How to Grow the Hottest Chillies in the World
Death by Chilli Pepper….
Two years ago I had grown more chilli peppers than you could shake a stick at, I was growing varieties specifically for drying and two years later I am still using them. Growing and drying your own chillies beats buying them hands down, the difference in colour and taste is considerable and I guarantee you will steer clear of shop bought old ones for good.
This year I intend to trial some different varieties including some which are at the very top of the heat charts, known as the Scoville guide. I don’t want to bang on about this too much in case they don’t germinate which is a distinct possibility. I am going to grow eight different chillies this year and three of them are going to need plenty of TLC.
In the interests of keeping my readers (I would say reader but I include myself to make a plural) entertained it is my ambition to blow my head off with a home grown fruit.
So what is the hottest chilli in the world? Well, if you take the Guiness Book of Records as the gospel then that goes to the Bhut Jolokia chilli which measured an incredible 1,001,304 units on the Scoville scale at the New Mexico State University in 2006. Compare this, if you will, to the red hot habanero chilli which comes with all kinds of warnings and that comes in at a paltry (?!) 357,729.0 units! To put that into greater perspective, we all know of cayenne pepper, well the cayenne chilli hits a lowly 8,000 units. Have you ever cried into your Thai green curry after chewing a stray Thai Birds Eye? well they rate a mere 60,000 units and the daddy of all hot table condiments, Tabasco strikes out at 120,000.
However, according to the Assam based Frontal Agritech chilli growers, their chilli, the Bih Jolokia recorded a whopping 1,041,427 units! Whichever way you cut it the Jolokia is the hottest chilli in the world.
I am going to attempt to grow three varieties of the Jolokia, the Bhut, the Naga and the Bih. I say attempt because they are notoriously difficult to grow especially in an English climate. Germination is very hit and miss and I will be relying on an English summer which is the complete opposite of last years, by that I mean one which features sunshine.
Alongside these I shall grow my usual cayenne for stock, the interesting Pusa Jwala and Padron and the blistering Orange Habanero. I shall keep you posted, chillies require a long growing season so don’t hold your breath. If they don’t germinate then I shall admit it, if they do and I die as a result of eating one then I shall ask my brother to post a tear jerking obituary which I shall write in advance 
Miles
I’ll write something - don’t you worry !
What on earth are these chillies used for ?
January 21, 2008 @ 9:47 am
Miles,
I am concerned on two counts… one his lordships words, goodness only knows what stuff he’d come out with so let’s not go down that road…. two, why I often wonder, do people eat these things. Now the flavour and heat I understand but if it’s going to burn your digestive tract I can’t see the point. I will cheer on your efforts in growing these chillies but only from an aesthetic point of view
Cid
January 21, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
Rod and Cid,
I am growing (hopefully) them purely for research, photographic and writing purposes. I want to see if they can be grown in an English climate, how they grow etc. As well as providing useful information for my GFS site I thought it might provide some amusement on this blog knowing that I am dicing with near death!
Miles
January 21, 2008 @ 1:22 pm
Miles,
Personally, I cannot see the point of using extremely hot chillies. It seems to me that they ruin any other flavours and just leave you gasping for breath.
Perhaps they would make a good desinfectant when liquidised?
I don’t know about Cid, but I will skip a recipe you might dream up involving Orange Habanero
Elsie
January 21, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
Elsie,
I have asked the local authority to provide Miles with an emergency buzzer which he will hang around his neck while dealing with the toxic chillies
At the sound of the alarm, half a dozen strapping firemen will arrive to douse poor Miles… naturally I have also asked them to notify both of us straight away on the off-chance of a firemans lift and slap-up supper from the Collins pantry 
Cid
January 21, 2008 @ 5:51 pm
Cid,
Fear not, I am a Collins and made of sterner stuff. It’s only a chilli, how bad can it be? (famous last words)
Miles
January 21, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Miles,
how bad can it be? … they won’t be able to lift us due to festive excess and the cupboard will be bare, that’s how bad
never mind your burnt extremities! At least tell me you have an aloe vera, if not I shall send one via the lanky courier.
Cid
January 21, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
Hello Vera!
Got some of that in Singapore, I think it was to rub on my head but I’ll rub it on my tongue after a tub of natural yoghurt and a pint of lager!
Miles
January 21, 2008 @ 7:57 pm
Miles,
Remember you can look but you can’t touch!
CidVeraJanuary 21, 2008 @ 10:46 pm
Ha! I love chilis and have been growing them for decades. In your climate you will not get very hot chilis. Your Indian throat-burners will not be half the Scoville units they’d be if they were grown in a hot, dry climate.
