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What is this brutal chile?

windchicken

windchicken

The Vietnamese guy who runs the little convenience store/pho kitchen down the street from my house just gave me this chile from his garden—He said it was from his country, but he didn't know the name. Before I bit the end off, it was probably 1-1/4" long by 3/8" wide, so it's way stumpier than most all Asian bird types I've seen. What I was not prepared for was the brutal mule kick this pod delivered. The one little bite, and I was suffering for 10 minutes. I did not know that C. annuum could get this spicy, and I have grown Chiltepin for years:

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Notice in the end-on views the amount of orange placenta:

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There are plenty of seeds that I will definitely be saving:

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Those are sold in just about every Vietnamese grocery store around the world. I've seen them in Paris, Ukraine, and here in Canada. But never any name other than "hot chili" or "red Thai chili". They usually sell for $1 for a small bag.

I'm interested to know their proper name too! :)
 
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I had tons of those in the UK, and in Paris. I boarded with a Pakistani family for a while, and had LOTS of curry.

In the UK they were just called "chillis" I pushed someone who lived there for their exact name, and he says they are the same peppers that they make chili powder out of back here in the states. I laughed, he grew indignant, and that ended the discussion... but they do have a NICE kick. Maybe not superhot, but probably every bit as hot as a habanero.
 
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I had a similar experience trying to ID a C. annuum from an Indian grocer. They know it only as "mirchi," which is the Hindi word for chile (as in "raja mirchi," another name for the bhut jolokia). But a latina clerk said it was a thai chile. I think this is likely correct, but it didn't look quite the same as the thai chiles at the various Asian megagrocers around here. I wonder if this a strain that is grown specifically for Indian clientele, or if it's just a regular thai chile.
 
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Well if you guys really want them so badly, I can go to the Vietnamese grocery store, buy a bunch of bags of fresh peppers and send them off. Pay the postage and I'll be glad to do it. There is a big Vietnamese population here and they have lots of shops.
 
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Thanks for the ideas, guys. I can see from the photo how it could look like Thai Chile. What the photo doesn't show well is that the pod is quite a bit wider than the common Asian grocery store Thai Chile (ot Thai), and several orders of magnitude more piquant. If I were to put a Scoville rating to it, I would guess well over 100,000 units. Maybe 200,000 or 300,000, or more than that, even—It was a subjective experience, obviously. For another reference point: I eat a Congo Trinidad pod chopped up in my grits every morning. It doesn't hurt anywhere nearly as bad as did that one little bite of Vietnamese agony.....

I will definitely be growing this one out!
 
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2 years ago my only chocolate hab(which had went white leaf on plant out) came back....after I planted indonesian chiles in that bed to use the space. That section was highly over crowded but the choc hab put out one pod by the end of the season. I saved those seeds and last year started some and put one in my garden so I could have chocolate habs. That plant hit 7 foot before I topped it and was full of peppers that looked like that with a good heat(for me and blistering for some non chileheads) to them and packed with seeds like that .......................................................................... So I guess I am saying it could be be something stable or a cross. The indonesian chiles I have seen to have very strong genes for pod shape because anything I have attempted to cross them with in the last 2 years have ended up with those pod shapes just a little bulkier like yours.
 
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That makes sense, Justaguy. It's about the only explanation that does make sense, because the pod is definitely chinense-hot. Jamie's suggestion of the PC-1, fits that idea, of course....What threw me off of that trail was the assumption that this is truly a Vietnamese chile, which is not necessarily the case, of course.

I want to see this plant! Stay tuned for Windchicken Grow 2013....
 
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I too say its a standard thai chili. I got some from a grocery store last year and they look like that, as well as taste like what youve described. i saved the whole bags worth of seeds and have probably a couple thousand seeds. i have planted out one plant this year from that, and its pods look to be growing out true.
 
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Sorry I'm a bit late, but what about a takanotsume/rooster spur/poinsettia type of plant? I've read that they can get up to around 100,000 SHU, but thats still a little low, and I also read that they don't have a long lasting heat. The shape/size is about dead on, though...
 
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