the best pepper she’s ever tasted.

Imagine a pepper so sweet and crisp that you want to bite into it straight off the plant. ‘Jimmy Nardello’ is an Italian heirloom pepper that puts most bell peppers to shame. I have nothing against bells, but they get boring after a while. Nardellos are much more adaptable, easy to grow, and amazingly versatile in the kitchen.

The long, tapered fruits have thin walls and a multi-dimensional fruity flavor. Whether you pan fry them, dry them, pickle them, or eat them fresh, ‘Jimmy Nardello’ peppers make other sweet peppers seem bland in comparison.

Although they look similar to a cayenne pepper, these elongated red peppers are purely sweet and savory without any spice. The plants are vigorous and disease-resistant and have a unique history from their Italian home. They thrive in almost any climate, from the far North to the deep South. Let’s dig into how to grow this easygoing, high-yielding pepper!
Where Does ‘Jimmy Nardello’ Get Its Name?
The history of ‘Jimmy Nardello’ peppers is almost as rich and intriguing as their flavor. This Italian heirloom originated in the mountains of Italy and made its way to America in 1887.

‘Jimmy Nardello’ peppers are named after an Italian gardening family. The Nardiello family originated in the small mountain town of Ruoti, which sits about 100 miles east of Naples, Italy. In 1887, Giuseppe Nardiello decided to bring his family to the States. His wife Angella Nardiello carried a handful of the peppers in her bag when the family sailed from the port of Naples to Naugatuck, Connecticut. She promptly planted the seeds in their new garden.

The sweet frying pepper thrived in Connecticut and quickly adapted to the climate. The unique red pepper was particularly adored by her 4th child, Jimmy. His teachers misspelled his last name in school by eliminating the “i” and writing Nardello. The surname stuck to Jimmy and his descendants.

Jimmy continued to grow the special curved frying pepper and would string them up to dry in the shed for winter use. He saved the seeds year after year. Before Jimmy Nardello passed away in 1983, he donated some of his family’s heirloom pepper seeds to the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. They named the pepper ‘Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Frying Pepper.’ The seeds are now widely distributed in seed catalogs and nurseries.

How Spicy are ‘Jimmy Nardello’ Peppers?
‘Jimmy Nardello’ peppers are sweet frying peppers without spice. Despite resembling a hot cayenne pepper, ‘Jimmy Nardellos’ have very little to no heat.

These sweet peppers have complex, savory flavors and no spice. You can eat them raw! They range from 0 to 100 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), which is extremely low compared to a cayenne pepper’s ranking of 30,000 to 50,000 SHU.

Propagation
This revered heirloom is propagated by seed in the same way as all of your other pepper plants. It’s best to sow the seeds indoors 8-10 weeks before your expected last frost date. Direct sowing is not recommended except in the warmest climates.

Seed
Botanical Interests offers an exceptionally vigorous strain of ‘Jimmy Nardello’ seeds that will probably outperform every other pepper in your garden. The key is to start the tender plants off in a cozy environment where they won’t get stressed by temperature fluctuations.

Like most peppers, ‘Jimmy Nardellos’ have a moderate-length growing season and benefit from a head start indoors. Since this heirloom is difficult to find in nurseries, it’s best to grow your own seedlings. The heirloom seeds have a fairly high germination rate when grown in a quality seed starting mix in a warm environment, such as a seed starting mat and a south-facing window or grow light setup.

To grow vibrant ‘Jimmy Nardello’ seedlings:

In the spring, start peppers 8-10 weeks before your last frost date.
Clean a set of 4” deep Epic 4-cell trays and sanitize them with a diluted bleach spray.
Fill the cells with a quality, well-drained seed starting mix, but don’t compress it down.
Use your finger to make a small indent on the surface of the soil.
Sow the 1-2 pepper seeds per cell, no deeper than ¼ inch in the soil.
Very lightly dust with soil over the top.
Gently water in with a rain wand on the lowest setting, taking care not to displace the seeds.
Optionally, place the trays on a heated germination mat.
Use a soil thermometer probe to ensure the soil is 70-90°F.
Keep seeds in a bright, warm place.
Maintain consistent moisture until seeds emerge in 10-25 days.
Nurture indoors until rootballs mature and the outdoor nighttime temperatures are reliably above 55°F.
The only issue you may encounter with pepper seedlings is damping off. Too much moisture and a lack of airflow can create conditions for a stem-girdling fungus to attack your baby peppers and rot the stems at the base.

Be sure to plant in a well-drained mix with plenty of compost and vermiculite. If water pools up on the surface of the container or green algae forms, the mix is not draining properly, or it is waterlogged due to overwatering. Always check soil moisture before watering. Only irrigate until water flows out of the bottom of the pots, then stop.

Planting
Transplanting is as simple and straightforward as any other vegetable. Just be sure to properly harden off your seedlings and avoid planting too early in the season. ‘Jimmy Nardellos’ are extremely cold-tender and finicky about chilly nights.
Maintenance
Bushy pepper plants don’t need a trellis system like their tomato cousins, but they enjoy staking to keep heavy fruit yields off the ground. This is especially important if you live in an area with late summer storms that could blow over the plants and snap the stems.

Create a pepper staking system with a bamboo, wooden, or sturdy metal stake next to the plant’s stem. Make sure the stake is buried at least 6” in the soil. Use twine or string to tie the stem to the stake to keep the plant upright. If you’re growing many pepper plants, you may want to use a Florida weave system with several stakes pounded every 2 feet and twine woven between them to create a long row of supported plants.

The only other maintenance I’d recommend is mulching, especially if you live in a hot, dry climate. Dried leaf mulch or shredded organic straw are the best options for suppressing weeds and retaining soil moisture at the base of pepper plants. Mulch at least 1-2” deep and leave a small ring of space around the base of the stems to prevent rot.