[upbeat jazzy music] I always say that the best way to learn about a fresh ingredient is to talk with someone who grows it, which is why today we're headed to eat more fruits and veggies in sunny eastern North Carolina.

Stephanie Moore can explain how and why they grow dozens of different peppers on her family farm.

So, good to see you- on this good morning!

- Good to see you too!

- Wow, you ordered some great weather- for us.

- It's a beautiful day.

- Glad you guys are here.

This was my parents' farm.

[soft music] They farmed this land and my grandparents farmed at Selma, and me and my husband, he was a farmer when I met him.

And we kinda took over after we got married and started growing produce and vegetables.

- I know you grow all kinds of things, but I'm here to talk about peppers 'cause I hear you guys are tops in that and have a million different kinds.

So, can you show me the pepper patch?

- Sure, let's go.

- Alright.

[soft guitar music] - In this block here, we have about 4,300 peppers.

Each row holds 727- 25 plants.

- Wow!

- And then we put our mild peppers, which is about across the way over there.

I don't know how far, so, we don't have cross pollination.

- Gotcha.

So, how many varieties are you growing and is it vary from year to year?

- It varies from year to year.

This year I potted 89, but we lost five or six.

- 89 different varieties, not 89 peppers.

I've never been around peppers like this.

So, take me down a row and teach me some things.

So, I love how these look and you've got all these varieties and the names are just amazing to me.

- There is so many names in there, crazy names.

People ask me all the time, do you make this up?

And I don't.

[Sheri laughs] That's the way they're called.

- How do you know when they're ready to pick?

Do they get a certain size, a certain color?

What are we- looking for?

- We pick 'em by color.

So, even the small one, like even that we would pick.

Once it starts turning color, that's when we pick it.

- [Sheri] These look like little flying saucers.

And these are long and tapered.

But look at these.

These are scotch bonnets- right?

- Yes.

These are scotch bonnets.

And these aren't, you know, you can touch these without 'em burning your hand.

And on the right here is, and I'll pull one of these out so you can see.

This is the Jamaican scotch.

- [Sheri] Oh wow!

- So that is the traditional Caribbean scotch that's used.

- That is perfect.

It almost looks like a flower, doesn't it?

- Now, I hear that you grow what most people consider to be the hottest of all, the Carolina Reaper.

Is that one that people ask for by name?

- Yes, that's one that everybody wants and wants to try.

And I have to warn people sometimes, if you've never had this pepper, you should not try it, if you're not used to hots, 'cause it's Scoville heat unit is 2.1 2.2 millions.

- That's amazing!

- It's the hottest.

- The Scoville is that unit of measurement of just how hot it is.

- Right.

- Have you ever tasted one?

- I've had a slither of just the pepper.

- Well I see- you lived to tell about it- - It is.

- Yes.

- But one was enough.

- Yes.

- It looks so innocent, so beautiful.

And yet it lurks for us, doesn't it?

So, I'm noticing, you know, those were red.

We've got yellow.

We've got some of those brownish, chocolatey color ones.

Are these all Reapers?

- They are.

They're all Carolina Reapers.

And the heat is pretty much the same through all of 'em.

Typically your red is your hottest.

- Red's the hottest, okay.

- Chocolates are gonna be a little bit more smoky flavor.

- Really!

- And then your yellows and peaches are typically your fruitier undertones with the heat.

[upbeat music] - Stephanie, I've had the best time.

I never knew- - Me too.

- That there were this many kinds of peppers anywhere, much less in one patch.

We've learned what to look for, the different characteristics, from the not so hot to be really crazy hot.

I cannot thank you enough for sharing your patch, your farm, and your story with me.

I appreciate it.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

[bright music]