Some people are very sensitive to heat and even the slightest hint of chilli causes them extreme discomfort. Others seem able to handle even the hottest of chillies with ease. With our family all growing up in Durban before we moved to Cape Town, we’ve always loved a bit of a bite in our food. So I decided to plant a range of chillies to test for ourselves just how hot the different varieties are for us.
In our search for different types of chillies, we were able to find serrano, habanero, jalapeno, cayenne and bird’s eye chillies quite easily, but we couldn’t find a producer or supplier of scotch bonnets. We really wanted to try this specific chilli as part of a Jamaican jerk chicken recipe, which calls for the distinctive fruity and fiery flavour that scotch bonnet chillies add to the dish. After searching in vain for a couple of weeks, we eventually concluded that if we couldn’t find someone who could sell us the scotch bonnets, we’d grow the things ourselves. All we needed were seeds – and that would be easy, right?
We rushed over to our local garden centre and browsed through the ranges offered by the big name seed providers. Tons of chillies, zero scotch bonnets. The more nurseries we tried, the more the same pattern continued. We eventually solved the case by finding an online seed provider who was only too happy to send us the seeds we were looking for (sold in batches of five) and two weeks later we’re the proud owners of genuine scotch bonnet seeds – all thirty of them. As mother nature would have it, it’s spring in South Africa and the perfect time to plant them, though it’ll take about six months before we see (and taste) the fruits of our labours. We can’t wait to begin experimenting with the heat and flavour of these chillies.
And what a great heat it is. The scotch bonnet’s scorching talents have made this little chilli a force to be reckoned with, scoring between 100,000 and 350,000 on the Scoville Scale. Developed by William Scoville in 1912, the Scoville Scale provides a measurement of how hot a chilli pepper is. It was put together by using a panel of human tasters who would taste a sample of a chilli pepper that was diluted in a sugar solution, and then report what level of dilution was required so that the pepper no longer tasted hot. This has ultimately not proven to be a very reliable system and has since been replaced by a method called High-performance Liquid Chromatography, which reads the chemical fingerprint of capsaicin (the active component in chillies that causes an irritant or burning sensation) in a pepper and measures exactly how much capsaicin it contains.
There are so many different chilli types worldwide and we don’t intend to list them all, but to indicate the differentials in the heat intensity, here are a few of them from lowest to the highest on the Scoville Scale:
- Bell pepper, the red, yellow and green ones used in cooking and salads every day: 0
- Pimento chilli, the one used to make paprika: 100-900
- Jalapeno chilli, the one favoured for chilli poppers: 3,500-8,000
- Serrano chilli, the one where the heat sneaks up on you a little while later: 10,000-23,000
- Bird’s Eye chilli, indigenous to Africa, the one the Durbanites call ‘the devil chilli’, used to make peri-peri: 50,000-100,000
- Scotch Bonnet chilli, used a lot in Caribbean cooking that can cause extreme irritation to the skin: 100,000-350,000
- Bhut Jolokia chilli, grown in India and known as ‘the ghost pepper’, this one is dangerously hot: 855,000-1,463,700
- Trinidad Moruga Scorpion chilli, the hottest chilli in the world: 1,500,000-2,000,000
So now you know the numbers as to how hot you can go, but how easy are chillies to grow? Very easy indeed, and so versatile too – they’ll grow in pots or containers on a balcony or in the garden.
Chillies love the sun and heat (surprise, surprise) and well-drained soil, and hate being over watered or over fertilised. This means they need to be protected from frost, if that applies to your garden. Over fertilising will yield abundant and beautifully green foliage, but few or no chillies. Over watering will lead to rotting of the flower buds, so rather give them less water more regularly so that you’re in the sweet spot between flooding them and drying them out.
Ready to add a bit of sizzle to your cooking? Choose your heat and start planting!
36 Comments
Could u please share the name of the website or contact u purchased the scotch bonnet chilli seeds from cheers mike
Hi Mike
Go to http://www.seedsforafrica.co.za/products/jamaican-yellow-scotch-bonnet.
Let us know how you get on!
