"Aji" (usually followed by another word) refers to several chili peppers of various colors & heat scales. I grow one of those, Aji Cristal, which is a very productive pepper of medium heat. Aji Dulce is basically a Habanero without heat, but thin walled & not very productive, so I wouldn't recommend it.
How much heat do you want? What type of growing season do you have, in terms of DTM? Will it be used green, or ripe? And does it matter if the peppers are thin-walled or thick-walled? A lot of questions I know, but it will help to narrow down the choices.
I would second
@Pulsegleaner 's recommendation for Poblano, if your season is long enough. As a frame of reference, it matures very late here (my growing season is 130-140 days).
A few other varieties I could recommend:
- Beaver Dam. Heavy, thick-walled conical peppers 5-6" L X 2.5" W at the shoulder, 4-6 oz.. The plants are very productive, and will lodge under the weight of the peppers; so they need some support once the peppers become large. 70-80 DTM for red ripe. Moderately low heat.
- Bea. Long conical peppers, 5-6" L X 1.25" W, about 1 oz., medium-thick walls, white/yellow immature, changing to orange, then red when ripe. Very heavy set, so plants need support. I didn't record my DTM, but nearly all peppers matured. I am growing it this year, but they are not yet ripe - will try to post a photo.
- Italian Cheese. Round, heavily-ruffled peppers, up to 3" W X 2" H, moderately thick walls, 2-4 oz., red when ripe (I posted a photo in the "what did you do in the garden" thread). Tall plants that need support when peppers enlarge, short DTM. Moderate heat.
- Pelso. Conical peppers borne erect, 3.5-4" L X 2" at shoulder, thick walled, turning cream/yellow... orange... red ripe, Dwarf plants with a surprisingly heavy set, DTM 90 days. (when dried, this is my favorite pepper for paprika powder.)
Regardless of which variety you grow, you do have some control over heat. Most of the heat in a pepper is located in the seeds & placenta; so if you remove those completely, the heat can be greatly reduced. When I remove all the placenta from Beaver Dam, it makes a canned salsa with just a hint of heat.
Keep pepper plants watered, peppers often increase in heat under dry conditions. Peppers also tend to be hotter when harvested in warm/hot conditions, IMO the heat is less when harvested in
cool conditions - sometimes much less. I plant a hot pepper (Pizza) to take advantage of that, it becomes nearly sweet when harvested just before frost (I will be picking them soon).
<-- my mouth looks like this after a Habanero, to say nothing of the spicier ones!
people are funny... (she won't eat green peppers now either).
