What Color Are Ghost Peppers When Ripe?

Ghost peppers become a bright, rich red color when fully ripe. The peppers start out green over their first few weeks on the plant. After growing for about 4 weeks, the peppers will begin to show shades of orange and shift over to being bright red after two more weeks. 

If the peppers are left on the plant for too long, they will begin to show some black spotting at the top or bottom. The stems will typically dry up at this point and the peppers will continue showing a shade darker once they've fallen from the plant. 

Want more information? Find out what a ghost pepper looks like here.

What Does a Ghost Pepper Look Like?

Angry. Ghost peppers look angry. They are 2-3 inch long red peppers, nearly hallow aside from a little pulp and seeds, and that makes them even more angry. It tops over a million on the scoville scale and will hurt you unless blended with other ingredients. You've been warned.

Someone at work had to go home after eating half of one.Why? Because he drank a bottle of blue cheese dressing and it didn't put out the fire out in his mouth. That same coworker is one of our best customers.

Ghost peppers start a green bean green color, then slowly turn orange and then to red. If you leave them on the plant, they'll become a rich red. The stems on the ghost peppers look thinner than habaneros or bell peppers. The stems are safe to touch, beware the actual pepper pulp.

These last a decently long time on the plant if they're not harvested quickly, making them an easier pepper to work with when schedules get busy. 

We took those angry ghost peppers and made them be friends with habaneros, thai chilis, garlic, onion, and vinegar. They look like pepper pulp at that point.

We've had a number of questions surrounding our salts and we want to get an FAQ type of a post up to make sure you know why your salt looks, tastes, and smells like it does.

Why is my salt spicier than last time?

We grow and pick our peppers at different times during the summer and fall. Some peppers are harvested when they're younger, some when they're older. Based on any number of factors, the peppers we use range between ridiculously hot and really hot. Undoubtedly your salt will be spicy. If you're wondering why it's slightly more or less spicy, that is normal and can differ ever so slightly.

Why is there a black speck in my salt?

We pan sear all of our peppers before creating our salt to bring out even better flavors. Some peppers can get a little burned during this part of the process and that's where a few random black specks will appear in your spicy salt.

Why is the color different in my salt?

Color can change based on two main factors:

- color of peppers when picked - some ghost and habaneros can be slightly lighter or darker depending on how they've grown.
- sunlight - the sun will bleach the peppers if the jar is exposed.

We recommend keeping your salt in a cabinet or pantry out of the sunlight to maintain the best color.

Hi! I'm Kona! I'm a 5yr old English Black Lab. I love long walks, rolling in mud, and snuggling with my humans. Preferably in that order. My humans love me, their human babies, and spicy salt. But mostly me I think...

If you like spicy salt too and if you have a super cute fur friend like me - send their picture to me at kona@southchurchsaltco.com. Maybe they can come play with me here on the blog!