Since we’re onto some of our favorite chili peppers, we’d be remiss not to mention this rare find that came out of one of our northern pepper trials!
We do wish that we could reliably grow gobs of habanero peppers at our latitude, but this often pushes our seasonal limits just a bit too far. Fortunately, this Bulgarian Carrot Pepper fills the niche very well and is a reliable northern producer for us!
The history of this pepper is quite interesting. Story goes, it was smuggled from behind the Iron Curtain in the early 1980’s. It found its way to niche growers in Bulgaria, where it received its current namesake. Much later, it hit the international scene, but it’s still somewhat rare pepper to see grown among north American growers.
The taste of the Bulgarian Carrot Pepper is much like a habanero, tropical fruit forward and with a mean bite behind it. Bulgarian Carrot Peppers have an alternate name as well, known as shipkas. Given the pepper’s northern origins, we’ve found it well adapted to growing in subarctic climates.
Don’t let the carrot in the name deceive you, this is a spicy boy! Curiously, there’s wild disagreement in how hot this pepper actually is, with ranges estimated from 5,000 to 100,000 Scoville. Our opinion, after many years of growing this pepper, is that we’d agree with the higher end of that scale.
This carrot pepper’s thick walls make it ideal for pickling, freezing, roasting and candying. Nonetheless, it’ll break down quite nicely and add a fruity burn to any dish. It’s a versatile pepper, also excelling in sauces or even diced up into soups, stews, stir fries or anywhere else you want that good old sweet heat.
Though this pepper may still be foreign to many, it came out as as a star in our aggressive pepper trials. It’s an excellent choice if you love the fruitiness common to most super hots, yet your palette for heat is still in this stratosphere.
