Thai Halloween

black to orange

Thai Halloween is a relatively new Capsicum annuum with dark purple-black stems and slender, pointed chillies that turn almost black before eventually ripening to a wonderful bright orange. When both colours are on the plant together, it's quite spectacular, and you can certainly see where the name comes from.

It's sold as a Thai variety, although I haven't been able to establish exactly where it originated or who originally bred it. What I can say is that it has all the qualities I look for in a good Thai cooking chilli, with fresh, lively heat and a particularly useful level of pungency.

I've grown mine outdoors this season, and it's developed into an enormous, slightly sprawling plant. I eventually tied it to a stake, partly to keep the branches under control and partly because of the sheer number of chillies it was carrying. It started flowering and fruiting quite early and continued producing right through into autumn.

For much of the summer the pods remained almost entirely black, before the first orange chillies began appearing. The dark colouring comes from anthocyanins, pigments also found in aubergines and blueberries, which combine with green chlorophyll to produce the almost black appearance. As the chillies mature, orange carotenoids become prominent, giving the plant its remarkable mixture of colours.

I have to say I've been impressed by how tolerant Thai Halloween has been. Mine has put up with occasional missed waterings, a little too much water on other occasions, and generally less attention than some of the more demanding varieties. We've had an exceptionally good summer here on the South Coast, which has undoubtedly helped, but even allowing for that, it's been remarkably easy to grow and extraordinarily productive.

The heat is generally estimated at around 30,000–50,000 Scoville Heat Units, which I would describe as medium-hot. It's about the upper limit of what I'd happily chop up and scatter directly over food, where you're eating the chilli in little pieces rather than cooking it into a sauce.

The flavour is fresh, sharp and slightly zingy, without the heavy tropical fruitiness of a Habanero. It's particularly good in Thai-style cooking, alongside garlic, ginger, basil and fish sauce, and works well in noodles, stir-fries and rice dishes. I also like using the ripe orange pods raw, finely sliced over a finished dish.

Unlike some ornamental chillies, Thai Halloween has plenty to offer in the kitchen. The pods have a pleasingly crisp texture, the flavour is genuinely useful, and the plant produces them in enormous quantities.