California Reaper
Also known as Cali Reaper · Peach California Reaper · California Reaper Peach · Peach Reaper · Carolina Reaper x Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion · Carolina Reaper x JPGS
A peach-colored Capsicum chinense superhot bred in Southern California by Steve Bender: Carolina Reaper crossed with Jay’s Peach Ghost Scorpion. Looks like a Reaper with a stinger tail, ripens peach rather than red, and is sold as a sauce pepper. Heat is untested in a certified lab but catalog estimates put it in Reaper-class superhot range.
About 60 times a Capsi Jalapeño (25,086 SHU typical).
Growing
~110 days to maturity
Fruit size
4–8 cm
Flavor & Use
Fruity and sweet up front, with citrus and peach notes and less heavy floral perfume than a red Carolina Reaper; the burn arrives quickly and finishes cleaner than the parent Reaper.
Culinary
About
California Reaper is a named Capsicum chinense cultivar from Tyler Farms’ Innovation Acre, not a misspelling of Carolina Reaper. Pods start light green and ripen to peach or light orange, with the wrinkled, blistered skin and scorpion-style tail of the Reaper parent. Plants are medium-to-tall bushes, typically 3–5 ft (90–150 cm), and need a long warm season. Open-pollinated seed has circulated since about 2017; the originator spent multiple seasons selecting the line, but no published F-generation or HPLC heat test exists. Use it like other superhots: tiny amounts in sauce, salsa, or powder. Gloves are required when cutting ripe pods.
Backstory
Steve Bender, head horticulturist at Tyler Farms’ Innovation Acre program in Southern California, selected this line as a Carolina Reaper × Jay’s Peach Ghost Scorpion cross. It was one of the first named peppers released from that project, after several seasons of selection for a peach-colored Reaper-shaped pod. It is not a California-grown selection of Ed Currie’s red Carolina Reaper, and it has never held a Guinness heat record. The similar names still cause frequent mix-ups on recipe and SEO pages.
Appearance
Growing
Heritage
ExploreCalifornia Reaper is a stabilized line from Carolina Reaper and Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion.
Steve Bender
Sources
FAQ
- How hot is California Reaper?
- Capsi’s sourced range is 700,000–2,000,000 SHU (Vendor Claim). Capsi uses a sourced range and a trust tier, not a single marketing number. How we verify heat: https://web.thecapsi.app/learn/heat-and-capsaicin/how-we-measure-heat
- What does California Reaper taste like?
- Fruity and sweet up front, with citrus and peach notes and less heavy floral perfume than a red Carolina Reaper; the burn arrives quickly and finishes cleaner than the parent Reaper.
- How do I grow California Reaper?
- California Reaper: about 110 days to maturity, subtropical climate, full sun, hardiness zones 9-11.
- What can I substitute for California Reaper?
- Carolina Reaper, Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion, Ghost Pepper