Thomas Jefferson's Pepper

(Capsicum annuum)

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden

-Thomas Jefferson

Image credit: Mr. T in DC

To see Thomas Jefferson's writing, people have to visit a museum. To see vegetables from Jefferson's garden, people just need to plant them. Jefferson planted 330 vegetable varieties in his two-acre garden in Monticello and garden enthusiasts can purchase one of those varieties, the Bull Nose bell pepper at several seed retailers today.

Introduced to North America in 1759 from India, the Bull Nose became popular in the 1800s. Amelia Simmons mentioned the variety in American Cookery, the first cookbook written by an American.* The four-lobed pepper boasts a thick skin that ripens from green to red like most bell peppers, and has an interesting taste. The flat flesh is sweet while the inner ribs can be hot, but these variations of heat depend on growing conditions.

Image credit: Hozae

Several of these seeds are germinating and preparing for transplant into our pepper garden. Yes, I like peppers that much.

*I have to mention this quote about American Cookery from the Historic American Cookbook Project of Michigan State University: "The importance of this work cannot be overestimated. Its initial publication...was, in its own way, a second Declaration of American Independence."

What's an heirloom?

While "heirlooms" are family keepsakes that you can't throw away, there isn't a universally accepted definition of "heirloom plants." The broadest definition mandates that a plant variety meet three qualifications:

1. Able to reproduce itself from seed.
Most heirlooms are open-pollinated, meaning that they grow true to type from seed. On the other hand, seeds from hybrids are usually sterile or grow a plant true to one of hybrid's parent forms. The exceptions to the true-to-type rule are those plants that gardeners grow from cuttings or roots, such as potatoes, asparagus, onions, rhubarb, and garlic.

2. Must have been introduced at least 50 years ago.
Fifty years is just an arbitrary number--some heirloom lovers go by a 100-year rule.

3. Must have a history.
This is my favorite part of heirlooms. A variety of pole beans that may have been carried to America on the Mayflower, or cucumbers introduced in Philidelphia in 1928, or green dent corn planted by a pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico--these are heirloom plants. Plants that have a history.

Myself, I'm planting Bull Nose bell peppers this year. Thomas Jefferson planted them at Monticello.

 I need to give credit to Benjamin Watson, who wrote Taylor's Guide to Heirloom Vegetables, for most of the information in this post. The book is great and you should either buy it or check it out of your local public library and start racking up late fines.