7 Pot Yellow Chilli
Trinidad heritage superhot chilli with bright yellow gnarled fruits
The yellow variant of the legendary Trinidad 7 Pot lineage - one pod is said to season seven pots of stew. Superhot heat with a bright Caribbean fruity-floral flavour.
Handle with care — this is a superhot chilli
This variety is exceptionally hot. The capsaicin in superhot chillies can cause real discomfort and even burns to skin and eyes, so a few simple precautions make all the difference when handling the fresh or dried fruit:
- Wear disposable gloves whenever you cut, deseed, or handle the fruit
- Keep your hands well away from your eyes, nose, and face while working
- Never touch contact lenses with hands that have handled the fruit
- Work in a well-ventilated space — the fumes from cooking or drying can irritate the lungs and eyes
- Wash hands, knives, and boards thoroughly with soapy water afterwards
- Keep fresh and dried fruit well out of reach of children and pets
The plants themselves are perfectly safe to grow and handle — these precautions apply to the ripe fruit and its seeds.
About this variety
The yellow member of the 7 Pot family from Trinidad, named for the local claim that one pod will spice seven pots of stew. That is not much of an exaggeration. Somewhere between 800,000 and a million Scoville units, which is ghost pepper territory, and a sliver is enough to season a dish for a whole table.
The pods are small, 3 to 5cm, hanging rather than standing up, deeply pitted and wrinkled, ripening from green to a hard bright yellow. Behind the heat sits the Caribbean flavour that makes a superhot worth growing at all: tropical citrus with a little smoke underneath. The colour is what sets it apart in the kitchen, because a ferment made with these comes out gold rather than red, and it takes well to mango, pineapple and mustard.
It needs a greenhouse or polytunnel here. Trinidad is hotter and wetter than Norfolk and the plant knows it, so outdoors you will rarely get useful fruit. Under cover expect a bushy plant of 60 to 100cm carrying thirty to eighty pods over a long autumn season. Seed saved from your own fruits comes true. Wear gloves and eye protection when handling the fruit.