Mystery pepper’s flavor put to the test in Brunswick County

SUPPLY, NC (WWAY) — A Brunswick County gardener’s unusual pepper plant that captured local attention several weeks ago is now headed for further study after its gardener held a taste test on Monday.

James Robinson of Supply first noticed something unusual when one of the jalapeños growing on his plant took on the shape and color of a bell pepper instead of the typical elongated, dark green look associated with jalapeños.

“I was amazed. I didn’t know what to think,” Robinson said. “I started calling around, and people I contacted thought I was a joke, a hoax.”

Over the past several weeks, the pepper continued to mature, turning red like a ripe bell pepper. Robinson also discovered that three additional peppers on the same plant are beginning to develop the same bell pepper-like shape.

Taylor McDaniel, Brunswick County’s commercial and consumer horticulture agent with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, said the unusual growth is likely the result of a naturally occurring plant mutation.

“This is more than likely something called a chimera, which is just a plant mutation that happens with no rhyme or reason,” McDaniel said.

Curious about whether the pepper’s appearance affected its flavor, Robinson sampled the pepper alongside me.

“I would hope to have a hot bell pepper,” Robinson said before tasting it.

Despite its bell pepper appearance, the pepper still retained some of the heat expected from a jalapeño, though both Robinson and I agreed it was noticeably milder than a standard jalapeño harvested from a different plant.

“I was satisfied that it had heat, but it didn’t have as much heat as the jalapeño,” Robinson said. “The jalapeño definitely had more heat.”

To better understand the mutation, seeds from both the bell pepper-shaped jalapeño and a typical jalapeño from the same plant have been collected and placed in envelopes for analysis by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

Extension officials plan to conduct growth trials using the seeds to learn more about the rare mutation.