Carbonero Pepper Review

The Carbonero is another new variety that I am growing for the 2019 season. It’s a hybrid cross developed by Tony Sherwood seven or so years ago that involves Bhut Carbon, Yellow 7 Pot and Orange Habanero. And with any sort of multi-lineage hybrid, what you get isn’t always what you expect.

I have two plants grown from the same seed packet this year. Both are packed with fruit, though only one is producing fruit that look as they should while the other has pods that are half the size and a completely different shape. This is a review of the more-or-less correct phenotype.

All of the fruit on the one plant are orange in color with a twisted, wrinkled and lightly blistered appearance. They look more gnarly than they truly are once you start snacking on them. Inside, the peppers present a placenta that runs just about the entire length and an interior that is just as contorted. There weren’t too many seeds in the particular fruit I cut open.

The aroma is lightly floral with hints of orange peel and capsaicin trait. It smells pretty darn hot as tropical notes and a hint of sweetness linger in the distance. It smells like your standard superhot.

Chewing on the sample that I cut aside, the pepper is crunchy and juicy. There’s a strong floral quality up front with a good bit of citrusy fruit flavors following in behind. A light sweetness lingers as the heat builds very slowly, starting off as a gentle glow before peaking with a full tongue burn that eventually creeps down the throat.

The Carbonero isn’t an overly hot fruit, but its fire does smolder for a good long while, leaving a rather pleasurable experience in its wake. I liked this one a good deal. Once the floral traits faded, the pepper presented a good flavor profile and approachable level of heat that I think will work quite nicely is a couple of sauce ideas I have.