5 tips to make chillies really hot

Caution hot! If you like it fiery, you can't avoid growing chillies. Find out here how to get your chillies really hot.

Spicy dishes are not only available in South America or Southeast Asia, but are also becoming more and more popular in Germany. So it's no wonder that they too chili (Capsicum) has long been at home in German gardens. The reason for the fiery taste of the chilli: capsaicin, an alkaloid that docks on certain receptors and thus triggers a heat or spicy stimulus. The more capsaicin, the spicier the chilli tastes. If it can't be spicy enough, there are a few tricks to keep in mind when growing your chilli - in the following 5 tips we will tell you how your chillies in the garden can be fiery hot.

Tip 1: Choose hot chillies

Some chillies are hotter than the other. While that may make sense to everyone, there are differences between each one Chilli varieties amazing for many. For many, the ‘Jalapeño is already at the upper end of the pain threshold with a Scoville value of no more than 30,000.

Tip: The Scoville scale evaluates the hotness of pepper plants based on their capsaicin content and ranges from 0 to 16,000,000. At a value of 0 there is no capsaicin present, Tabasco sauce reaches values ​​of 2,500 to 5,000. Values ​​above 3,000,000 are only achieved with concentrated chilli sauces or pure capsaicin crystals.

However, if you like it particularly hot, you can use significantly hotter chilli varieties: with a value of a maximum of 2.2 million Scoville, the chillies of the ‘Carolina Reaper variety are considered to be the hottest chillies in the world and are only for die-hard lovers suitable. This hottest variety of chilli is actually so fiery that it is already during harvest and processing It is advised to wear a mask, gloves and safety glasses to protect yourself from the sharpness protection.

Between the ‘Jalapeño‘ and the ‘Carolina Reaper‘ there are of course countless other types of chilli that range from mild to extremely hot. So if you reach for a spicier variety in the store, you don't have to worry about pods that are too mild later.

Tip: You will find a selection of chillies with different degrees of heat in our Plantura chilli growing kit. In addition, the chilli set contains all the materials you need for successful and easy chilli cultivation.

Tip 2: The right harvest time for hot chilies

While the chilli plant grows and thrives, capsaicin is mainly deposited in the pods near the kernels and on the inner ribs. The longer the pod stays on the plant, the more mature it is, the hotter it will be. Green pods are therefore significantly milder than the mature yellow or red pods of the same variety. But be careful: In the final stage of maturity, the plant hardly stores capsaicin, but rather water and carbohydrates. As a result, the capsaicin content decreases in relation - the spiciness can be significantly weakened. The perfect harvest time for hot chili peppers is therefore directly due to full ripeness, while harvesting too early or too late should be avoided.

Tip: Capsaicin is only produced in gland cells that are located on the placenta in the fruit. The placenta is located just below the stem and from it go out the ribs with the seeds of the pepper berry. In the placenta and in the kernels there is usually 99% of the capsaicin in a paprika or chilli pod, only a small portion is distributed in the rest of the tissue. That's why the tip of chillies is always much less spicy than the tip.

Tip 3: Promote spiciness by removing water

Capsaicin is the chilli's natural repellent, which the plant uses to protect itself against predators and pests, for example. In order for the chilli to store more capsaicin, you have to activate their defense mechanisms. And there is a very simple means of doing this: stress. But how do you stress a plant?

Dehydration is probably the easiest. In addition to the additionally released capsaicin, the lack of water has another advantage: That too The water concentration in the pods drops so that the capsaicin content in the pod is less diluted will. In combination, the increased capsaicin production and the low water content in the pod ensure a fiery taste experience.

But here, too, caution is advised: If the chilli plant receives too little water, it can throttle the development of the pods and the harvest will be sparse. In addition, in the worst case scenario, a lack of water can lead to the plant perishing. For this reason, this method is only recommended to be used for a few days immediately before harvest, when the pods have already reached their full size. As soon as the chillies have been harvested or when the plant clearly shows withered leaves, you should reach for the watering can again.

Tip 4: fertilizer for hotter chilies

Good care is essential if you want to grow healthy, hot chilli pods. In addition to a high-quality vegetable soil like that Plantura organic tomato & vegetable soil, the right chilli fertilizer also helps the chillies to thrive. As Fertilize chilies properly, you can find out in our special article.

American chilli growers swear by a fertilizer that consists mainly of the excretions of worms. The worm fertilizer with highly concentrated nutrients and minerals should not only increase the growth and yield of the chilli, but also have a positive effect on the spiciness of the pods. Why the worm fertilizer significantly improves the spiciness has not yet been scientifically proven, but the success proves the American chilli growers right.

Tip 5: competition for hotter chilies

If you want your chilli as hot as possible, you shouldn't limit yourself to just one variety. Researchers have proven that if chillies are next to highly competitive varieties, they will be hotter. Here, too, stress is again a decisive argument: Because the chillies are competing for nutrients and water come under pressure, they produce more capsaicin as a defense and become significantly hotter. The whole thing doesn't only work with other chilli varieties: grass is also a suitable counterpart to increase the spiciness of the pods.

Would you like to find out more about the hot plants? How to best get the fiery taste of chilli, we reveal in our article on Preserving chillies.