7 Pot Yellow Chilli

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.