I have a large Carolina Reaper plant that we bought because there was a warning that excess consumption can cause death and my grandson thought that was funny. It is starting to fruit with a huge crop. Scoville rating about 1,500,000, which is 500X a jalapeno.
If you want some, let me know, because no one in my family wants to even try them.
Grew some last year, first time. Made a pretty tasty hot sauce out of them but I admit to not going 100% Reaper. Dumbed it down a bit with some Demon Red chilies and some sweet red bell pepper. It’s still more than a tad dangerous though. Roasted them outdoors not inside, that can be trouble if not properly ventilated. Open the windows, turn on the fans and clear the house of wife/kids/dogs if you do indoors! Dried some for flakes too. The thing with the Reaper is they are very unique in flavor and smell/odor. It’s not all about the heat.
A closeup of the plant. No veraison but if you look closely you can see 15 small peppers. There are lots more flowers and a few more baby peppers ouside the field of view.
Went with Trinidad Scorpions and Reapers this year. I usually dehydrate, pulse w a food processor, sift to remove seeds and I’ve got “scorch your face” powder for a year.
I live in the same town as Ed in SC, have had his peppers many times going back to before he took the title. The heat is freakish yet they do have good flavor; amazingly good. His Squeezings sauce is one if the best out there. I have not grown my own yet as its so easy to just pop in to his shop, but maybe I need to for science.
Holy shit! I finally tried to use one. First, I added a tiny piece, about one square millimeter (!), to some sauteed vegetables for dinner and they were barely edible. Today, I added the remainder of one small reaper to a gallon of tomato liquid for a sauce. The heat was extreme but not quite over the top. It was pretty close to making it inedible. I have about 25 ripe ones on the plant right now and I’m thinking that I could use them to heat up my entire swimming pool.
I had a plant last year and had the same experience. Tried a bit and it was painful. I eventually gave them away to the guy who prunes my trees. I was also looking at using them in a plant spray to keep the rabbits from eating my flowers. Good for the rabbits the tree guy took them.