Note: this was also posted on another forum so please excuse the 'code', initials and etc...

Review of peppers grown, 2005 season:

1) Fatalii-aptly named, flavor is almost identical to the limon (I grew the limon last year-exceptional taste and productivity, with a high flavor to heat ratio. Hot but so flavorful, will definitely grow limon again next year) Anyway, the fatalii, very lemony. Much hotter than the limon, but not quite as hot as I expected based on the root word of the name. Very tall upright plant (over 3.5 feet) bore an abundance of pendant fruit, but not as early as the catalogs advertise (one of the later maturing varieties, to be honest). Very prolific and easy to grow. Wonderful pickled and roasted. Easy to become a favorite. Matures to yellow.

2) Datil-one of the most underestimated chinenses in my opinion. Wonderful, fruity flavor with smoky undertones and high heat on a very tall (>3), upright and prolific plant. Standard season length for a chinense. Another chinense that is easy to become a favorite. Pendant fruit matures to orange.

3) Chocolate Habanero-very smoky and very, very hot. Probably the 3rd hottest pepper I have grown, out of almost 50 that I have grown. The only ones that was hotter to me was a chocolate scotch bonnet, and the trinidad scorpion, the latter of which was hellish. Not so prolific at first but the second harvest is very large. Plants tend to get very tall (over 3 feet) and the season is a touch longer than other chinenses, but well worth it. Pods are wrinkled, larger and not as symmetrical as many other chinenses. Should be a staple in any habanero loverÂs garden. Pendant fruit matures to deep chocolate brown.

4) Chocolate Scotch Bonnet-the 2nd hottest pepper I have ever had, next to the trinidad scorpion. This thing almost felt like it was on fire when I tried it. I really felt like I had third degree burns on my tongue after biting into it. I would put this almost in the Âdangerous category, no kidding. As far as plant habit, the plant had a tall, upright growth habit and pods were smaller than those of the chocolate hab. Smaller, more symmetrical pods and a very long season. Pendant fruit matures to deep chocolate brown.

5) Peruvian White Habanero-I cannot say enough good things about this pepper, but please be aware that you will be picking peppers until you are sick of it. I completely lost count of how many peppers I picked off of this thing. It became a huge bush in the corner of one of my garden beds. Very hot, pendant pods mature to a creamy white. Large, sprawling growth habit and incredibly productive plant. Season is not as long as standard habaneros, comparable more to a cumari as far as season length and productivity, but hotter than the cumari. Bushy growth habit.

6) Scotch Bonnet, Orange-a disappointment as far as flavor, but as an ornamental or just for the interest it is still a cool pepper to grow. Pendant pods are rather hot, but not brutal. Very tall and extremely productive plant bears heaps of orange fruit. I gave away more fruit than I care to remember. An early producer too, one of the first to mature in my garden, and when I got one I got many. Upright growth habit. Matures to golden orange.

7) Caribbean Red Habanero-a favorite for taste, heat and productivity. Very hot, pendant pods are borne in abundance on a slow growing plant. One of the things I noticed last year about the Caribbean Reds is that they are very productive but the plant grows rather slowly, and is somewhat more bushy than a red or orange hab. Nonetheless, a nicely productive plant that gives pods with consistent heat and flavor. Early season and easy to grow. Obviously susceptible to pepper maggots (yuck!). I highly recommend them. Matures through orange then red.

8) Brown Habanero (from tomatogrowers.com)-identical to the chocolate hab as far as heat, productivity, color and flavor. Grown side by side and plants were identical. The only thing that gave me any indication that the brown hab was any different than the chocolate was that the brown hab had slightly thinner skin and the flavor was not as strong as with a chocolate hab, but without a side by side comparison they are identical.

9) Francisca Habanero-a large, productive orange hab. Less symmetrical pod morphology than the standard orange habanero, with larger pods, more heat and more flavor. Longer season than the standard orange hab and a taller plant. The flavor of the fruit was not as fruity or smoky as with many chinenses, but slightly more nutty I found (maybe that's just me?). A nice addition to the garden. Tall upright plants bear pendant fruit. Matures to golden orange.

10) Billy Goat-a very cool chinense. Slightly longer season than the standard chinense (I'd say about 110 days) but so worth the wait. Very tasty fruit, small pods, very tall, upright and prolific plant. Taste is the outstanding quality of these, chileplants.com describes the flavor as cherry-like, and I could taste that effect. Very underestimated. Will find room for another one of these next year. Pendant fruit matures to red.

11) Congo Trinidad-large pendant pods borne on a tall, upright, reasonably productive plant. I would put them in a category slightly below limons, datils, chocolate habs, caribbean reds and fatalii for flavor. Hot but not exceptionally. Still a good and interesting chinense.

