Capsicum – Mein Chili-Zuchtprogramm (Intro in deutscher Vertonung)

I like spicy food, I like keeping plants, and I like to make my own stuff. So, it was only a matter of time before I started growing chili pepper. It all began in 2005 with a simple Cayenne. And then I discovered that it’s actually quite easy to cross different chili peppers. All you need is a sturdy pincer like those used by watchmakers.

00:50 - Use that pincer to remove the petals and the male parts of an unopened flower on the plant that you want to use as a mother in the cross. Just carefully push it aside and rip it out. You might need some practice for this. And … there we are … almost … So, only the female part is left. You should mark your manipulated flower with a bit of string. And then we need some pollen from the plant you want to use as a male in the cross.

01:44 - And: Transfer it! Done! I went a little bit over the top with this new skill and mixed up no less that six different chili peppers. To illustrate my point: This is how I describe the parentage of a chili pepper in 2016 that is an offspring of all those six. Just look at this alphanumerical abomination! [disgusted grunt] However, in 2009, as a part of it, I took Carioca (a cute little chili pepper cultivar from Brazil) and pollinated it with Bhut Jolokia (the legendary Ghost Pepper, that was the first one to be recognized as breaking the one million Scoville heat unit wall). This produced, fanfares and trumpets please, the first generation of Cariolokia. And now I had some actual goals in my chili breeding.

02:58 - Naturally, many of my selected traits deal with the ripe fruit. There are some obvious differences between Carioca and Bhut Jolokia, so let’s have a look at these fruit traits and see which ones I prefer. Color: The fruits of Carioca ripen to orange, while those of Bhut Jolokia ripen all the way to red. This is a simple dominant-recessive trait and red is dominant over orange. So, the first generation of Cariolokia always ripened all the way to red, just like Bhut Jolokia.

03:37 - Stem: The fruit or flower stems of Carioca stand up, while those of Bhut Jolokia hang down. This is also (more or less) a dominant-recessive trait with hanging down dominant over standing up. Which again can be seen in the first generation of Cariolokia. Form: The fruits of Carioca are round, the fruits of Bhut Jolokia are elongated. Also, their surface is somewhat rough and not as smooth as in Carioca. Carioca and Bhut Jolokia differ also in how the fruits are distributed on the plant. Carioca has notably more fruits in direct neighborhood, which is a trait I highly prefer. Taste: Carioca has a typical Habanero aroma to it, which I would describe as somewhat peachy or soapy. And… I’m not really that fond of it. And so I would prefer the fruity aroma of Bhut Jolokia. Yes, I actually has a taste. It’s not just hot! Heat level: Carioca is at least hot or very hot, but, uh, Bhut Jolokia is of course INSANELY HOT. And of course I prefer that. Because … it’s cool to eat hot.

05:04 - Size: The fruits of Carioca are much much smaller that those of Bhut Jolokia. I like that. I enjoy my heat packaged in small portions. This way, it’s much more feasable to munch on a fresh fruit. So, I prefer this trait. To use an analogy from a more common type of substance abuse: You wouldn’t gulp down a whole pint of strong booze, but only a small shot glass. (At least I think, that’s what you would, because, uh, I’m not really that well versed in this regard.) Small fruits are good! Well, I have been breeding Cariolokia for five generations in the meantime, long enough in fact to turn it homozygous again (if not for all than at least for most of its chromosomes). Let’s see how far I got…

05:57 - As you can see, there are many flowers in direct neighborhood. So, number per node: CHECK! Look at those fruits (botanically speaking, they are berries by the way). They’re quite small, aren’t they? In fact, they are so small, they fit into my little chili mill. I can dry them whole and stick them right into the mill. That’s very nice, because there’s no need to mess around with hot juices by cutting the peppers up.

06:38 - The dried fruits of Cariolokia in the fifth generation are only a little bit larger than those of Carioca. Therefore, size: CHECK! The fruits of Cariolokia in the fifth generation certainly do not taste like Habaneros. But I’m not sure if they are nice and fruity. But, the main thing is: they do not taste peachy or soapy. So, nnha: CHECK? (sort of?) Cariolokia, fifth generation, certainly is not mild. But I’m not sure if they’re INSANELY HOT. Either I have become desensitized in meantime or they just aren’t. So, heat level: Check, maybe? Or not? Although I’m somewhat satisfied with Cariolokia in the fifth generation, I think they are perhaps somewhat lacking in the taste and heat department and therefore I tried to breed in some other super hot chili peppers. I was successful in 2014 by breeding in the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Red. This is a fruit of the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Red, produced by a cross just as described above. I did both crosses with Cariolokia as father and as a mother, but I only seeded out those where Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Red was the mother.

08:10 - And this produced the Cariolokia Scorpion Strain D! Once again, because red and hanging down is dominant, the fruits in the first generation were red and hanging down. But, in order to shorten things up, in 2015, I did a back cross and crossed Cariolokia (fifth generation) back into it. Because I only want a little bit of a hint of the Scorpion in it… I seeded this back cross and got nice little plants. And their fruits are ripening right now… And it’s really interesting to look at how the traits are distributed. So far, my favorites are the number nine and the number eleven. Some of you may have noticed that I used two former champions of heat levels in my breeding, the Bhut Jolokia and the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Red. And of course now, there is the Carolina Reaper… So, will there be a Cariolokia Reaper, maybe? Perhaps not. … for various reasons. The Reaper is a recent cross itself and I vowed to stop giving in to the heat hype.

09:38 - Cariolokia Scorpion sounds cool enough and it is a nice little mix of chili peppers from India, Brasil and Trinidad. That’s it for now, and keep in mind: The spice! Must! Flow! .