Pat
I am looking for the “hottest Cayenne Pepper” in powder form, available in South Africa. I have only been able to fine the ‘bog standard” powder as sold in supermarkets and herbal stores. Can anyone direct me to a supplier of 50,000+ Scoville scale type???
Hello,
Can you tell me where to find:
1. Infinity Chilli
2. Bhut Jolokia
3. Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Pepper
4. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
5. Carolina Reaper
In South Africa, without having to grow them myself?
Hi Michelle
Thanks for stopping by. I do not know of anyone in South Africa that would keep these chillies for sale. Perhaps you would need to search the internet to find suppliers
Regards
Pat
Hi Michelle.
A friend of mine farms with them. Where do you stay? By them I mean the reapers and both trinidad varieties.
Hi Pieter,
I would also like to get some. I have just planted some jalepones, habanero and tabasco. I’m looking for hotter plants and a black chilli but I don’t know what that is called. I’m based in Pretoria. If possible could you also hook me up. Thanks in advance
we stock them all
Hi Johonny.
Please send me your contact details if you still stock the super-hots.
Thanks. Jody.
Hi Pieter, years have passed but could you pls give me contacts for your farmer friends? Mabukes @gmail.com
Vaalgarlic@gmail.com is his e-mail.
Hi Mitchele did you manage to get any respond from your of the hot chillies you were looking for, if any u did any positive responds can you share that with me l am interested in plating the hottest chillies in the world. I bhut jolokia, tridad moruga scorpion and the latest one carolina reaper are topping. 0726925092 on whatsapp
i grow the ghost and reaper
Seeds for Africa
Hi Pieter i’m from durban can u please tell me how i can get the following reapers an both varieties of the trinidad thanks
I am also interested in buying the actual pepper too.
We are located in Centurion.
How far away is Vaal from there?
I want to buy 1000 chilli seedlings in the western Cape. Looking for different varieties.
0788284515
tell me what you want i cannot supply seedlings to expensive to post but i do have a varity of seeds
Try livingseeds.co.za for lots of chilli varieties, including Bhut Jolokia and Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.
Hi, may I ask where you found (red) serrano peppers in Cape Town? And have you every come across red jalapeno peppers here?
THanks so much, Robyn
Could you please provide a number or address as I would like to buy at least 10 kg of the hot stuff on a regular basis. Thank you.
Hi there. Im from Cape Town . I have chilli trees for sale. If anyone interested you may contact me via email thanks.
Hi Ruwayda – Please give me more information on your chili seedlings!
Hi looking to buy scotch bonnet tree if anyone has available contact me on swordgroup@ymail.com
hi i am looking to buy one ton of jalapeno peppers please help with this order
Hi Pat. Any idea where to get Poblano/Ancho chillies. Prefer seedlings but seeds would do. I don’t think Seedsforafrica would be too charmed at sending me 1 packet. Thanks Anne
Hi! I have planted 50ha of cayenne peppers.
I am looking for a good market
Regards
If anyone knows of a good market, please comment.
Hi
Please help looking to buy Bird eye chills … I live in Centurion
l have seeds
Hi …..Please help looking for bird eye chills .I live in Centurion
Coming over to Capetown in Feb 2018 from the UK, will I be able to bring seeds or dried pods into South Africa
Hi Melvin
Thank you for visiting our site
According to the SA Revenue Services, the following fall under restricted goods:
Food, plants, animals and biological goods: All plants and plant products, such as seeds, flowers, fruit, honey, margarine and vegetable oils. All animals, birds, poultry and products thereof, for example, dairy products, butter and eggs.
Contact your local Agriculture Department for further clarity as they may be allowed under certain conditions??
Hi, I am based at Chameleon Village in Haarties where I have a small nursery. Specialise in herbs and have access to seed for some 338 different chillis from the Carolina Reaper down to Green peppers. Dont have a website but am on Facebook, so follow me there and you can see what I have planted and have available for sale. Kind Regards
[…] peppers make great gifts for the foodie in the family or can serve as a summer project for kids. You can make your own chilli infused oil […]
Hi Guys
I am from Durban
I would love to purchase some Trinidad, scotch Bonnet and Bhut Jolokia, please help me and let me know were in Durban or Surrounding areas I can find them
thanks