Peach Gum Tiger

fangs behind the fruit

Variety from Italian grower Enrico Lai of Mojo Peppers. Bred from a 7 Pot Bubblegum Mamp (BBG 7 Pot x Pimenta da Neyde) and a Pink Tiger (Bhut Jolokia x Pimenta). So in essence it has 2 Superhot grandparents and 2 much milder ones. Heat levels are similar to a hot Habanero, somewhere around 300,000 SHU.

Peach gum tiger has inherited the gorgeous purple black foliage and growing habit of the Pimenta da Neyde which contrasts beautifully with ripened peach coloured pods with purple mottling, highly ornamental. Chillies start out looking more like a da Neyde, deep purple to black with little flushes of green but ripen out to light peach with the peach bleeding calyx of a Bubblegum.

It is fruity flavoured, but cleaner and sharper than a habanero. Not sure if the idea has been put into my head by the colour but it does taste a bit peachy to me. It’s a sharp flavour that would cut through an oily dish as well as bringing heat and fruitiness. That heady scent of chinense pods is strong when you cut pods open.

I grew a couple of plants this year, one in the greenhouse and one outside. Both produced a good number of pods. The outdoor plant was actually more ornamental, growing bushy and stocky, taking pride of place on my patio.

The greenhouse plant grew a meter and a half tall, producing well over a hundred pods with a new flush of flowers starting late September … whether they’ll come to anything rather depends on how the autumn develops now.

They are F3 plants so pod size, colour and heat can vary but from my experience this year, this is a great chilli to try if you’d like something fresh, new, interesting, productive and hot, hot, hot.