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chinense Are these real carolina reapers?

Hey fellow Aussie, and welcome to THP.
 
Pics in the first link aren't very clear, so it would be hard for any of us to say for certain if that is a Reaper or not.
 
Second link isn't working for me.
 
Carolina Reapers at Coles, WTF?
 
 
SR.
 
Yay another aussie, and thanks for the friendly welcome. And yeah my camera on my phone is bad quality for some reason and yeah I found a pack of reapers at coles but they are small and only a few tail thing that reapers have. But it's winter and they probably don't grow as good as they do in summer.
 
Welcome to THP!
 
It could be, but like Shorerider said it's hard to tell since the pic is a bit blurry.  Looks more like a Naga Morich or something similar from what I can see.
 
This is what HP22B looks like though:
 
20141016_120402_zpswupqnaqc.jpg

 
 
I take it that Coles is a grocery store in Oz?
 
If you can get a better pic under more light it may help us to positively I.D.
 
Yes, Coles is one of the bigger supermarket chains in Australia. While I have seen Habanero's and other less hot peppers at Coles, Reapers are a surprise.
 
Chillies of any type at this time of year will either be old stock, or imported which is more likely the case. 
 
 
SR.
 
Shorerider said:
Hey fellow Aussie, and welcome to THP.
 
Pics in the first link aren't very clear, so it would be hard for any of us to say for certain if that is a Reaper or not.
 
Second link isn't working for me.
 
Carolina Reapers at Coles, WTF?
 
 
SR.
Click to expand...
DITTO HERE !     :onfire:
 
No it does not look like a Carolina Reaper, but don't get depressed or upset with the grower.  First pods off many of the super hots often look goofy.  Also, the Carolina Reaper (like all peppers) sometimes grows pods that taste the way they should but do not have the right appearance.  So even if the pods on one plant do not look right, the pods on another grown from the same seed stock could turn out to look right.

You might feel like they shorted you or did you wrong.  I would like to dispel that a bit.  According to a different grower's website, Australia only has one licensed seller of Carolina Reaper plants by their trademark name.  That site has warnings like this (all cap, all red, bold)

[SIZE=x-large]DONT BE FOOLED WITH THE IMITATIONS, ASK IF ITS THE REAL DEAL BEFORE YOU BUY[/SIZE]
 
They have claims like this:
 
Wildfire Chilli is the only place in Australia that you can officially buy the Genuine "Smoking Ed's Carolina Reaper" plant​
 
Thing is Carolina Reaper seed that came directly from Puckerbutt Pepper company sometimes turn out looking exactly like your pepper.  Not a lot.  Probably not as often as other peppers turn out looking off, but it does happen.  There is a video on Youtube made by the owner of Buckeye Peppers.  After planting seed from Puckerbutt, he showed his field and marked off the odd looking pods with a flag.  At one point in the video, he described the ones that were odd in a way that i think describes the picture you provided.  Of the plants, he said some were not Carolina Reapers despite coming from Puckerbutt Carolina Reaper seeds.  So with seed that came directly from Puckerbutt coming out the way your one plant did, I am thinking there is no reason to be down on the grower.

And to make you giggle:

Official grower says the trademark name is "Smoking Ed's Carolina Reaper".  It is "Smokin'" not "Smoking"
Official grower says it was created with a Naga Viper, which I do not think existed when the Carolina Reaper was first crossed.
Official grower lists the variety as "Capsicum Chinese", I believe it is "chinense".
 
Anyway, my point being chances are even if it is not a Carolina Reaper that the grower was acting in good faith and probably didn't even screw up.  Sometimes the things just grow wrong and your pod looks like ones many others say grew from Puckerbutt seeds, so probably not the grower's fault.

 
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Shorerider said:
If you can get a better pic under more light it may help us to positively I.D.
 
Yes, Coles is one of the bigger supermarket chains in Australia. While I have seen Habanero's and other less hot peppers at Coles, Reapers are a surprise.
 
Chillies of any type at this time of year will either be old stock, or imported which is more likely the case. 
 
 
SR.
Click to expand...
Yep this is a stretch for me too.  Although since learning Masters supplies Butch T, I am increasingly open to the possibility of 'no fcuckin way' actually being true.  
 
I wouldn't have thought Coles wouldn't take the legal risk unless they were clearly marked as "will likely cause intense physical pain and burn all the way out"
 
I got mine from wildfire chilli.  I'll post some pics of pods this year to show if their seeds are true or not, as I have a few plants underway from them.  They seem to stock a few reaper products, so look legitimate to me despite poor grammar.  
 
Helvete said:
Welcome to THP!
 
