While visiting the Zoschkes in the Lake Garda region, knowing our botanical obsessions, they took us to a wonderful plant nursery, where I was astonished to see a section selling hot and superhot chiles, as indicated by the cover of the Orto Mio catalog pictured above. The catalog features 40 different hot peppers ranging from hot (5,000 to 50,000 Scoville Heat Units, like Jalapeño) to what they call “extreme hot” (1.3 million to 1.8 million SHU, like Carolina Reaper).
Superhots in the Italian Nursery
The Orto Mio folks may be a little off on their heat levels, but my point is that no major plant supplier in the U.S. has such a pepper program. Bonnie Plant Farm supplies habaneros to big box stores and nurseries, but to the best of my knowledge nothing hotter. That said, Cross Country Nurseries, DBA ChilePlants.com has a strong selection of superhots, and their top 5 overall best-selling live plants are all superhots! Check out the amazing Orto Mio website here, and use Google Translator if you don’t read Italian.
