Black Betty

Dense, fruity flesh with a sustained habanero-class burn and sweet, lightly smoked notes.

Black Betty is a rare Italian Capsicum chinense selected by David Chiti from Mojo Big Brown, a 2013 Kathumby-line cross by Mojo Pepper. It is sold as an isolated, darker-colored variation of that parent: foliage with purple reflections, pods that run dark green to deep purple-black, and a red to dark-red ripe finish rather than the chocolate brown of Mojo Big Brown. Flesh is described as dense and fruity, with sustained heat around 250,000 SHU and sweet, lightly smoked notes. Plants are vigorous and highly productive, grown both for the kitchen and as an ornamental. Do not confuse it with Black Pearl, Black Hungarian, Kathumby Black, or other dark-fruited peppers.

Black Betty is a dark-fruited Capsicum chinense isolated in Italy by David Chiti from Mojo Big Brown, itself a 2013 cross of Kathumby chinense with an unknown partner made by the Italian grower Mojo Pepper. Catalogs treat it as a natural, darker-colored variation of that line rather than a separate named hybrid: purple-tinged foliage, nearly black immature pods, and a red to dark-red finish instead of the parent's chocolate-brown ripe color. The Kathumby grandparent line is a Brazilian C. chinense known for unstable color phenotypes, including purple-leaf / dark-red fruit plants that likely supplied the anthocyanin look Chiti selected.