12) Trinidad Scorpion-I'll start with physical characteristics first. Reasonably productive, tall, upright plant bear pods with a unique shape. Standard season for a chinense (about 90-100 days) I imagine the name comes from the resemblance of a 'tail' coming out the bottom of the fruit. Pendant fruit matures to orange then red. Now comes the good part. This pepper is by far the hottest pepper I have grown. Definitely hotter than a chocolate hab or a chocolate scotch bonnet. I think I passed through several levels of spiritual enlightenment after putting it in my mouth. It can't be put into words. Like hot? Just do it.

13) Scotch Bonnet, Grenada-very large, tall but bushy and productive plant. Outstanding flavor, very similar pod morphology and taste to the red habanero. Almost prolific. The heat is not exceptionally high but a very good heat level balanced with good taste. Pendant pods mature to red.

14) Scotch Bonnet, Tobago Sweet-a mild chinense, no heat but still has a good amount of that chinense flavor. I imagine the heat gene cooperates with some flavor gene along the way, because all of the mild chinenses I grew this year just didn't have the same flavor as the hot ones. This one was very good overall though. Very tall, upright growth habit and very good productivity. Pendant pods mature to red. Reasonable season length, maybe 85-90 days.

15) Scotch Bonnet, Red (from www.tomatogrowers.com)-very nice. Medium height but bushy (not sprawling) plant bears a very good number of peppers that closely resemble the caribbean red in morphology. May even be more productive than the caribbean red. Same level of flavor as the caribbean red, but slightly more fruity and not as hot. Length of season is reasonable, maybe 85-90 days. Pendant fruit matures to red. Comes highly recommended.

16) Scotch Bonnet (from enchantedseed.com)-this is actually an annuum. Flying saucer-shaped pods grow upright on a tall slender plant. Not much heat but typical annuum flavor. Cool pepper in morphology and appearance, and can be pickled or used as cayennes would, more mild than cayennes though.

17) Scotch Bonnet, Yellow Long (from Terra Time and Tide)-I got so jealous when I saw JF post pics of this bad boy because I didn't think I would get any ripe ones. Lost somewhere in the jungle that was my garden was my SB, YL plant and I hadnÂt seen any pods. A week later I noticed that there were a few and one was even ripening. The pods were stunted because the plant was a slower grower and was overcrowded by the other monsters (notably the grenada scotch bonnet and the red scotch bonnet from TG). I got lucky and got a few pods, but not enough to report too much on. From what I can tell the taste is exceptional, not brutally hot though (mine weren't anyway, JF expressed that his were killer hot). Tall, slow growing plants and I didnÂt see high productivity but that may be a function of the crowding. Pendant pods ripen to yellow and have the coolest shape. If you have the room this is a must have.

18) Scotch Bonnet, Yellow, TFM-the TFM in the name comes from the fact that I got these at the Trenton Farm Market in Trenton, NJ. I got these before I had met AB and believed these to be the true morphology. I am going to grow these side by side with AB's next year to see how they compare with heat, growth habit and flavor, as they seem very similar. I am wondering if he and I have variations of the same plant. My plant was stunted during transplant and ended up tall but rather bushy, with large pods that have high but not exceptional heat and awesome flavor. Very fruity and have a quality about them I have not seen in other chinenses, it's almost as if the balance of nutty, fruity and smoky is so exact it morphs and fights for position on your taste buds. I'm glad I stumbled across these and will grow them out to distribute seed next year. Pendant pods with scotch bonnet morphology ripen to yellow. Very long season (I'd say 140-150 days) The bite of the heat almost seems like there is another form of capsaicin in there beside the one that is normally in chinenses. My prize seed.

19) Habanero, Red (from Peppermania.com)-I don't hear much about these, but to be honest I was quite pleasantly surprised with the heat and taste of the fruit. Very tall, upright and slightly bushy plant produces a large first harvest of pods, but the second harvest is booming-extremely prolific. The pendant pods are VERY large (at least mine were) and have a very nice fruity flavor, not very smoky and not too high heat. The only problem I had with the plant was some corking later in the season when the temperatures got cool and we started to get too much rain. Regardless, I could understand how this would become a standard in someone's garden, wonderful fruit, productivity, flavor, etc.

20) Habanero, Orange-perhaps I am not giving a fair shot, but these seem to pale in comparison to the other chinenses that I have grown. There seems to be a pattern in the orange ones, because the orange scotch bonnets were similar in heat and flavor. I found the flavor of the orange hab to be rather lacking compared to other chinenses, and heat level was higher in the orange hab than in the orange scotch bonnet. The plant was tall, upright, slightly bushy and very productive. Pendant fruit ripens to orange. Not terribly disappointing, just sort of blah in the face of such niceties as fatalii and datils.

21) Habanero, Yellow (peppermania.com)-EXCELLENT! I loved the taste and heat level. I froze quite a few of these to hold on to through the winter, and will try to make room for this bad boy again. Very very hot, probably not too far heat level from a chocolate hab, and exceptional taste, close in taste to a datil. Hard to distinguish from a datil in a side by side taste test (yes I did it!) Not extremely tall plants, but upright growth, produce large pendant pods. Matures to yellow. Season is standard (maybe 100 days). Thank you Beth!!!!

