What are Ghost Peppers? How Hot Are They?

Ghost pepper (also known as bhut jolokia) is a super-spicy pepper that originated in India. Although this pepper has been around for centuries, the western world was first introduced to the spicy pepper in 2000. At first, this pepper tastes smoky, almost sweet. But wait thirty or forty seconds—the intense heat sneaks up on you like a ghost.

Colors and Varieties at a Glance

Usually, Ghost Peppers are around three inches long and about one inch wide. The peppers are shaped like a cone with a spherical top and pointed bottom, covered in thin, bumpy skin. The most common color for a ripened pepper is red. They also can also be yellow, orange, white, brown (chocolate), peach, and even purple, depending on the variety. Pepper color and heat variations are listed below.

• Red, the most well-known variety, is extremely spicy.
• Yellow, are not quite as spicy as red, but they are still very similar looking.
• Orange, are a smaller variation of Ghost Pepper. They are a favorite for hot sauce. They are also bigger than red ghost pepper, they are typically four to six inches long.
• White, have more of an off-white almost yellow color with smooth skin. They have a similar taste to most traditional ghost peppers, but with some citrus flavor.
• Brown, (also known as chocolate) has a more pungent scent. Although these are as hot as the red, you’ll taste some sweetness and well as earth tones in them as well.
• Peach-colored, have the same spice level as the red, but there is more of a fruity aftertaste.
• Purple-colored, are the smallest of the varieties. These are also milder than the traditional red.

How Hot Are They?

Ghost Peppers are extremely hot! In the world of peppers, this hotness is measured based on the Scoville scale. The more Scoville heat units (SHU) that pepper has, the spicier it is. The bell pepper, for example, has zero SHU. However, the jalapeño and chipotle peppers measure 10,000 SHU each. The ghost pepper measures a whopping 1,041,427 SHU! Ghost Pepper was the very first pepper to measure over a million SHU.

Wilbur Scoville, a pharmacist, invented the Scoville scale back in 1912 to measure the heat of some of his favorite spicy foods. The scale he designed measured the concentration of capsaicin in each pepper. Essentially, it’s the same as if you were eating burning hot food with a temperature of 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius). And, because of modern technology, SHU can now also be measured using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

Compared to Other Hot Peppers

Although many people believe that the ghost pepper is the world’s hottest pepper, that is not the case. It was named the World’s Hottest Pepper in 2007 and held that title for four years. Now, several peppers have been discovered that are even hotter. Pepper X is the new world's hottest pepper at 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The Carolina Reaper was considered the World’s Hottest Pepper currently, measuring 2,200,00 SHU—that’s more than twice as hot as the ghost pepper. The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion comes in third, usually measuring a little over 2 million SHU. Other hot peppers that rank high in SHU, ahead of the ghost pepper, include the following:

• 7 Pot Douglah (approximately 1,900,000 SHU)
• 7 Pot Primo (approximately 1,500,000 SHU)
• Trinidad Scorpion “Butch T” (approximately 1,500,000)
• Komodo Dragon (approximately 1,400,000 SHU)
• Niga Viper (approximately 1,300,000 SHU)
• 7 Pot-Barrackpore (approximately 1,300,000 SHU)
• Bedfordshire Super Naga (approximately 1,100,000 SHU)

Carolina Reaper Appearance

The original Carolina Reaper was red, and this remains the most common color today. However, chocolate, yellow, and peach Carolina Reapers also exist. Even red peppers will start out as green and turn orange before becoming a deep red. Through each three of these phases, the pepper’s flavor and heat will increase. So, if you pick your pepper while it’s still orange (and eat it before it turns red), it won’t carry the same pungent heat as a red pepper.

Carolina Reapers are squattier and more textured than their ancestors the Red Habanero and Ghost Pepper. If you rub your finger along the pepper’s skin, you’ll feel many small bumps and grooves. Every Carolina Reaper has a long, thin branch at the bottom of the pod, which is known as “the scorpion’s tail” due to its resemblance to a stinger. These peppers typically have a diameter of three-fourths-inch to one-and-a-half inches.

Growing Instructions

If you want to grow Carolina Reapers, you should ensure the plants have full sun. Plant your Carolina Reaper seeds twelve to sixteen inches (thirty to forty centimeters) deep to protect the roots from getting burned. You should plant your Carolina Reaper in temperatures of at least sixty-four to sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit (or eighteen to twenty degrees Celsius), although temperatures in the mid-eighties are preferable for optimal results. These plants thrive the most when they’re directly planted into the soil outdoors. However, if you want to grow your Carolina Reapers in a container, choose one that’s at least three gallons big. Five to ten gallons is preferable for the maximum amount of peppers.

Be careful not to overwater the plants. You should only water them when the soil has completely dried down, but don’t wait until the leaves droop. A mist gun is a great way to control the amount you water the plants, but if you have a large garden, that probably won’t be very convenient. If you’re growing the plant in a container, make sure you have a good amount of drainage.

For best results, you should use fertilizer. Look for fertilizer for growing vegetables or specifically tomatoes to yield healthy Carolina Reapers. Avoid using a fertilizer that has nitrogen. You may also need to spray your plants with some calcium if the fertilizer does not contain any.

At Sonoran Spice, we grow the peppers hydroponically. We start with Rockwool cubes and Hydroton using an Ebb and Flow type system. We then transfer them to the soil once they are larger and the temperature is right. This is a great way to get a head start on the growing season especially if you live in a climate with a long winter.

Picking Instructions

After the seeds have germinated, you’ll have to usually wait three months for the fruit to be perfectly ripe for picking. Carolina Reaper plants grow as high as five feet tall. The bases of the plants are usually three to five feet wide. If you pick the peppers before they are fully ripe, they will continue to ripen. Just place them on a tissue in your kitchen. It’s crucial for you to always wear gloves when picking the peppers.

The plant will keep growing more peppers during the season as long as you keep picking. If you protect the plants by bringing them indoors for winter, you can keep your plant serving you well for several years. The current longest-lasting Carolina Reaper plant is ten years old.

New peppers are being discovered all the time and, thus, the World’s Hottest Pepper is constantly changing. But after several consistent years of superior hotness, it’s unlikely there will be a hotter pepper anytime soon. If you want to try one of the all-time hottest peppers, the Carolina Reaper is a safe bet.

Carolina Reaper Popularity 2014-2024 per Google Trends