Over the last couple of years there has been an explosion of new varieties/hybrids of chillies emerging from all over the world. There is a very competitive race to come up with a new stable variety with a unique feature. The most common required trait is of course the heat level, being that there is a Guinness World Record up for grabs. New varieties seem to just appear out of nowhere and there is sometimes scepticism surrounding a new strain.
The truth is that, to produce a stable strain which grows true to its parent takes many seasons, it is not a quick process by any means.
So here we have the Bubblegum 7 Pot,
Before I go any further I must add that seed from this chilli has not been officially released, but here at Chilefoundry we get emails asking about it’s availability all the time. As you can see from the photo, it has a rather unique feature which I guess makes it desirable amongst Chilli growers.
The “cap” around the stalk is much larger than most other varieties and can be bigger than the one pictured, but the most striking feature is that as the pod ripens, the cap and a certain amount of the stalk reddens too!
At Chilefoundry, we have been lucky enough to be sent one by Jon Harper who is the “Father” of this variety, based in the UK, he has been growing this and a lot of other Hybrids for a number of years. It is this particular Chilli that has generated the most interest recently. It is a very very rare chilli to get hold of with the true BG7 characteristics.
Jon called it Bubblegum because he thought it had a taste of the Bubbaliscious Bubblegum. I tasted the one pictured above and although Jon told me that it wouldnt be as hot due to the temperature drop affecting the SHU’s, I was certainly stunned by its heat, I couldnt pick out the Bubblegum flavour but that was due mainly to the fact that my mouth and throat were on fire!
Although Jon has crossed the Red Moruga Scorpion with a Yellow 7 Pot both ways, he believes the BBG7 to be a mutation/variation of the Moruga Scorpion. A simple explanation of crossing the varieties is having a plant of each variety, and then pollinating the flowers of each with the pollen from the other, then you wait for the pods to form, collect those seeds, growing them and repeating the process, keeping the best pods.
It can produce quite different results, depending which plant ends up as the male.
One of the reasons Jon hasn’t officially released the seeds for this variety is that some plants will produce more Moruga Phenotype pods, which are actually BG7′s but do not display the red cap and stems, but more characteristics of the Moruga parent.
So if you have managed to obtain seed, it is likely that it grew a Moruga Phenotype if the pods didnt display the reddened cap. The other reason for not releasing seed is that the seed fertility rate is currently less than 50%, Jon isn’t sure why at present, so if he can improve that for next season, maybe official seed will be released.
Here’s Jons guinea pig, Paul Tonkin doing a video review on the BB7 last year:
In addition, if you happened to attend FieryFoods UK in Brighton this year and watched the Chilli eating competition, you will have seen Jon’s Super Hots being held over head and consumed by the competitors. The final round on Day 2 ended on the “Borg 9″ which is another of Jon’s Hybrids currently being developed, which is a Hybrid cross between the Bubblegum 7 and a Naglah!
Jon named this the Borg 9 because at the time he was was trying to name it, Ernest Borgnine died, and apparently it is the name of the font used for the helicopter in Airwolf! A bit of Chilli trivia there for you!
Anyway, hopefully we will expect to see the Bubblegum 7 Pot officially released sometime next year if Jon can get the seed viability levels up.