6 years of work for one pepper
Created in Bulgaria, thrives in our latitudes
The plant looks like a typical Bulgarian hot pepper and grows more like a bush, but the fruit is exotic and looks like a glossy strawberry. It carries fierce heat and a citrus aroma with a long, lingering aftertaste.
- SowingJanuary to March
- FruitingIn a greenhouse from June to December, outdoors from July to October
- FruitGlossy and fleshy, like a strawberry
- YieldHigh
- ParentsTrinidad Moruga Scorpion (red) and Red Habanero
Listed in the EU common catalogue
The Minister of Agriculture's order recognising the variety is no. РД 12-5/08.03.2022.
On 16 February 2022 we received certificate no. 4907/921.2019 recognising the Bulgarian Sense hot pepper variety.
The variety is registered in the EU common catalogue of varieties of vegetable species and can be traded freely.
"Bulgarian Sense" Pack
The hottest Bulgarian pepper in a pack, for home or as a gift.
Bulgarian Sense products
There are no products with this heat level in this selection.
Hristo Rodinov
The family. Hristo grew up as the son and grandson of farmers. From his grandfather he learned that the land is the greatest wealth there is, and that you have to look after it to get anything back. Today he often says that hard work is at the root of everything.
After years of sailing and travelling the world as a young man, he decided to follow the family path: to farm and to start a family of his own. His focus has always pointed in two directions: work and family.
Heat and Bulgaria. In 2011 he discovered the world of hot peppers and fell in love with them. Not so much with the heat as with the challenge: could the hottest peppers in the world be grown right here in Bulgaria, with our four seasons? He studied their botany and began his experiments. He often goes back to his grandfather's advice. One piece of it led him to create Bulgarian Sense: "Never sow a sweet pepper next to a hot one."
People in Bulgaria love eating hot food. Quite a lot of it. Sadly, though, the hot pepper culture here is a distant thing and we don't know our own tolerance. I wanted to create a variety that would challenge me and all those Bulgarians whose hot peppers aren't hot at all to them. I wanted to create a pepper that is exceptionally hot but gives a far bigger yield than the hottest pepper in the world. I wanted to bring everything I know and can do together in one variety that would represent our country with dignity as a Hot Destination, a place where we build the hot pepper culture and move forward. So I started crossing different varieties. I wanted to create one variety out of several: resistant to our weather, different, high-yielding and fiercely hot, and to have it stabilise over the years. It took me about 6 years. I had started around 10 plants, and of those only Bulgarian Sense stabilised over the years and proved the most resilient for our region. Once I was sure the variety had stabilised, we sent it for testing to the Executive Agency for Variety Testing, Field Inspection and Seed Control at the Ministry of Agriculture. We gave them about 200-300 seeds for their bank and they studied the variety for 2 years, checking the name, the family, the parents, how it behaves, diseases, pathogens, how it grows and a number of other parameters. On 16 February 2022 we officially received certificate no. 4907/921.2019 recognising the variety, and that was the happiest day for me. I believe that creating things is the main driving force in life.
Hristo Rodinovcreator of the Bulgarian Sense variety