Trinidad moruga scorpion

Trinidad moruga scorpion
Species	Capsicum chinense
Origin	Moruga, Trinidad and Tobago
Heat	Exceptionally hot
Scoville scale	1,200,000 on average. SHU

The Trinidad moruga scorpion (Capsicum chinense) is native to the district of Moruga in Trinidad and Tobago. On February 13, 2012, New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute identified the Trinidad moruga scorpion as the hottest chili in the world, with a mean heat of more than 1.2 million Scoville heat units (SHUs) and individual plants with a heat of more than 2 million SHUs. The previous record holder was the bhut jolokia of India. The current world record holder is the Carolina Reaper with 1.57 million SHU.

Overview

Trinidad moruga scorpion, ripe and ready to pick

The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion was created by Wahid Ogeer of Trinidad.

Paul Bosland, a chili pepper expert and director of the Chile Pepper Institute, said, "You take a bite. It doesn't seem so bad, and then it builds and it builds and it builds. So it is quite nasty."

Aside from the heat, the Trinidad moruga scorpion has a tender fruit-like flavor, which makes it a sweet-hot combination. The pepper can be grown from seeds in most parts of the world. In North America, the growing season varies regionally from the last spring hard frost to the first fall hard frost. Freezing weather ends the growing season and kills the plant, but otherwise they are perennials which grow all year, slowing in colder weather.

See also

• Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper
• List of Capsicum cultivars