The harvested crop of Carolina Reaper hot peppers are a brilliant scarlet. We’ve probably picked a peck of peppers, and there are more on the plants!
Last year, a friend gave my husband one Carolina Reaper hot pepper, considered to be among the hottest peppers in the world. After my husband used the pepper very sparingly in chili and other dishes, he saved and planted the seeds. The seeds sprouted and prospered. He repotted the plants as they grew. He kept four plants and gave away several more pots of pepper plants to friends and family, who said they liked hot peppers. As the plants grew even larger, he gave away two more. The remaining two plants produced enough hot peppers to destroy the taste buds of the population of our county. The peppers didn’t seem to be as hot as the original pepper (the Scoville Scale link below explains why that might be the case), but they were still very hot — too hot for me!
Half of the ripe Carolina Reaper peppers have already been picked from these plants. Very prolific!
Many people do enjoy really hot peppers. Last year, I attended (as an observer) the Hot Pepper Eating Contest in Palestine, Texas. This year (2017), the Palestine Hot Pepper Festival is Oct. 21. Links to the festival and my blog post about 2016’s festival are below.
The early growing stages of my husband’s Carolina Reaper hot pepper crop.
My husband kept four Carolina reaper plants, but eventually gave two more away. Like many pepper varieties, the Carolina Reapers start green, then turn yellow. In their ripe stage, they are a beautiful brilliant red color.
The City of Palestine, Texas, Hot Pepper Festival.
The Scoville Scale Measuring the Hotness of Pepper Varieties.
The Hottest Little Festival in Texas.
Catherine Sherman 
Hahaaaa… Yes, Catherine, I remember your post from last year; too hot for me!!!
I do love the pepper plants (in general) they look so wonderful with their crops on them, regardless of the colour. Your hubby must be so chuffed. 🙂
Last evening my man and I went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. I asked for a mild chilli in the Spaghetti alla Marinara and was so pleased I did. It was just about as hot as I could handle. So I definitely would not be entering the Hot Pepper Festival this year, or any year!
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My husband was very satisfied with the size of his bountiful crop. But since he gave away most of the peppers, he might plant a crop next year that we might actually use. I’m not sure he will use more than three of those peppers in his cooking a year (and he cooks a lot.) His plants probably produced at least a hundred.
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I thought I enjoyed hot peppers, food etc. A Chinese friend offered me something he warned me was very hot (looked a lot like your photos) Two parts of me will never be the same – my entry and exit.
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I know what you mean! I will never forget the green chili burritos that my husband and I bought at a Taco John’s in Bozeman, Montana, decades ago. One bite, and we could no longer feel our lips. The rest of the burritos we threw away. We’d thought that Montana wouldn’t have really hot chilis, but we were WRONG.
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