Habanero Chocolate Chilli Seeds

The heat builds with a delay, then arrives at full strength, over a fruity, tropical aroma that carries salsas, sauces and pickled vegetables. Use small amounts when you cook.

• 10 Habanero Chocolate chilli seeds (Capsicum chinense) in one packet
• Heat level 10, up to 400'000 Scoville
• Small, pumpkin-shaped pods, green to chocolate brown
• Free-flowering with plenty of fruit
• Sow 0.5 to 1 cm deep in seed compost
• Germination at 22 to 30 °C, first seeds in 3 to 10 days
• Prick out into 10 cm pots from the second pair of leaves
• Seeds keep for at least 2 years

Sow between January and March so the plant fruits in its first year. Soak the seeds for 24 hours in water at room temperature, then set them 0.5 to 1 cm deep in seed compost. Keep it moist but never wet, ideally with a daily mist from a spray bottle. Cover the tray with perforated clear film and air it for 2 hours every 2 to 3 days to keep mould away. At 22 to 30 °C in a bright, warm spot the first seeds germinate after 3 to 10 days.

Take the cover off once the seedlings are up. They need plenty of light but no harsh midday sun, and slightly cooler air so they do not grow leggy. From the second pair of leaves, prick them out into 10 cm pots with tomato or vegetable compost, then move them into larger pots.

Chillies like it warm and moist but not wet: water when the top layer of soil has dried and mist indoor plants now and then. Side shoots need no pinching out, and removing the first flower, the king flower, makes no difference to how the plant develops. In good vegetable compost, feed with tomato fertiliser once the first buds show, and never more than the dose indicated on the fertiliser packaging.

From about 5 °C during the day the plant can harden off outside, and after the mid-May frosts it moves to a sunny bed or tub. For winter, keep it a little darker and cooler at 10 °C and water less; in bright, warm spots carry on as usual. A winter prune is possible: the harder you cut back, the bushier the plant grows next year.

Write the sowing date on the tray so you know when the 3 to 10 days to germination are up. As a small present for a gardening friend, for a birthday or at Christmas, pair the packet with a pot and seed compost. Chillies are nightshades: the parts of the plant are poisonous, the ripe fruit is not.

How many seeds are in the packet? It contains 10 Habanero Chocolate chilli seeds (Capsicum chinense).

When is the best time to sow? Ideally between January and March, so the plant bears fruit in its first year.

How hot is Habanero Chocolate? Heat level 10 and up to 400'000 Scoville, with heat that sets in late and then comes at full strength.

Do I need soil and pots separately? Yes, the packet holds the seeds only. Seed compost, 10 cm pots and vegetable compost come extra.