Komodo Dragon

Komodo Dragon was bred in the United Kingdom by Salvatore Genovese on his farm in Blunham, Bedfordshire, officially released in 2015 and sold through Tesco supermarkets; its undisclosed parentage suggests 7 Pot and Naga influence. The heat is slow-building and delayed, with a fruity sweetness on the initial bite followed by a creeping burn that blooms deep and persistent across tongue, throat and sinuses.

History & lineage

Introduced in 2015 and sold through Tesco as the hottest chilli on a British supermarket shelf. The Komodo Dragon is grown by Salvatore Genovese, whose farm at Blunham in Bedfordshire is the UK's largest pepper producer.

Its reputation rests on a deceptive delay: the first impression is fruity and rich, and the heat arrives roughly ten seconds later at 1,400,000 to 2,200,000 Scoville Heat Units. That gap between taste and burn is what makes it a supermarket talking point rather than simply a hot pepper.

Culinary uses

Extreme hot sauces, spicy salsas, infused oils, dry rubs and powders, fermented chili pastes; pairs with fruit-based chutneys and vinegar-forward marinades.

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. Germination is given as 10–20 days. 120 days to maturity is a long season for this country. Sow in February at the latest, and keep it under cover from September so the last fruit colours up.

At 90–120 cm this is a substantial plant. Give it a 10-litre pot or a greenhouse border, and stake it before the fruit sets rather than after. Yield is moderate, so a single plant is a taste and two or three are a supply.

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.