I am trying to get a handle on the term 'native' when it comes to peppers. Gonna use Trinidad Moruga Scorpion pepper as an example, but really talking about all Capsicum chinense. Please check me on this because I am not entirely sure I got it right.
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is South American (New World). it is Capsicum chinense. Bhut Jolokia / Ghost pepper and many of the other super hots from EurAsia (is that still a word?) contain Capsicum chinense dna.
The British Empire was really fond of taking seeds from one location and raising them in another. So going to assume their intentional activity moved Capsicum chinense to the area around India.
Snap forward hundreds of years, the Ghost pepper and other peppers with dna from Capsicum chinense are now deeply entrenched in the culture surrounding Nagaland / India. Although Ghost Pepper has been cultivated there for some time, many of the other super hots from the area seem not to have been a part of any intentional commercial effort.
So the question is, how did Ghost pepper and some of the others come into existence? Was it intentional with crossing and selective breeding or could some of them be the result of Capsicum chinense escaping captivity and crossing on its own or maybe even adapting to the new environment?
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is South American (New World). it is Capsicum chinense. Bhut Jolokia / Ghost pepper and many of the other super hots from EurAsia (is that still a word?) contain Capsicum chinense dna.
The British Empire was really fond of taking seeds from one location and raising them in another. So going to assume their intentional activity moved Capsicum chinense to the area around India.
Snap forward hundreds of years, the Ghost pepper and other peppers with dna from Capsicum chinense are now deeply entrenched in the culture surrounding Nagaland / India. Although Ghost Pepper has been cultivated there for some time, many of the other super hots from the area seem not to have been a part of any intentional commercial effort.
So the question is, how did Ghost pepper and some of the others come into existence? Was it intentional with crossing and selective breeding or could some of them be the result of Capsicum chinense escaping captivity and crossing on its own or maybe even adapting to the new environment?