Description
Chilli Name : JINDUNGO CAHOMBO (BIRDSEYE)
Chilli Species : Frutescens
Chilli Origin : Angola
Chilli Heat : Very Hot
Jindungo Cahombo is an authentic Angolan birdseye-type chilli, part of the broad piri-piri family that spread across Africa after the Portuguese introduced chillies from Latin America in the 1500s. In Angola, “Jindungo” simply means chilli — but Cahombo refers to this specific small, upright, fiery strain long used in Angolan and Central African cooking.
Pods are small (2–3 cm), slender and upright, ripening from green to bright red. The flavour is sharp, citrusy, and slightly smoky, with a clean burn that hits fast and lingers — a defining trait of true birdseye chillies. Heat is very hot, around 100,000–175,000 SHU, making it perfect for African sauces, marinades, and pepper oils where intensity and brightness matter more than sweetness.
Plants are compact (50–70 cm tall), bushy and densely branched, producing hundreds of small upright pods through the season. The species’ natural resilience makes it well suited to hot, dry climates, but it grows happily in UK greenhouses and pots too.
Seeds germinate best at 28–30 °C, sprouting in 10–21 days. Plants mature in about 90–100 days, cropping heavily until the first frost.
