5 tips to make chillies really hot

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

Spicy dishes are not only found in South America or Southeast Asia, but are also becoming increasingly popular in Germany. So it's no wonder that the chili (capsicum) has long been at home in German gardens. The reason for the fiery taste of the chili: capsaicin, an alkaloid that docks onto certain receptors and thus triggers a heat or spiciness stimulus. The more capsaicin, the hotter the chilli tastes. If it can't be hot enough, you should pay attention to a few tricks when growing your chili - in the following 5 tips we'll tell you how your chillies in the garden can get fiery hot.

Tip 1: Choose hot chili varieties

Some chili is hotter than the other. While this may be obvious to everyone, the differences between each are chili varieties amazing for many. For many, the 'Jalapeño' is already at the upper end of the pain threshold with a maximum Scoville value of 30,000.

Tip: The Scoville scale rates the hotness of pepper plants based on their capsaicin content and ranges from 0 to 16,000,000. A score of 0 means no capsaicin is present, Tabasco sauce scores from 2,500 to 5,000. Values ​​above 3,000,000 are only achieved by concentrated chili sauces or pure capsaicin crystals.

However, if you like it particularly hot, you can use much hotter types of chili: with a maximum value of 2.2 million Scoville, the 'Carolina Reaper' chillies are considered the hottest chillies in the world and are only for die-hard lovers suitable. This hottest chilli variety is actually so fiery that it is already harvested and processed it is advised to wear a face mask, gloves and goggles to protect yourself from the sharpness protect.

Between the 'Jalapeño' and the 'Carolina Reaper' there are of course countless other types of chili, ranging from mild to extremely hot. So if you reach for a hotter 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 Chili Cultivation Set. In addition, the chili set contains all the materials you need for successful and easy chili cultivation.

Tip 2: The right time to harvest hot chilies

As the chilli plant grows and thrives, capsaicin is mainly deposited near the seeds and on the inner ribs of the pods. The longer the pod stays on the plant, i.e. the more mature it is, the hotter it becomes. Green pods are therefore significantly milder than the mature yellow or red pods of the same variety. But be careful: In the last stage of maturity, the plant hardly stores any capsaicin, but much more water and carbohydrates. As a result, the content of capsaicin falls again in relation - the sharpness can be significantly weakened. The perfect time to harvest hot chili peppers is therefore when they are fully ripe, but harvesting too early or too late should be avoided.

Tip: Capsaicin is only formed in glandular cells that sit on the placenta in the fruit. The placenta is located just below the stalk and from it the ribs with the seeds of the pepper berry emanate. The placenta and seeds usually contain 99% of the capsaicin in a pepper or chili pepper, with only a small proportion distributed to the rest of the tissue. That's why the tip of chilies is always much less hot than the base.

Tip 3: Promote sharpness by removing water

Capsaicin is the chilli's natural repellent, which the plant uses to protect itself from predators and pests, for example. In order for the chili to store more capsaicin, its defense mechanisms have to be activated. And there is a very simple remedy for this: stress. But how do you stress a plant?

Dehydration is probably the easiest. In addition to the additionally distributed capsaicin, the lack of water has another advantage: it too Water concentration in the pods decreases, so the capsaicin content in the pod is less diluted will. The interaction of the increased capsaicin production with the low water content in the pod ensures a fiery taste experience.

But caution is also required here: If the chilli plant does not get enough water, it can restrict the development of the pods and the harvest will be sparse. In the worst case, a lack of water can also lead to the plant dying. For this reason, it is recommended to only use this method for a few days directly before harvest, when the pods have already reached their full size. As soon as the chillies have been harvested or if the plant shows clearly withered leaves, you should use the watering can again.

Tip 4: Fertilizer for hotter chillies

Good care is the be-all and end-all if you want to grow healthy, hot chili peppers. In addition to a high-quality vegetable soil, such as the Plantura organic tomato & vegetable soil, the right chili fertilizer also contributes to the thriving of the chilies. As Fertilize chillies properly, you can find out in our special article.

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

Tip 5: Competition for hotter chillies

If you want your chili to be as hot as possible, you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one variety. Researchers have proven: If chillies are in the vicinity of competing varieties, they become hotter. Here, too, stress is a decisive argument: since the chillies are affected by the competition for nutrients and water are under pressure, they produce more capsaicin to defend themselves and become significantly hotter as a result. Incidentally, the whole thing doesn't just work with other types of chili: Grass is also a suitable opponent to increase the heat of the pods.

Would you like to learn more about the hot plants? In our article on how to best get the fiery taste of the chili, we reveal Preserve chillies.