Mark Thorson wrote:
Steve Wertz wrote:
A spicy hot, natural tomato. You could have made a fortune. Why
hasn't someone mass-marketed these yet? Should be easy to do as
peppers and tomatoes are kinda related, no?

That reminds me of a question I've had.

Why has nobody developed a pepper as large and thick as a red bell
pepper, but as hot as a Red Savina?

It should be doable, no?

I think it could be very commercially successful, at the industrial
level, if not consumer retail.


Three or four years ago, my brother grew jalapeños and various mild
capsicum chinense and capsicum baccatums. The chinenses were disturbing
because they tasted like a habanero but had no heat at all.

The jalapeños must have crossed with one of the C. chinenses because he
had volunteer peppers the next year that looked like jalapeños, and were
thick and juicy like a jalapeños, but were firey hot and tasted like a
habanero. I never saw the bushes to see what kind of leaves and flowers
they had. Anyway, he sliced and dehydrated a bunch of the peppers. I
salvaged some of the seeds from the dehydrated peppers and tried to grow
them last year. (I have a sneezing fit every time i open the bag
because they are so hot.) It took them about a month to germinate and
then they all died -- but at least they germinated. I thought they
might be infertile mules, or might have been killed by the dehydrator heat.

I planted them again this year and pampered them with mild bottom
heating, and they are germinating right now and look a lot more
vigorous. If they survive (and I think they will) it will be
interesting to see what the F2 hybrids are like. If I'm really really
lucky, after several generations I might be able to select a strain that
resembles the original hybrid.

Best regards,
Bob