Mustard Reaper

Mustard Reaper is a modern superhot Capsicum chinense line associated in current specialist trade with Italian grower Rocco Maltesi. Current exact-name listings describe it as the mustard-coloured version of Brown Reaper, while other trade descriptions treat it as a Carolina Reaper type or reaper-derived line, placing it firmly in the recent specialist superhot scene rather than among older heirloom or regional peppers.

The fruit is described as thick-walled, meaty, and very to extremely hot, with shapes that still fit the reaper type while differing somewhat from the more familiar red Carolina Reaper form. Current seller descriptions place pods at about 50.0 mm long, with plants typically around 90.0 cm tall and sometimes reaching about 120.0 to 150.0 cm. The ripe colour is consistently described as mustard-like, yellow-brown, or slight yellow-brown rather than bright yellow, with fruit beginning green before maturing into the darker mustard finish.

In current circulation the pepper is treated as a true superhot. Scoville Canada lists it at 1,600,000+ SHU, while Pepper Joe lists 1,500,000 to 2,200,000 SHU and describes it as slightly less hot than the original Carolina Reaper but still extremely hot. Trade descriptions also describe it as sweet, fruity, earthy, and notably flavourful for a reaper-type pepper, with pods suited to sauce, salsa, powder, and other culinary uses.

The earliest exact-name public reference located in indexed results is a 2019 grow log on The Hot Pepper that lists Mustard Reaper among the grower's season varieties. By 2020 the exact name also appears in a Reddit post showing harvested pods, indicating that the line was already in hobbyist circulation by that period and later moved into wider specialist seed trade.

A major factual conflict exists over the pepper's core origin and breeding history. Matt's Peppers and Scoville Canada tie Mustard Reaper to Rocco Maltesi in Italy and describe it as a mustard version of Brown Reaper, while Pepper Joe instead lists the origin as USA and describes it as a cross between Red Carolina Reaper and Mustard Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. That conflict changes the pepper's origin and parentage fields.