Chocolate Ghost turns sweet?

[AJ Drew]

Some of our customers become friends.  Read on one's facebook page that she had an early chocolate ghost pod turn out sweet.  Yes, early pods are often odd.  But I don't recall an early pod being sweet.  Even green pods usually have some good heat to them.  At fist thought an accidental cross.  No matter how tight the mesh is, insects will get in now and then.  But we didnt grow anything sweet last year and our nearest neighbor is way down the way.

From what I understand, it is only a single plant and we wont know for sometime if it is only because they are early pods.  But I have asked her for some seeds because this is exciting.

So question is, have you ever had something turn out sweet when it should be hot and have you ever noted early pods not having heat? 

 

[CheriLBW]

Just for reference the plant in question is producing pods with a sweet almost raisin flavor and a heat level of about half jalapeno level. The jalapeno bacon I just had from Denny's  is much hotter.
 
Smooth skinned and this is one of the smallest pods, most are about 3 1/2 to 4 inches long.
very few seeds in this pod, but all healthy looking and mature.

 
 

 

[BlackFatalii]

No, I have not heard of the first pods from a bhut being anything other than very hot; even the unripe green pods are hot. These pods look a bit more like a chocolate hab than a bhut to me. An accidental cross, maybe? 
 

Just for reference the plant in question is producing pods with a sweet almost raisin flavor and a heat level of about half jalapeno level. 
 
 

 
Well that sounds like a really nice pepper, whatever it is. Surprisingly mild for a Chinense, too. I would definitely save some seeds and grow them out next year. It might be interesting to see what the next generation brings.

 

[solid7]

If a pod ripens prematurely, the flavor will be different, and the heat may be completely absent.

Sudden weather changes can cause premature ripening.

 

[Zackorz]

That sounds very interesting. Of course, the weather have an influence, and i always have had some milder pods on hot plants, but never such a major heat difference.
 
If your lucky you got a "mutant", like "bhut copenhagen" is one.
 
I love mid-heat chinense peppers, and will definetely have an eye on this thread.
 
Would be very interested in a seed trade if the next peppers on the plant are the same :-)

 

[CheriLBW]

If a pod ripens prematurely, the flavor will be different, and the heat may be completely absent.

Sudden weather changes can cause premature ripening.

 
Should not be premature. They did not ripen suddenly or faster then any other pepper I have coming on right now.
No serious temp shifts lately so do not think this is what is going on, but we will find out soon enough when the other 40+ pods finish getting ripe.
 

No, I have not heard of the first pods from a bhut being anything other than very hot; even the unripe green pods are hot. These pods look a bit more like a chocolate hab than a bhut to me. An accidental cross, maybe? 
 
 
Well that sounds like a really nice pepper, whatever it is. Surprisingly mild for a Chinense, too. I would definitely save some seeds and grow them out next year. It might be interesting to see what the next generation brings.

That is actually what I am thinking they seem crossed with, but the low heat was a surprise.
I will start a few of the seeds when I get back from a biz trip in July. I am trying to leave as few "special care" plants for my better half to take care of as I can.

 

[mrgrowguy]

I've eaten a pod off of a ghost (I believe first one) and it was absolutely devoid of heat until I got to the very last bit near the calyx. Then it hit me in the face. But the heat still wasn't nearly that of a traditional bhut. It was off a plant at the local nursery.
 
 
.

 

[Phil]

The only pepper I've ever eaten that had a raisin-like flavor was a guajillo.... possible cross?

 

[CheriLBW]

So random pod test from the ones I picked this am.
Very mild even up into the placental area. I did remove the seeds but nothing else.
Flavor is sweet but not super sweet, the more placental material you get the more the classic ghost flavor comes out but still very mild.
The raison flavor is more pronounced near the bottom of the pod, but is present in all areas.
Still very few seeds.
Gonna keep an eye on this one and continue to test random pods.
Who knows what the next generation will hold.

