Fresno

The Fresno chili pepper is a medium-sized cultivar of Capsicum annuum. It should not be confused with the Fresno Bell pepper. It is often confused with the jalapeño pepper but has thinner walls, often has milder heat, and takes less time to mature. It is genetically distinct from the jalapeño and it grows point up, rather than point down as with the jalapeño. The fruit starts out bright green changing to orange and red as fully matured. A mature Fresno pepper will be conical in shape, 50 mm (2 in) long, and about 25 mm (1 in) in diameter at the stem. The plants do well in warm to hot temperatures and dry climates with long sunny summer days and cool nights. They are very cold-sensitive but are disease resistant. The plants may reach a height of 60–75 cm (24–30 in). The Fresno chile was developed and released for commercial cultivation by Clarence Brown Hamlin in 1952.