Swiss man grows 52.5 cm chilli and breaks world record for the third time

Swiss resident Jürg Wiesli has grown a 52.5 cm chilli pepper and, for the third time, claimed the Guinness World Records title for the longest chilli pepper. The fruit was measured on 11 August in Dozwil, canton of Thurgau, and the record was confirmed by the organisation on 26 August.

The previous achievement also belonged to the same amateur gardener. In October 2017, he presented a 45 cm-long pod at a vegetable competition in Jona, canton of St. Gallen, and a year later improved the result to 50.5 cm. That mark stood since 2018 — for eight years.

All the record-breaking peppers come from the Joe's Long cayenne variety. Over ten years, Wiesli selected seeds from the best fruit of each season and developed his own line, which he named Wiesli Big Long.

The gardener describes his method simply: he germinates the seeds at home under lamps at 28 °C from March, plants the seedlings in the ground at the end of April, once the threat of frost has passed, carefully loosens the soil and adds mature compost. After that, the plants need regular watering and balanced fertiliser, but not too much: otherwise, the plant puts its energy into foliage instead of pods.

Wiesli himself believes the limit has not yet been reached, but the main difficulty lies not in the length but in the shape: long pods curl up, and straightening them is almost impossible — they simply break. That is why the record is updated so rarely: only three times in nine years, each time through the efforts of one person.

Length is not the only chilli category. The heaviest pepper remains one weighing 460 g, grown by Briton Paul Davies and registered on 7 September 2020, while the hottest is the Pepper X variety, with a rating of 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Units. For comparison, an ordinary habanero measures around 350,000 units and a jalapeño about 500.