits are most commonly
shiny orange and red, but rare yellow and brown forms are also known.
They are very hot and are made into sauces, some of which are bottled
commercially with herbs and onions. Typically, these sauces are used on
cassava (yuca) and in marinated, uncooked fish (ceviche). A few are
sweet types. Only in this species and the common pepper are nonpungent
cultivars known. Aji is a name often used in Spanish for any pepper,
including the common pepper (C. annuum), more generally called
"pimiento." In the central Andes, however, Aji ordinarily refers to C.
baccatum. For this reason we have coined the common name Andean ajar.
Jim in Yellowknife