7 Pot

The 7 Pot (or 7 Pod) is a family of extremely hot Capsicum chinense chillies from Trinidad, traditionally said to be hot enough to spice seven pots of stew with a single pod. Its best-known cultivars include the Douglah, Primo, Brain Strain and Yellow.

Growing it in the UK

Chinense is the slow one. Seed can take three weeks to germinate and wants steady warmth to do it, so sow in January or February with a heated propagator and expect to ripen the fruit under cover.

This is superhot territory, and the handling advice is not decorative: wear gloves when cutting it, keep your hands away from your eyes for the rest of the day, and open a window before frying it — capsaicin in hot oil will clear a kitchen.

Read from this variety's own record — the figures are in the panel opposite.