"Bulgarian Sense" Pack

In Bulgaria, people love their food hot. Very hot, in fact. Sadly, though, chilli culture here is still in its infancy and most of us don't know our own tolerance level. I wanted to create a variety that would challenge me – and all those Bulgarians for whom no hot pepper is ever hot enough. I wanted a pepper that was seriously hot, yet far higher-yielding than the hottest pepper in the world. I wanted to pour everything I know and can do into a single variety that would represent our country with pride as a chilli destination – a place where the culture of heat is growing and moving forward. So I began crossing different varieties. My aim was to take several varieties and create one – resilient to our climate, distinctive, productive and seriously hot – and to stabilise it over the years. It took me about 6 years. I started with around 10 plants, and of those only Bulgarian Sense stabilised over time and proved the most resilient for our region. Once I was confident the variety was stable, we sent it for testing to the Executive Agency for Variety Testing, Field Inspection and Seed Control at the Ministry of Agriculture. We deposited around 200–300 seeds in their seed bank, and for 2 years they studied the variety – verifying its name, family and parentage, its behaviour, diseases, pathogens, how it grows and a whole range of other parameters. On 16 February 2022 we officially received certificate No. 4907/921.2019 recognising the variety, and that was the happiest day of my life. I believe that creating is the main driving force in life.