Of course, your choice of ghost pepper seed will make a considerable difference in how the plant performs. Ghost pepper seeds available from Zamnesia offer premium and unrivalled quality. Growing Bhut Jolokia: Steps While it’s possible to eat a ghost pepper raw, it’s not recommended due to their extreme heat. Instead, they are commonly used in cooking, either dried or fresh, to add heat and flavor to dishes. In a 1912 paper, Scoville put forward a method whereby a dried sample was macerated in alcohol, then tasted in successive dilutions of sugar water until its pungency was no longer detectable on the tongue. A sample that could be detected until it reached a dilution of one part in 5,000 would be given a score of 5,000 on the Scoville scale. The scale was subjective – relying on the highly variable responses of people’s taste buds – but it endured. The numbers are known as Scoville heat units (SHUs). Andrews, Jean (1995). Peppers: the Domesticated Capsicums (illustrateded.). University of Texas Press. p.58. ISBN 9780292704671.

Moving the ghost peppers into large pots will allow the plants to continue to grow indoors until outdoor temperatures are livable. We transplant our seedlings into 3″ pots where they stay for the remaining 4-6 weeks before going outside. Small ghost pepper plant (left) and large ghost pepper plant (right). The larger plant was transplanted weeks earlier. Moving Outdoors For deeper comparisons on the heat and flavor of the ghost, take a look at our showdowns which compare it to other popular chilies:

Types of Ghost Peppers

We also recommend, understanding how to handle chili burn whenever cooking with ghost peppers (or any super-hot chili.) Chili burn at this level of intensity can be extremely painful, and it can occur even if you’ve taken every precaution above. Read our “jalapeño in eye” post (how to handle chili burn in this sensitive area) — it all holds true for Bhut Jolokia. As well, our general post on treating chili burn is a must precautionary read. Al Othman, Zeid Abdullah (2011). "Determination of Capsaicin and Dihydrocapsaicin in Capsicum Fruit Samples using High Performance Liquid Chromatography". Molecules. 16 (10): 8920. doi: 10.3390/molecules16108919. PMC 6264681. PMID 22024959. As your growing project continues, you will notice the colour of your peppers changing a lot. They start green, before transforming into yellow—but when they turn red and slightly wrinkled, it is the perfect signal that they are ready. But don't fret! If you're looking to harvest earlier, you can pinch them between your fingers, twist, and remove some green peppers to give them a try. They'll still offer a hot burst of flavour. It really is down to preference; but to get the true ghost pepper effect, wait until they're red and wrinkly. How To Store Ghost Peppers

On the Scoville scale, ghost peppers register at a super-hot 1,041,427 Scoville heat units (SHU). That’s over 100 times hotter than a jalapeño! To give you some perspective, a typical jalapeño measures between 2,500 and 8,000 SHU, while habaneros max out at 350,000 SHU. Ghost peppers get their name from their heat, which is so intense it’s said to be haunting. According to Scoville, there have been over 1.4 million SHUs sold in the 7 pot Primo pepper. The 7 pot brain strain pepper is a hybrid between the naga morich and the Trinidad 7 pot pepper. Crossbreeding and testing of chili peppers has been done at New Mexico State University for decades. Ghost peppers became the world’s hottest pepper in 2007, with a Scoville heat unit of 1,001,500. In general, the number of SHUs is lower (around 600,000 SHUs on average). As a result, growers have discovered that even the most extreme heat can only be reached with the ghost pepper since 2007. Jay’s peach ghost scorpion pepper was created by accident as a result of the cross pollination of abhut jolokia and scorpion peppers.

What Rank Is The Ghost Pepper?

Premkumar, Louis S. (2014-06-13). "Transient Receptor Potential Channels as Targets for Phytochemicals". ACS Chemical Neuroscience. 5 (11): 1117–1130. doi: 10.1021/cn500094a. ISSN 1948-7193. PMC 4240255. PMID 24926802. Before you know it, your ghost pepper plants will need to be transplanted into larger pots. You’ll know your plants are ready when the roots reach the end of the seed trays. At this stage, the plant will be around 3 inches tall. Bray, Matt (22 November 2014). "Guajillo pepper: The sweet side of spice" . Retrieved 4 September 2018. Another potentially positive factor of trying ghost peppers is the bragging rights that can accompany the experience.