Capsicum frutescens 'Tabasco'

The tabasco pepper is a variety of chilli species Capsicum frutescens. It is best known through its use in Tabasco sauce.

Like all C. frutescens cultivars, the tabasco plant has a typical bushy growth, which commercial cultivation makes stronger by trimming the plants. The tapered fruits, around 4cm (1½in) 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, and are the only variety of chilli whose fruits are "juicy"; i.e., they are not dry on the inside. Unlike most chillis, tabasco fruits grow up, rather than hanging down from their stems.

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.