Naga Twister Black
Also known as Naga Black Twister · Black Naga Twister
A dark-leaved Capsicum chinense hybrid with gnarly twisted pods that ripen from black to deep fiery red. Heat sits in the 800,000–1,000,000 SHU superhot range, with a fruity, smoky, surprisingly sweet flavor used mainly in sauces, powders, and salsas.
Growing
~100 days to maturity
Fruit size
4–8 cm
Flavor & Use
Fruity and smoky with surprising sweetness and light floral notes; not bitter. Heat lands on the mid-tongue and throat rather than climbing like a classic ghost pepper.
Culinary
About
Naga Twister Black is an ornamental superhot grown for its near-black foliage and gnarly, twisted pods. Fruit starts green, turns solid black or deep purple, then finishes a lava-like deep red with lingering dark blush. Pods are about 5–8 cm long with wrinkled skin. Plants typically reach 80–120 cm in warm full sun. Specialty catalogs treat it as Capsicum chinense and report heat from about 800,000 to 1,000,000 SHU, in the same band as its Naga and ghost-pepper parents. Flavor is fruity and smoky with unexpected sweetness and light floral notes; a raw tasting described a mid-tongue burn that does not climb the way a classic Bhut Jolokia often does. Use gloves. Best in cooked sauces, dark chili powders, and small amounts in marinades. Seed lots are often non-isolated and the filial generation is uncertain, so some plants may vary from the type description.
Backstory
No named breeder has been published. Specialty catalogs describe Naga Twister Black as an undocumented hybrid of Naga Morich and chocolate Bhut Jolokia, two Naga-group landraces from Northeast India and Bangladesh. That parentage explains the twisted Naga pod and the dark foliage and black unripe fruit. The exact filial generation is often listed as uncertain, so the line may still segregate. It circulates in the hobby seed trade under the aliases Naga Black Twister and Black Naga Twister.