Are Red Chillies Hotter Than Green? Does Their Color Make A Difference?

on October 18, 2022

Many people love to eat chillies which are sometimes referred to as peppers in some parts of the world because they add extra zing and flavour to many dishes. However, you may be wondering whether the colour of the chillies actually affects the level of heat. Are red chillies hotter?

Red and green chillies of the same variety will be approximately the same heat provided that the green chillies are not picked too early in the season. This is because as the chillies develop they increase in heat until the point at which the chilli starts to change colour. After this point when the chilli becomes completely red the level of heat in the chilli starts to decline again coming back to levels that are similar see the green chilli according to a 2019 study.

The study found that the levels of capsaicin, which is the active ingredient in chillies that makes them hot, were up to 50% higher when the chilli was actually in the process of changing colour. The study observed that at approximately 20 days after the fruit had formed the level of capsaicin started to rise sharply until the 40-day mark when the chillies started to change colour.

However, the other really significant factor in the actual heat of the chillies is the level of moisture that the plant receives during the growing season. I found chillies that I have produced in relatively dry seasons were noticeably hotter than the ones in wet seasons. This is because the concentration of capsaicin was increased due to the reduced water levels in the fruit.

Does The Type Of Chilli Effect The Level Of Heat In The fruit?

The type of chilli that is grown can have an enormous effect on the level of heat in the fruit. And while there are literally hundreds of different varieties of peppers, the hot ones are generally divided into 4 major categories from relatively mild to extremely hot. These groups, in order of heat, are Jalapenos, Serrano, Bird’s Eye Chillies and Habanero.

Jalapeños are the most commonly used type of pepper that is available and is commonly used in Mexican food. The plants are most commonly picked when they are green, however, the fruit will turn red if left long enough on the plant. They are estimated to have a Scoville Heat Unit Rating of anywhere between 2,500-10,000.

The next pepper on the list is Serrano peppers which are around twice as hot as Jalapeños. They are typically used as alternates for jalapenos in cases where a high level of heat is required. Their Scoville Heat Unit Rating is between 10,000-25,000.

Bird’s Eye Chillies, which are sometimes referred to as Thai chillies are again 5 to 10 times hotter than jalapenos and are considered by most people to be relatively spicy. I personally have grown Thai chillies at home but they were simply too hot for me to eat. The Scoville Heat Unit Rating is usually between 50,000-100,000.

Habanero Peppers are extremely hot chillies that I personally wouldn’t dare touch as they are around 10 to 100 times hotter than Jalapenos. They typically have a Scoville Heat Unit Rating of between 100,000-350,000, however, there are certain varieties that go well beyond this heat range with some chillies such as the ghost chillies reaching Scoville Heat ratings of over 1,000,000 units.

Are The Seeds The Hottest Part Of The Fruit?

There has been a misconception that the seeds of the plant are the hottest part of the fruit and if you remove the seeds it will be significantly cooler. Generally, that information is true but not for the reasons that you may think. The hottest part of the chilli is the flesh in which the seeds sit not the seeds themselves.

The main reason that this misconception exists is that generally when people remove seeds they also remove this section of the flesh at the same time. Chemical testing of the fruit has shown that this area of the fruit typically contains up to 10 times the level of capsaicin as the outer walls of the fruit which means that you can reduce the heat in the plant by up to 90% by scraping out the inner part of the fruit.

Can You Grow Chillies From The Seeds Of Store-Bought Fruit?

If you find a chilli that you like that you have purchased from the local grocery store you can fairly easily grow plants from it using the seeds. Typically, what you need to do is remove the seeds from the fruit and then allow them to dry out for a couple of weeks before planting them in the garden.

If you do plant them directly from the fruit you will generally find that they will be much slower to germinate because they usually have chemicals which inhibit the germination of the seeds inside the fruit. The slower germination in the soil can give rise to a greater chance of the seeds rotting so it’s best to dry them out.

To grow chillies successfully it is best to sow them when the weather is starting to warm up in mid to late Spring and if you live in a location that has relatively cool summers then it may be necessary to grow the plants within a greenhouse.

To start seeds off you need to plant them in a seed tray at a depth of half an inch. Typically, the plants will take around 7 to 14 days to germinate if the temperatures are in the mid-80s. however at temperatures below that they can take significantly longer to grow.

Once they have germinated they will typically need to spend 4 to 6 weeks in a seed tray before they are large enough to plant out into the garden which must be done after there is no risk of frosts. However, the reality is that because they are quite heat-sensitive it is best to wait until the weather has really started to warm up.

When selecting a location for the chillies it is important to ensure that the area gets at least 6 to 8 hours of sun per day and ideally is in a warm protected location where there is rich moist and free-draining soil. The plants themselves need to be planted approximately 10 inches apart, however, they do not require staking like tomatoes do in most cases because they are much smaller in size and the branches are generally much stiffer.

As the plants require really warm conditions to thrive they generally will not produce flowers until early summer in most cases and will not be ready to harvest until the end of Summer or in early autumn. When harvesting a plant it is important to use secateurs to remove the fruit as the branches are relatively thick and can be damaged if the fruit is removed by hand.