Carolina Cayenne
Also known as Cayenne Carolina
Carolina Cayenne is a Capsicum annuum selection from Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Capsi’s sourced range is 105,000 SHU (Official breeder). Flavor is peppery, sharp. Used for hot sauce, pepper vinegar, pickling, drying for flakes or powder, soups. Heat is a range, not a single marketing number.
Carolina Cayenne is a bright-red, thin-walled cayenne grown for sauce, drying, and fresh cooking in Southern gardens. It looks like a slightly thicker long cayenne and sets heavy crops on sturdy plants.
About 3.3 times a Capsi Jalapeño (31,902 SHU typical).
Growing
~70 days to maturity
Fruit size
10–15 cm
Flavor & Use
Sharp, clean cayenne heat with little fruit. Green pods taste grassier. Dried pods grind to a neutral powder that adds heat without turning a dish floral.
Culinary
About
Plants reach about 60 to 90 cm, branch evenly, and hold fruit clear of the soil. Pods are straight to slightly curved, roughly 10 cm long and thicker than a slim grocery cayenne, ripening green to bright red with thin wrinkled skin. Heat is hot rather than superhot, with a plain cayenne bite that works fresh, pickled, or dried into flakes and powder. Pick green for a grassier bite or wait for full color if you are drying.
Backstory
Richard Fery and Philip Dukes at the USDA Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston, working with W.L. Ogle at Clemson, released Carolina Cayenne in 1986. They selected nematode-resistant plants from an older South Carolina cayenne population and issued a more uniform line for home and commercial plots. Later field trials used it as a rotation crop because almost no southern root-knot eggs developed on its roots.
Appearance
Growing
Heritage
ExploreCarolina Cayenne is a selection of Carolina Hot.
USDA-ARS U.S. Vegetable Laboratory and Clemson University · 1986
Parent
Sources
FAQ
- How hot is Carolina Cayenne?
- Capsi’s sourced range is 105,000 SHU (Official breeder). 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 Carolina Cayenne taste like?
- Sharp, clean cayenne heat with little fruit. Green pods taste grassier. Dried pods grind to a neutral powder that adds heat without turning a dish floral.
- How do I grow Carolina Cayenne?
- Carolina Cayenne: about 70 days to maturity, subtropical climate, full sun, hardiness zones 9-11.
- What can I substitute for Carolina Cayenne?
- Charleston Hot, Cayenne