Naga Brain Chocolate

Also known as Naga Brain Chocolate · Chocolate NagaBrain · Naga Brains Chocolate · Naga Brain Choc

A US-bred Capsicum chinense superhot with deeply wrinkled, brain-like pods that ripen from green to a rich chocolate brown. Todd Warosh’s 2013 chocolate selection from Naga Brain estimated around 1,000,000 SHU and grown for hot sauce, powder, and extreme-heat cooking.

Growing

~110 days to maturity

Fruit size

3.5–6 cm

Flavor & Use

Sweet Naga flavor up front, then fruity and lightly floral, with earthy-smoky chocolate notes and little bitterness. Heat arrives fast and dominates after a few seconds.

sweetfruityfloralsmoky

Culinary

Used sparingly in hot sauceschili powders and flakesIndian curriesstewsmarinadesBBQ

About

Chocolate Naga Brain is the dark-brown phenotype of Naga Brain, an accidental early-2010s cross of Dorset Naga and 7 Pot Brain Strain. Pods are gnarly and heavily wrinkled, ranging from compact and round to slightly elongated with a small point, typically about 3.5–6 cm long. They start green and finish a deep chocolate brown. Flavor opens with a sweet Naga note, then turns fruity and floral—growers mention passion fruit or grape—with mild smoky-earthy chocolate tones and little of the bitterness common in red Nagas. Heat is immediate and aggressive. Plants are vigorous and high-yielding, usually 90–120 cm tall. The line is often sold as an F6 or later generation and is still described as only semi-stable.

Backstory

In 2011–2012 Florida grower Jamie Hill sent 7 Pot Brain Strain seed to Gary Montcalm in Louisiana. One plant set red, brain-wrinkled pods with a tapered Naga shape; the other parent is believed to have been Dorset Naga in Hill’s garden. Montcalm named the hybrid Naga Brain and shared seed. In 2013 Todd Warosh (Tmudder) grew a plant whose brown pods were clearly better than other chocolate off-types that year. The community adopted his line as the canonical Chocolate Naga Brain, and current seed descends from that plant. Catalogs still describe the variety as only semi-stable.

Appearance

ShapeWrinkled conical
ColorGreen · Brown
Size3.5–6 cm
WallThin
SkinWrinkled

Growing

SunFull
WaterModerate
ClimateSubtropical
Days to maturity110 days
Plant height90–120 cm
Soil pH6–6.8
Germination10–14 days
Spacing60 cm
HardinessZones 9-11

Heritage

SelectionExplore

Naga Brain Chocolate is a selection of Naga Brain.

Todd Warosh · 2013

Montcalm’s 2016 write-up and Hippy Seed’s 2017 account both name Todd Warosh’s 2013 plant as the canonical chocolate off Naga Brain, itself an accidental Dorset Naga × 7 Pot Brain Strain. Catalogs still sell the line as F6 and only semi-stable.

Sources