It could be, but like Shorerider said it's hard to tell since the pic is a bit blurry.  Looks more like a Naga Morich or something similar from what I can see.
 
This is what HP22B looks like though:
 
20141016_120402_zpswupqnaqc.jpg

 
 
I take it that Coles is a grocery store in Oz?
Click to expand...

Yeah coles is a grocery store.
 
Link to second photo now working, I see they were packaged pods.  I thought you'd meant that you bought plants there.  In this case, I am going to say if they are Carolina Reapers then they are seconds.  As a produce seller, the grocery store and the grower should know better.  Fresh produce is the best example of what you grow.  Seconds, things which might taste right but do not look right (but are not rotten or anything), those go into cooking or other value added things.

When you buy carrots, you do not get the weird looking ones that wrap around each other.  Those go into making carrot juice.
 
ajdrew said:
Link to second photo now working, I see they were packaged pods.  I thought you'd meant that you bought plants there.  In this case, I am going to say if they are Carolina Reapers then they are seconds.  As a produce seller, the grocery store and the grower should know better.  Fresh produce is the best example of what you grow.  Seconds, things which might taste right but do not look right (but are not rotten or anything), those go into cooking or other value added things.
When you buy carrots, you do not get the weird looking ones that wrap around each other.  Those go into making carrot juice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for letting me know, but are they safe to eat?
 
TamTam79, have been in the organic produce business for about 10 years.  Yes, produce that does not look as it should  but is perfectly fine otherwise is considered seconds.  Onions that are not quite big enough, apples that aren't quite red enough, carrots that arent straight.  These things are sold for use in value added products, not as they are because consumers want things that look right.  An example of that trend is the existence of this thread.

Here on our farm, seconds most often make it to our table or put up for the winter.  On larger, more commercial farms when there is no value added buyer to take the seconds, they are most often discarded.  As evidence of this trend, I give you the fact that European grocery stores are now addressing the matter of seconds being discarded by offering them as Ugly Foods.  Here is an article explaining how seconds are treated and how folk are just now starting to sell them as Ugly Food.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/12/09/369613561/in-europe-ugly-sells-in-the-produce-aisle
 
I -think- what you are doing is playing some sort of word game.  I call them seconds.  In Europe they are being called uglys.  What ever word you use, the peppers in the photo do not have the proper look of a Carolina reaper.  Thus they are not as desirable to consumers.  I use the term seconds in the context of produce sales because if it is less desirable to consumers then it is worth less to the grower.  Now if we were talking seed saving, I wouldnt even give them that much credit as the purpose of seed saving is to create not only the right taste but the right look generation after generation.

Now saying produce that does not look right, that is not as desirable to the consumer, is not a 'second' now that there is flat silly.
 
 
I'm not playing any word game. These are the pods the company is producing and selling as per contract. It's winter here and this is what gets produced.

The supermarket is a multinational and frankly, they don't care what they are selling, as long as someone is buying.

They also sell Bhuts GREEN and only green because that's what they are asked to do. It's done in partnership with a marketing campaign to promote a TV cooking show.
 
TamTam79 said:
I'm not playing any word game. These are the pods the company is producing and selling as per contract. It's winter here and this is what gets produced.
The supermarket is a multinational and frankly, they don't care what they are selling, as long as someone is buying.
They also sell Bhuts GREEN and only green because that's what they are asked to do. It's done in partnership with a marketing campaign to promote a TV cooking show.
Click to expand...
Don't they promote that masterchef show or whatever it's called?
 
TamTam, green bhuts are not seconds simply for being green.  We sell green tomato.  Now a green pepper or tomato that looks like something other than what it is, that is a second / ugly. 

I could see the argument that if only seconds are available, then a person might not call them seconds.  But that is not the way the produce industry works at all.  In the middle of our winter, I can go to Krogers and purchase a head of lettuce that looks great despite it being winter.  At the same time, I can go to Save a Lot, spend less money, and buy crappy looking lettuce that will probably go bad in a day or two.  Save a Lot is seconds.  That is why they can do so cheaper.  Its just a word game.  Call them uglys if you like.  It just means not the best quality.

Ultimately, it is just a word that indicates something is not bad / unfit but not the best example. 
 
Ugh, it is not a second or whatever. It's simply an example of an average grower producing its best it can in winter. Coles is the largest supermarket in the country and it would be the biggest contract that the company has to fill at this time of the year. There is no completition for these pods right now.
 
These aren't "uglies" or whatever you wish to call them. This is simply what they're producing. I also work for Coles.

Anyway, I'm over this convo now. Nothing more to say.
 
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