How Hot IS That Pepper?

How can you tell that a certain pepper is seriously hot or just mildly hot? There are a few indications that can be used as a rule of thumb.

First of all, in general, the peach or the yellow form of a normally red pepper will be less hot, whereas many times, the chocolate form will be hotter than the original red pepper.


Here are three forms of Bhut Jolokia, or ghost pepper. Which one of these is the hottest? The hottest is on the left, decreasing as you go right.

Here is the fun part for me. As a general rule, the bumpier the pepper, the hotter it is. Sometimes it will be little bumps and sometimes it can be big folds. Picture these as pockets of capsaicin oil. I kid around and talk about a certain pepper being really nasty looking, but that is a compliment. So, even when you don't know the pepper, if it is gnarly looking, step back a bit. This is a good way to tell the difference between various types of peppers and, interestingly enough, between different plants of the same type or different peppers growing on the same plant.

Here are two Red Brain Strains, which taste about 25% hotter than the pepper previously known as the hottest in the world, the Moruga Scorpion. These two peppers came from two different plants. Which one is hotter?


If you said the one on the left, you are correct. If you taste a piece of each from the same location of the pepper, there will be an obvious difference. This is the kind of thing I use to pick the best genetics and keep the best plants for the next year while gradually cycling out the ones that are not as good. This is important over time because they will produce good peppers for 5 to 8 years.

Above, I mentioned the location of the pepper. Let me talk about the parts and locations of the peppers for those who don't know about these things. First of all, the seeds are NOT the hottest thing in that pepper. In fact, they don't contain any capsaicin. There is a membrane, or placenta, which runs down parts of the sides of the hot peppers and then surrounds the seeds in the middle of the pepper. This is where the majority of the heat is. When you cut some of these super-hots open, they will have what looks like water in them, and that is just pure heat. The tops of the peppers are the hottest and the bottoms are less hot. If you want to get a good idea of the heat, taste a chunk of the top. The placenta will be more white looking. In some cases, the entire interior of the pepper will be white, and that will be more than extremely hot.

A single plant will have peppers that vary in bumpiness at the same time, and yes, they will taste different. When you are cultivating hot peppers, the hotter the temperatures are outside, the hotter the peppers will be. So, a plant producing peppers in March will have comparatively smoother pods and then will have bumpier pods in August. July and August peppers are the hottest of the year.

Here are two more tests. First, here are two reaper peppers on the same plant. Which one is hotter?



This one will be hard, especially with my tablet photo. Which one of these ghosts is hotter?



If you chose the left one in each picture, you are correct. You now know what to look for when picking a pepper that is seriously hot. If you keep seeds for planting in tthe future, you now know how to pick the plant with the best genetics.