Ají dulce is a nearly heatless Capsicum chinense pepper of the Caribbean and Venezuela, looking like a small habanero and smelling like one, used for flavour in sofrito, recaito and stews.
What it is¶
Ají dulce ("sweet chilli") is a Capsicum chinense pepper, the same species as the habanero and Scotch bonnet, but with little or no heat: usually quoted at 0–1,000 SHU, and many pods have none at all. It looks like a small habanero, 2–5 cm long, wrinkled and lantern-shaped or flattened, ripening from green to red, orange or yellow. And it smells like one too: the fruity, floral, slightly musky perfume of the species is all there, without the burn.
Across the Caribbean and northern South America it is a seasoning pepper, used for aroma rather than heat. Names vary: ají dulce in Venezuela and Puerto Rico, ajicito in Puerto Rico, ají gustoso in the Dominican Republic, ají cachucha in Cuba, and pimento or "seasoning pepper" in Trinidad and Tobago, not to be confused with pimento meaning allspice in Jamaica.
⚠️ Check before you chop
Ají dulce and Scotch bonnets can look almost identical in a market, and seed-grown ají dulce plants occasionally produce hot fruit (see Growing below). Taste a tiny sliver from the tip before using a whole pepper.
Origins and history¶
C. chinense was domesticated in the Amazon basin and spread through the Caribbean before European contact, carried by Indigenous peoples. Selection over centuries produced mild seasoning types alongside the fiery ones, and in Venezuela and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean these became part of the aromatic base of everyday cooking, used in quantity in a way that hot chillies never could be. They remain garden plants as much as commercial crops, and are sold fresh in local markets. In the United States, ají dulce has become easier to find through Puerto Rican, Dominican and Venezuelan communities, especially in the Northeast and Florida. See caribbean cuisine.
Flavour and aroma¶
Ají dulce tastes sweet, fruity and herbal, with the tropical-fruit, slightly smoky perfume of a habanero and a faint green bitterness in unripe pods. A few carry a gentle tingle of heat, usually close to the seeds. Cooked in oil at the start of a dish, it perfumes the whole pot in a way a bell pepper cannot.
In the kitchen¶
Ají dulce is used generously, by the handful rather than the slice.
- Puerto Rican sofrito and recaito: blended with onion, garlic, green cubanelle pepper, culantro (recao) and coriander, and cooked as the base of rice dishes, beans, stews and asopao.
- Venezuelan cooking: essential in the guiso (filling) of hallacas, the Christmas tamales, in pabellón criollo (shredded beef, black beans and rice) and in caraotas negras (black beans).
- Dominican and Cuban dishes: in sazón and sofrito, bean stews and sancocho.
- Trinidadian green seasoning: blended with shado beni (culantro), chives, thyme, garlic and onion to marinate meat and fish.
- Raw: finely chopped into salsas and salads for fruity aroma without heat.
As a guide, a Puerto Rican sofrito for a large batch (about 500 ml) uses 10–15 ají dulce peppers.
💡 A simple sofrito
Blend 1 large onion, 1 green cubanelle or bell pepper, 10 ají dulce (stems and seeds removed), 1 head of garlic (peeled), a large bunch of culantro or coriander and a splash of oil to a coarse paste. Freeze in ice-cube trays; one or two cubes start a pot of rice or beans.
Buying and storing¶
Fresh ají dulce keeps for one to two weeks in the fridge. It freezes very well whole, and Caribbean cooks often freeze bags of it for use through the year, or freeze it already blended into sofrito. It is not usually dried. Outside the Caribbean, look in Latin American grocers, often in the freezer.
Substitutes¶
- Cubanelle or red bell pepper with a thin sliver of habanero or Scotch bonnet, for aroma with a trace of heat.
- Other seasoning peppers, such as Trinidad seasoning pepper or 'Trinidad Perfume', if available.
- Red bell pepper alone gives body and sweetness, but none of the perfume.
- Ají amarillo paste is fruity but hot; use very little.
Pairs well with¶
Culantro, coriander leaf, garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, annatto, tomato, black beans, rice, pork, chicken, salt cod, plantain and corn.
Growing your own¶
Ají dulce is grown like the habanero and needs a warm, long season. Sow indoors in January–February at 25–30°C and grow on in a greenhouse, polytunnel or sunny conservatory in Britain. Plants reach 60–90 cm and crop heavily. Keep them apart from hot C. chinense plants if you intend to save seed: C. chinense varieties cross readily, and seed saved from an ají dulce pollinated by a habanero can grow into plants with hot fruit. Buy seed from a reliable supplier, and taste the first fruit carefully. Plants overwinter frost-free. See growing chillies and overwintering chillies.