Shishito Pepper Seeds
Species: Capsicum Annuum · Flavor: silky texture · Scoville Heat Units: 0-500 · Origin: Japan · Pod size: Up to 2-inches long · Main Uses: Frying/grilling, pickling, drying. · Casa Verde Note: Shishito Peppers belong in every garden for...
- Packet
- 10+ seeds per packet
- Maturity
- 60-75 days from transplant
- Germination
- 25-29 C; allow 7-14 days
- Heat
- 0-500 SHU
- Type
- Capsicum annuum pepper
- Plant habit
- Compact productive frying pepper
- Seed line
- Open-pollinated
- Origin
- Japan
- Best for
- Blistering, frying, grilling, pickling
- Packed for
- Packed for 2026
Good short-season pepper for Canadian gardens and containers; pick green for classic shishito use.
Species: Capsicum Annuum
Flavor: silky texture
Scoville Heat Units: 0-500
Origin: Japan
Pod size: Up to 2-inches long
Main Uses: Frying/grilling, pickling, drying.
Casa Verde Note: Shishito Peppers belong in every garden for the reasons of their bounty harvests and the frequency of those harvests. These are also excellent frying peppers with high versatility. A Must grow in every garden.
The pepper is small and finger-long, slender, and thin-walled. Although it turns from green to red upon ripening, it is usually harvested while green. The name refers to the fact that the tip of the chili pepper (唐辛子, tōgarashi) looks like the lion (獅子, shishi) head; in Japanese, it is often abbreviated as shishitō.
Start indoors 8–10 weeks before last frost. Germinate at 26–30 °C on a heat mat; peppers stall below 22 °C. Pot up to 10–15 cm before hardening off outside after nights stay above 12 °C.
Feed balanced through bloom, then bump potassium for fruiting. Stake taller varieties. More detail in our full Canadian growing guide.
Match the pepper to the technique: thin-walled varieties blister fast in a hot pan; thick-walled ones roast or stuff beautifully; fruit-forward ones make balanced sauces and pickles. The variety's flavour profile is your shortcut — see Choosing the right pepper for a use-case guide.