22) Red Savina Habanero-got these from a packet of NK seeds at a local CVS, believe it or not. I wanted to grow the fruit that were regarded as the 'world's hottest pepper' in the Guinness book of world records. Frankly? Let's start with the heat level. Yes they are very very hot, but I wouldn't put them in the category of extreme. I would put them around the chocolate hab in terms of heat level, perhaps slighly under. As far as flavor, I wasn't impressed at all. They didnÂt taste any more chinense than an orange hab to me. Not extremely tall, upright growth habit, plant produces symmetrical red pendant pods. Good productivity. Hard to start seeds and get plants to grow past dicot stage (of 8 seedlings I transplanted, 2 lived versus almost all of the others that lived when transplanted-I used the moist paper towel method to start seed)

23) White Bullet Habanero-very very hot, good tasting pendant pods are produced on a very bushy but still somewhat upright plant. Matures to creamy white. Productivity is comparable to the Peruvian White Hab, although the Peruvian White Hab is still slightly more prolific, IMO. I almost ended up insane trying to keep up with pulling pods from the Peruvian White and the White Bullet. If I had to choose White Bullet vs. Peruvian White it would be Peruvian White, but I would still make room for the White Bullet if possible, or rotate years so you don't drown in white chinenses!! Decent season length, maybe 85 to 90 days.

24) Red Mushroom (tomatogrowers.com)-catalog description of the plant states that it is 'related to habanero'. It's actually an annuum, but a good one. Nice productivity, thin skinned, hot but not brutal annuums are nice for frying for peppers and eggs or for pickling. Upright, slender growth habit, not prolific but still very productive, and nice heat and flavor.

25) Purira-productive, upright growing fruit. Capsicum annuum, very hot. Versatile for cooking, pickling etc. Matures from green to orange to red. Smoky flavor. Nice.

26) Numex Bailey Pequin-yeehah! I had the bright idea to plant two of these. Very tall upright growth habit. Produces high yields of upright fruit that matures from orange to red. Remarkable productivity, make sure you keep up with the fruit because the fruit practically fall off the plant when the fruit are ripe. Good luck with keeping up with more than one. Season length similar to a chinense, about 90 days. Very good tasting fruit but very very hot. Reputed to be 100,000 scoville units and I believe it.

27) Cumari (peppermania.com)-another huge thanks goes out to Beth for these. Very low, sprawling and highly prolific Capsicum chinense produces very cool upright yellow pods that have a mildly citrusy fruity flavor. Great heat and taste. Shorter season, maybe 80 days. Definitely a must-have.

28) Aji Habanero-my first baccatum. Very elegant looking, tall, slender plant produces gorgeous pendant fruit that begin as creamy green and mature to orange. Sweet taste upon maturity, with little heat. I was very happy with this one and I recommend it and am looking forward to trying other baccatums in the future.

29) Ivorian Pimente-earlier season (about 70 days), shorter (about 18-20 inches), and very productive plants produce loads of highly unsymmetrical, wrinkled red pendant fruit that are very smoky in flavor and are incredibly hot. Probably as hot as a chocolate hab. Very nice looking and easy to become a favorite. Not as prized I would imagine for culinary or hot sauce use (high heat to taste ratio and overwhelmingly smoky taste) but a very, very cool pepper.

30) Aji Dulce #2 (tomatogrowers.com)-the best tasting mild chinense that I have grown. Still maintains a touch of heat. Longer season (about 110 days) to maturity. Pendant fruit mature through orange to red. Not extremely tall (maybe 2.25 feet) and slightly bushy plants produce large yields of fruit, not prolific but highly productive. Great for pickles and sauces.

31) Trinidad Perfume (peppermania.com)-another interesting chinense from peppermania. Growth habit was strange. At first, compact and bushy and later in the season grew taller. At first, did not produce very highly but second harvest was quite large. Pendant fruit mature to yellow and are completely heatless. Very interesting morphology, good flavor and versatile. Long season to that second harvest, start early!!

32) Numex Suave Red and Orange-similar plants. Very cool, very interesting. Red looks like a red habanero, the orange looks like a monstrous yellow hab. Both plants are tall but the orange was rediculous-over 5.5 feet tall. Both plants produced well and both produced large, mild, pendant pods with good flavor. Grow the orange for the size alone!

33) Devil's Tongue-a pepper that is reputed for its heat that should also be commended for its taste. Excellent taste is close to a datil, but less smoky and more fruity. Not incredibly productive, but so worth the ones that you get. The understand from others that the second harvest is much larger, I only got to the first. Pendant pods are smaller than fatalii but look similar (a bit smoother) and mature to orangish-yellow. VERY HOT! Tall plant (mine grew to over 32 inches tall in a 12 inch pot).

33) Jamaican Hot Chocolate-performed poorly. Pods that I did get were pendant, matured to brown, and very hot. Almost identical in flavor to the chocolate habs and are about as hot. Smaller pods than the chocolate hab and smoother. Will try again next year.