The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is the hottest chilli in the world, at least until somebody breeds another one. Individual fruits have measured more than 2m Scoville heat units (SHU) — about 500 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. I’ve never met anybody who has tried one, but my nephew has eaten bhut jolokia peppers which, until about a year ago were the world’s hottest, at more than 1m SHU.
“It was like somebody had secured a hot vice to my jaw,” he says, happily. “I felt pain shoot all the way up to my ear drums.”
Why would anybody do this (especially given that eaters of extreme peppers can end up in emergency rooms)? Needless to say, it is not something that I recommend you try at home, but there is a reward for those who do. The excruciating burn is followed by exhilaration when natural painkillers, known as endorphins, kick in to muffle the suffering.
I’ve been growing chillies for years. They make neat and dapper plants, with starry flowers, handsome leaves and luxuriantly glossy fruits. They do well on a sunny windowsill or in a conservatory. While it’s gratifying to be able to grow one’s own endorphin rush, I have to admit I’m too much of a wimp to try anything hotter than a habanero (100,000 to 350,000 SHU) and I’m happiest around the jalapeno mark (2,500 to 5,000 SHU).
If you’re going to grow just one variety of pepper, jalapenos are a good choice, as they are more versatile than many others. And as they’re also relatively mild, they won’t blow anybody’s head off. They have fleshier fruits than most chillies, which makes them ideal for pickles — and for pizzas.
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They also dry well when exposed to low, even heat. Leave them on a tray in a sunny conservatory for a couple of weeks or, if you’re lucky enough to have an Aga, try using the bottom oven. The peppers are dry when they feel light and the seeds rattle inside.
Seeds to grow jalapenos are available from Suttons Seeds (suttons.co.uk), and from Thompson & Morgan (thompson-morgan.com), where they are sold as the cultivar called ‘Summer Heat’. Peppers need a long growing season in our so-so climate, so the seeds should be sown immediately, either in fresh seed compost or in miniature seed trays. You can improvise with plastic cottage-cheese containers, with drainage holes poked in the base.
Chillies, which are native to Central and South America, require gentle heat to germinate. You can buy an electric propagator for this, or be creative with a radiator in a bright spot. My own seed-sowing operation, for example, takes place on a bench built over the radiator which is under the kitchen window.
Chilli seeds take anything from two to 21 days to sprout. The tiny plantlets should be moved into small pots when they reach about 5cm tall. Switch to larger containers as soon as the roots show through the drainage holes.
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Their final pots should be at least 21cm. They may also be planted into a greenhouse or polytunnel bed, 45cm apart.
You can grow chillies outdoors in a warm and sheltered place, but they do better indoors. They require high temperatures for optimum setting of flowers and fruit and for the greatest levels of capsaicin (the compound that provides the heat).
Capsaicin makes the fruits unpalatable to mammals, which is a good thing as their digestive tracts would damage the seeds. Birds, however, are not bothered by the heat, but this isn’t a problem. Their less destructive alimentary systems excrete the seeds intact, so chillies effectively employ them as airborne partners in the business of seed dispersal.
Chilli peppers are perennial in their native lands, but in this part of the world it is usual to grow them as annuals. They are frost-sensitive, and they tend to get a bit scraggly and pest-ridden by the end of the season. Aphids and red-spider mites are partial to them.
However, it is easy enough to keep your chillies going for several years if you have a bright, frost-free place in which to keep them during the winter. I keep mine barely ticking over during the dark months, giving them a drop of water only every fortnight, and letting them lose all their leaves and go dormant. I wake them up in late February or early March by giving them a good soaking. A day or two later, I prune them back to nascent buds 10cm or 15cm from the base, inspect them for pests, and repot them in fresh compost. Overwintered pepper plants bear fruit a good month or two before those that are grown as annuals.
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If you fancy your own chillies, but don’t have the patience to grow them from seed, some garden centres will have plants in stock in the coming weeks. The Irish company quickcrop.ie also has them available by mail order.
GROW FOR IT
Left in the shade
Anne Duggan wonders why her crocosmias and alstroemerias, although nice and green, are failing to produce much bloom. Her garden is surrounded by woodland, which makes it dry and shady.
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The dryness is the main problem here. Both crocosmia and alstroemeria need moisture for flower-bud formation. Anne could try to improve the soil by mulching with organic matter, but it would be better to plant species that can cope with the conditions. Geranium macrorrhizum and Solomon’s seal (late spring), and Japanese anemone (late summer and autumn) are three that will thrive. All are quite vigorous.
Jane digs...
Vegetables for the Polytunnel and Greenhouse, written for Irish gardeners by Klaus Laitenberger. The Sligo-based author covers the usual crops such as tomatoes, aubergines and peppers, and throws in a few unexpected novelties such as pepino, stevia and yacon (€14.95, see milkwoodfarm.com for a list of bookshops)