 

[AJ Drew]

Does look chocolate habish but I have found them to be much hotter than you describe, so ruling that one out.  Hoping for mutation (very rare) cause I an a raisin flavored pepper to exist.

 

[Chewi]

That looks and sounds like a Swiss Chocolate. Smooth skin....mild heat...and mention of raisins fits the description exactly

 

[AJ Drew]

That looks and sounds like a Swiss Chocolate. Smooth skin....mild heat...and mention of raisins fits the description exactly

Had not heard of that pepper.  Very hard to google due to the other uses of the word and the number of chocolate candy with peppers in it.  I did find some pictures and they are spot on.  Do you have a link to information on the thing or maybe a source for the seeds? 

Looking to grow small sweets and milds believing I can market them to local restaurants.  Swiss Chocolate sounds like it would be perfect for that effort. 

 

[mrgrowguy]

Had not heard of that pepper.  Very hard to google due to the other uses of the word and the number of chocolate candy with peppers in it.  I did find some pictures and they are spot on.  Do you have a link to information on the thing or maybe a source for the seeds? 

Looking to grow small sweets and milds believing I can market them to local restaurants.  Swiss Chocolate sounds like it would be perfect for that effort. 

 
 
I put quotes around the "swiss chocolate" to make google only include that direct search string, and added pepper to help the results. This is the best I could find.
 
Click on some of the pics, they pretty much all lead to rareseeds:  https://www.google.com/search?q=%22swiss+chocolate%22+pepper&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjri5q248jNAhVL42MKHVDeB2AQ_AUICSgC&biw=1243&bih=894
 
http://www.rareseeds.com/sweet-chocolate/
 
 
 

That looks and sounds like a Swiss Chocolate. Smooth skin....mild heat...and mention of raisins fits the description exactly

 
 
Only thing I found was sweet chocolate, not exactly swiss chocolate. Is that what you meant, maybe?
 
They at least look the super similar to the pics above
 
.

 

[Chewi]

Swiss Chocolate.....I can't remember the cross but it was created by a Swiss dude by the name of Raphael Alber. I used to know what it was but damn my memory. I know a couple of people here have grown it but again.....my memory.
Edit: Saw that Meatfreak from here has grown them as well. Mine were about mild hab heat level btw.

 

[SavinaRed]

My Choc Fatalii last year was really sweet and had the heat of a serrano pepper. They were awesome. I tried growing some of the seeds but no luck with germination. I'll try again this winter to get them to germinate. They were the best tasting pepper I grew last year. And my choc habs were really hot more like a savina. My choc bonnets are starting to throw out some pods right now and I can't wait to try them.

 

[mrgrowguy]

Swiss Chocolate.....I can't remember the cross but it was created by a Swiss dude by the name of Raphael Alber. I used to know what it was but damn my memory. I know a couple of people here have grown it but again.....my memory.
Edit: Saw that Meatfreak from here has grown them as well. Mine were about mild hab heat level btw.

 
AHH, makes sense why they look so close too

 

[AJ Drew]

My Choc Fatalii last year was really sweet and had the heat of a serrano pepper. They were awesome. I tried growing some of the seeds but no luck with germination. I'll try again this winter to get them to germinate. They were the best tasting pepper I grew last year. And my choc habs were really hot more like a savina. My choc bonnets are starting to throw out some pods right now and I can't wait to try them.

Try letting chocolate pods go what seems like way too long before saving seeds.  I've had problems where I -think- chocolates and browns are ripe, taste fine, but then low germination rate.  This year is the first I will be trying to seed save green from green pods, going to let them get to near rot because I cant even tell when a green tomato is ripe.  Gave up on them for that reason, oh and because nobody here ever thinks they are ripe.  Why can't produce come with one of those pop up things like turkey?

 

[mrgrowguy]

 

[mrgrowguy]

Sorry, Just saw these when I was looking up the previous meme
 
 
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