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chinense Market Price for Fresh Bhut Jolokia and Other Superhots

orangehero

orangehero

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with the usual market price for fresh Bhut Jolokias and other superhots.

Can you even buy them anywhere? Don't think I've seen them for sale fresh anywhere, just the usual habs already gone soft sitting in the supermarket. Usually just generic "hot" peppers at the farmer's market like cayenne, etc.

Here in CT from what I can tell the cost can be from $75 to $100 a pound. Seems really high, but I am wondering if that is a reasonable price to charge people.

Cheers!
 
The farmer's market I frequent near me is a cross between a farmer's market and a grocery store - it operates in a permanent building year-round, but sells from the local farms when things are in season here (NE Ohio area), as well as selling local packaged goods year-round. (But they also sell national and international goods year-round.) I can sometimes find "exotic" peppers there (but grown by local farmers), with "exotic" meaning any hot pepper you can't buy at a regular grocery store. They recently had a small package of Naga's (about 8 pods) for $8.99. I'm not sure what the ounces were on that package, but clearly it was way less than a pound, as the pods were no longer than 1.5 inches - and clearly a pound would be around the prices you quoted. That said, I think buyers would stomach the little package much easier than buying bulk by the pound - although it comes out to the same thing in the end, it just seems like $8.99 for a package is somehow less than $75 or $100 per pound.

The chain grocery store near my house has also started selling local produce during the summer, so we've had a few varieties there that we haven't seen there in the past. I've also seen exotics at other local farmer's markets (the temporary, weekend kind), as well, but don't remember the pricing on them.
 
I was in Central Market day before yesterday and they had packages of pods that were labelled "Naga". They were growin in Europe/Scandanavia somewhere. The pods were definitely shaped right and a beautiful red color...

package weighed .17 pounds and was 4.95....thats about $30 a pound...this is the first time I have seen any of the superhots for sale at a public market...
 
I too am researching a price point for the Bhut Jolokia and the Red Caribbean Habanero. Here in Kansas City I have yet to find any fresh, dried, or powdered.

The Bhut Jolokia has a wide price range on the internet with $2 per pod being the most expensive I think I have found. $30 to $40 per pound seems to be the fair market price for them but you have to watch out for how they are grown, cross pollination with any other pepper type dilutes the gene.

Still researching my Habanero but I will come back and update this thread when I am done. I will also have pods per pound fresh and dried info at that time.
 
I recently searched Pike's Place Market in Seattle and found nothing. So far, the best source is THP members who are generous and share/sell their chiles.
 
Looks like we're seeing a rather huge swing in price in different areas of the country. I'd expect a difference in normally high vs lower cost areas in general, but a difference of $30/lb vs. $100/lb is large. Curious to see what happens to that difference as they become more popular with the chains, if that happens. (Unlikely to happen with significance in OH.)
 
I was selling all my super-hots for $5/pound just to get rid of them so they wouldn't rot. I hope to get more than double that when I start selling at farmer's markets, but I also plan to sell by the pint(or other small size containers) since nobody around here seems interested in pounds of super-hotties
 
POTAWIE said:
...since nobody around here seems interested in pounds of super-hotties
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Hmm. So what's really needed is a way to radically increase the perceived need for superhots in the more frigid areas of the globe. If we could convince consumers that eating super-hots (or using them in some other as-yet-to-be-determined fashion) would greatly reduce (or eliminate!) the need to heat homes in the cold months, we'd be on to something. It could both reduce the use of fossil fuels, and thus be an environmental thing, plus potentially reduce the overall costs - no need to buy a furnace, for example. Hmm. Where is a mad scientist when you need one???
 
I've never seen a Bhut, Naga, Scorpion, or any other superhot. Well, except in my garden. I'm just guessing here, but I bet one of the very few places on Earth you'll find Bhuts to buy is India... but I've never been there, so I wouldn't actually know. Hell, I could probably sell mine locally as "HOTTEST PEPPER IN THE WORLD!!!" for a premium, and they'd probably fly off the shelves. Advertising sells. But hell would freeze over before I pawn off my Bhuts. :)
 
UltraZelda64 said:
I've never seen a Bhut, Naga, Scorpion, or any other superhot. Well, except in my garden. I'm just guessing here, but I bet one of the very few places on Earth you'll find Bhuts to buy is India... but I've never been there, so I wouldn't actually know. Hell, I could probably sell mine locally as "HOTTEST PEPPER IN THE WORLD!!!" for a premium, and they'd probably fly off the shelves. Advertising sells. But hell would freeze over before I pawn off my Bhuts. :)
Click to expand...

I'm in the NE Ohio area, but grew up in Texas. From my experience here, I've found most Ohioans to be wusses when it comes to spices. I've talked to restaurant owners and small retail shops who have tried to sell flavorful food, and they've found it just doesn't sell in a quantity sufficient to keep doing so. Unfortunately, sign advertising alone won't overcome attitudes. One of the things about Texas is that everything has to be bigger, badder, better - there is an informal one-upmanship that continually goes on. i have a bigger truck than yours, or at least it has a badder engine than yours, for example. This attitude translates to spicy food there - I can eat four Fatalii's in one sitting, you can't handle one. The question is how do you import that braggadaccio into the northern states where it doesn't exist? (That's not to say it doesn't exist at all, it just hasn't developed widely for spicy foods.) Probably the way to get it started would be to run TV ads (and ads in the theatres) with popular ball players going head-to-head for bragging rights, sponsored by superhot pepper growers, sauce sellers, etc. Then have "events", like someone in the stands can come down to the ball field for a pepper-off with some ball players at half time, or at other events where the ball players would come, like festivals and such. Get the ball rolling, as they say, then see if it continues.

[removes marketing hat, then returns to normal life....]
 
In the markets, all I've seen as far as superhots all I've seen are orange habs. However, I did see a local vendor selling bhut plants for $20 (USD) each at a salsa festival.
 
geeme said:
I'm in the NE Ohio area, but grew up in Texas. From my experience here, I've found most Ohioans to be wusses when it comes to spices.
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No argument there--people here do pretty much seem to be wusses. But advertising sells--claim you've got the hottest pepper ever, and it'll sell more than it would have otherwise. Yeah, those same people would probably not bother to buy it again in many cases, but they'll probably get it once just to see if it "really is" that hot. Younger, more daring people would be the ones most likely to do this--older people who are already dead-set against spices probably wouldn't bother. Hell, some of my family members think I'm outright crazy for liking hot stuff, and my uncle goes so far as to claim that it's somehow "bad" for me... whatever.
 
My brother picked up some Ghost Peppers (or at least that's what they call them) at the Rochester NY Farmer's Market. They were .50 a piece! They had some Scotch Bonnets there as well.
 
At the local market I know the guy that goes to Philadelphia to get from the big supplier. He asked him if he could get Nagas and the guy got them from Holland. I got 8 trays of 10-13 which was called a case for $26. They were fresh and I got seeds so next year they will be in my garden. On the package is a site http://www.eminentfood.nl/ May help you figure something out or at least get info. I must admit I just now after posting checked it out and now am editing to add it is not a place to order and is somewhat lacking in listing what they offer, but there is contact info for those that would like to know more. Hook your farmers market up with these people and watch people burn. :onfire:
 
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