Harold St Barts

Harold St Barts is a habanero-type Capsicum chinense associated with the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy and named after Harold Langlois, who is credited in multiple sources with bringing the variety back from St Barts. Live seed-trade descriptions present it as a compact to bushy, very productive plant usually reaching about 1.0 m tall, with blocky, ribbed, wrinkled pods around 4.5 to 5.0 cm long and roughly 3.0 cm wide. Reimer’s listing reports similar dimensions and specifically notes light green stems, light green foliage, and white flowers.

Flavour descriptions are unusually consistent across sources. It is commonly described as smoky, fruity, sweet, and tangy, with enough flesh and texture to work well in sauces and powders. Several seed listings recommend it for chilli jams, sauces, and powders, while other descriptions highlight its use in salsas, stews, stir fries, and Caribbean or Yucatecan cooking.

The part that does not align perfectly online is the heat level. Reimer provides a specific HPLC measurement of 129,816 SHU, while other sellers place the variety more broadly around 150,000 to 250,000 SHU or even 150,000 to 300,000 SHU. The value used here follows the published HPLC figure, though real-world heat may vary by plant and seed line.

Ripe colour wording also varies slightly between listings. Most describe the mature pods as yellow or golden-yellow, while at least one seller notes that pods can shift toward yellow-orange if left fully overripe.

Historically, the name appears in older heirloom pepper archives where “Harold’s St. Barts” is recorded as a variety brought back from the island by Harold Langlois. That entry includes the notation “RI HO P 96 (93)”, which suggests the line was already in circulation by the early 1990s, placing the cultivar well before modern online seed catalogues.

The variety sits culturally between traditional island habanero peppers and the collector-grower seed trade. Modern sources still emphasise its flavour quality rather than simply extreme heat, and it continues to be recommended primarily for real culinary use rather than ornamental growing.