'Goode Chili' Hot Pepper

Capsicum chinense

Origin: Cooley Springs, South Carolina

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~10

Germination tested 09/2025: 66%

Life cycle: Annual

Hot pepper breeder Kevin Bane got the seeds that resulted in this pepper from Brian Goode — who actually thought he was sending Kevin something else! Brian had gotten seeds from Jim Morrow (A.K.A. Jimmy Pickles), who had mailed out seeds of an 'Apocolypse Scorpion' to a bunch of people. This one seemed to Brian like it might actually be a red strain of 'Bainstrain Peach' (one of Kevin's signatures), so he sent some to Kevin. Several people got something unique in their packets from Jimmy, who has no idea what it is. It looks like a reaper but grows upside down and turns purple. Kevin says this is one extremely hot pepper, and it's very stable at this point. Dried fruit powder is so hot Kevin's wife can't even eat it, and Kevin says "I hardly can myself!" And Kevin can eat some seriously hot peppers! He also describes this one as "weird," and still isn't sure how it came to be. But he's sure glad it showed up!

Worth trying in shorter season northern climates as this is Kevin's earliest hot pepper among the ones that we offer.