When Are Chillies Ready to Pick?
Colour change is your best guide. Here’s how to tell when popular chilli varieties are ripe for harvest.
Why wait for colour?
Chillies start green, then ripen to their mature shade. Picking too early gives grassy flavour and lower heat. Waiting for full colour brings sweetness, complexity, and maximum capsaicin.
Popular varieties & their ripe colours
- Jalapeño: green → red
- Cayenne: green → bright red
- Habanero: green → orange (sometimes red or brown)
- Ghost (Bhut Jolokia): green → red or chocolate brown
- Carolina Reaper: green → wrinkled, deep red
Harvest tip: Use snips, leave a short stem, and avoid tugging to protect the plant.
Speeding up ripening
- Give plants maximum light and warmth.
- Thin crowded foliage to improve airflow.
- Before frost, pick mature green fruit to finish ripening indoors in a paper bag.
Go deeper with the complete chillies guide
For seed-to-sauce coverage—varieties, propagation, pruning, pests, scovilles, preserving, and recipes—get “Chillies — History; Growing; Using — A Comprehensive Guide.”