Armageddon makes headlines, the newest chilli to come from the chilli breeding program of Tozer Seeds certainly set pulses racing, as seen on Good Morning Britain. It’s a new super-hot chilli, the first British-bred hybrid and has been scored at 1.3 million on the Scoville scale.
Super-hot chillies are challenging to grow but in breeding Armageddon, Tozer Seeds have developed the variety to be quicker and easier to harvest, higher yielding and more uniform than traditional O.P. varieties.
Dr Jamie Claxton, Director of Plant Breeding explained that “Armageddon has been in development for 5 years and is just one of the chillies being developed in our Chilli Breeding Program, which aims to breed more niche varieties better suited to UK growing conditions”.
Tozer Seeds have been working with the UK’s largest grower of chilli peppers, Salvatore Genovese who is based in Bedfordshire, for over 15 years. He is supplying Tesco with Armageddon this season and he is also trialling a range of varieties still in development including a very promising standard red chilli.
James Hatherill, European Sales Director for Tozer Seeds said “As a company we continue to source interesting and novel sweet and hot pepper material, either through our global contact network, or more recently from our own breeding program. Working with Salvatore and other UK growers, we can test these genetics with the hope that one of the UK multiples will then take the product to launch; Tesco has been instrumental in developing and promoting hard the `Super Hot’ types, which we applaud”.
For more information:
James Hatherill
European Sales Director
Tozer Seeds
james.hatherill@tozerseeds.com