Manganji Amatou

　Manganji Amatou is green pepper which is cultivated in Ayabe City, Maizuru City, and Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto-fu. It is not spicy, and is exclusively used for their edible flesh. The name Manganji Amatou was coined in 1998 as the brand name of Manganji chili peppers originally produced in Maizuru City, Kyoto-fu.

　It is bigger than varieties such as Fushimi red pepper grown in Kyoto-fu, with a length from 10 to 23 cm, and its skin is thick like that of a green pepper. The taste has a distinctive flavor and sweetness with a rustic accent, and although it is a large pepper, the fruits are soft with few seeds, and easy to eat.

　Manganji Amatou varieties are limited to Manganji chili peppers and its improved variety, Kyoto Manganji No. 2. Manganji chili peppers are a type of large chili pepper with little spiciness, but Kyoto Manganji No. 2 has been refined to reduce spiciness even further. Compared to other large chili peppers, there is a clear difference in appearance regarding its pinched neck and slightly curved shape. Market people highly appreciate their distinctive appearance, softness and satisfactory feeling despite of the thickness, and uniformed high quality.

　Maizuru City, Kyoto-fu was a suburban horticultural production area that proactively introduced excellent vegetable varieties that had been raised in Kyoto before the Edo period (1600). In the Meiji era, as a base for foreign trade, it had strong ties with overseas. In Maizuru City, with such a historical background, Manganji Amatou is thought to has originated due to natural hybridization between Kyoto's local variety Fushimi chili pepper and overseas varieties, and its cultivation began around the end of the Taisho era (from 1920).

　The Manganji region of Maizuru City which is the origin of the name Manganji Amatou was originally a river bed with sandy soil, and is suited to the cultivation of chili peppers which are easily damaged by over-drying or excessive water. In addition, the district is a flood holding area since olden times, and fertile mud has accumulated from upstream every time there is heavy rain. This result in regenerating suitable soil condition for agricultural work. In such a blessed environment, continuous cultivation became possible, and it came to be recognized as a native species peculiar to the Manganji area.