Scoville Units: Between 30,000 to 50,000

The tabasco pepper is a variety of chili pepper species Capsicum frutescens. It is best known through its use in Tabasco sauce, followed by peppered vinegar.

Like all frutescens chilis, the tabasco plant has a typical bushy growth, which commercial cultivation makes stronger by trimming the plants. The tapered fruits, around 4 cm long, are initially pale yellowish-green and turn yellow and orange before ripening to bright red. Tabascos rate from 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale of heat levels.

A large part of the tabasco pepper stock fell victim to the tobacco mosaic virus in the 1960s: the first resistant variety (Greenleaf tabasco) was not cultivated until around 1970.