Stress and sunshine = hot chilis.
To get the most from yours, use a heating pad underneath the seedlings, then plany in the sunniest spot you have (I know, it is England. Sigh. Maybe grow in a large pot you can move around.
Another tip: Once the plants are potted, put tin foil underneath them, kind of like a mulch or one of those things you wrap around a Christmas tree. It will give the plant even more sunshine and will keep away whiteflies.
As for why people eat hot chilis, it’s a tolerance thing. I can’t eat those nasty Indian chilis, but I can eat japapenos out of hand, and am so used to heat I get the enjoy the tropical flavor of the habanero. If you want the same thing, find seeds of aji dulce, which is a habanero without the heat.
OK, I have rambled on for too long. Hope this helps,
Hank
January 29, 2008 @ 8:30 pm
Hank,
Great advice! The tin foil sounds like a good idea. I know England isn’t exactly New Mexico but in summer my polytunnel hits 35 degrees c. After 5 minutes in there I look like Victoria Beckham!
Thanks again.
Miles
January 29, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
Is Victoria unusually sweaty?
February 1, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
Hank,
Not sure-probably just radiates!
Miles
February 2, 2008 @ 8:16 am
hello all ive just re potted my Habanero peppers , first time ive grown peppers but i use them a lot in my food from pasta dishes to curry dishes
so i thought grow them myself . ive ended up with 63 of the things lol
they seem to grow quite fast out of the soil i made up . just hope now they get to full grown as there only about 2 inches at the moment
anyone no how many pepper im expected to get of one plants ..thanks
April 4, 2008 @ 8:30 pm
Alan,
Chillies can fruit extremely well given the right conditions, I had literally hundreds of cayennes the other year. Be careful about the plants growing too quickly, they can become too ‘leggy’ due to insufficient light and will not fruit as productively as they otherwise might. As for the yield of fruit to plant that is entirely down to growing conditions I am afraid.
Thanks for commenting and welcome to the site.
Regards
Miles
April 4, 2008 @ 9:18 pm
hello miles thank you for your reply .
my chillies are on shelves in my green house .
not a glass one but a walk in coragated roof typed with plastic sides ..its nice and hot with plenty of light .
i come from wales and we have been promised snow but i hope they got it wrong again ..my chillies are on my allotment that i got this year , my first planting season.so far everything is going fine .
April 5, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
Alan,
Sounds fine, I’ve seen chillies grown in all sorts of ways on allotments, many are quite ingenious. I am concerned about the snow too, my chillies are still at home until the risk of frost has gone then they shall go into the greenhouses and polytunnels right up until November. Let me know how you get on with your allotment, I’m sure you will love it. Do you listen to the allotment owner from Wales on Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 show? I believe he has just written a book on the matter.
Best of luck with it Alan,
Miles
April 5, 2008 @ 8:56 pm
Hey Miles,
I currently have a tray of Bih Jolokia and a tray of Dorset Naga, somehow (despite being a complete novice!), I managed to get a 90 % germination rate.
Do you have any tips of when to transplant them into larger pots and the subsequently outdoors?
Many Thanks
Tom
May 1, 2008 @ 5:23 pm
Tom,
Great to hear your chillies have germinated, the jolokia’s are notoriously difficult to germinate so you’ve done very well. I wouldn’t rush into potting them on, let them get established in their seed trays with plenty of light. Once they have four or five leaves and look strong then put them into 9 or 11cm pots. Give them a chilli or tomato feed once a week but don’t overwater.
I am presuming you live in England/UK, if so the plants will have to remain inside. The weather is simply not hot enough so a greenhouse is ideal or the sunniest part of your house. Let them get established in the pots for a few weeks before planting on into large pots or growbags. Feed more regularly, 2-3 times a week. You may need to hand pollinate your plants, once you see the flowering heads take a fine paint brush dipped in warm water and brush each of the heads.
Good luck with it, I shall be posting pages as my chillies grow if that’s any help.
Thanks for commenting and welcome to the site.
Miles
May 1, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
I’m a first time grower from Brighton England and planted 20 Dorset Naga seeds and got 20 germinated and now all over 2 feet tall and flowering in my office window. Do you have to hand pollenate or will they do this by themselves?
p.s. The flowers are very small with no sign of pollen???
May 6, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Gezza,
I think you may have to hand pollinate them, they seem quite tall already, possibly too tall too soon. They may be ready for potting on into larger containers as well. Are you feeding them?
Welcome to the site and thanks for the comment, I wish you well with them.
MIles
May 6, 2008 @ 3:59 pm