Growing Scotch Bonnet Red Hot Pepper Vegetable Seeds
How to Grow Scotch Bonnet Red Hot Peppers from Seed
It's recommended to start the seeds indoors in early spring, sowing them 1/4" deep and keeping them moist until germination.
Seeds typically germinate within three weeks. Once the seeds have sprouted, they can be moved into either larger pots or directly into the rich soil of a vegetable garden (with at least 24" of spacing between the individual plants).
Scotch Bonnet Red Hot Peppers in the Vegetable Garden
Scotch Bonnet Red Hot Peppers are an excellent addition to any vegetable garden, particularly if you have a taste for incredibly hot peppers. More short and bushy than some other pepper varieties, it's important to leave sufficient space between individual plants to allow plenty of room for growth.
Rated between 100,000 and 350,000 on the Scoville scale, these little peppers are extremely hot but with a rich and smoky flavor that makes them a popular ingredient in Caribbean cuisine. They are also sometimes dried for use in chili powders and also incorporated into hot sauces.
Harvesting Scotch Bonnet Red Hot Peppers
These peppers will only grow to be about 1 1/2" in length even at full maturity, but will be packed with extreme heat and flavor nevertheless. Peppers will initially be green, but will turn a brilliant red color as they ripen and mature.
As with most types of peppers, it's often best to snip the fruit from the plant with shears (leaving a small amount of stem behind on the plant) while also trying to minimize skin contact with the peppers themselves due to the high levels of capsaicin contained in the flesh of the fruit.
For Scotch Bonnet peppers, it's highly recommended that you wear gloves when harvesting them (and also avoid touching your face or eyes until you've thoroughly washed your hands after handling them).
About Scotch Bonnet Red Hot Pepper Seeds
Capsicum chinense. (90-100 days)
Also known widely as Bonney peppers or Caribbean red peppers, the Scotch Bonnet hot pepper is one of the most internationally cherished cultivars of hot pepper ever.
Native to Africa and having since naturalized through the Caribbean, Red Scotch Bonnet is a spicy staple to many jerk chickens and rated at a fiery 100,000-350,000 SHU per pepper.
