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Growing Hot Peppers
However, speaking of hot peppers, capsaicinoids are the chemical compounds responsible for the heat value in peppers.
This is an interesting way to measure the heat of peppers available this season in your local garden centers and I thought you'd be interested in this quick analysis. I'm indebted to the Redwood City Seed Company for this information.
On A Scale Of...
This scale represents how many ounces of sauce will have a detectable hotness when one ounce of pepper pods are added to the mix. The larger the number, the hotter the pepper.
'Red Hot' or 'Anaheim' peppers are fairly cool with a heat rating of 25. This is a mild salsa type of pepper.
'Mulato' is a brown stuffing pepper just right for grilling and stuffing with sour cream and its heat rating is a hotter 135.
Green Jalapeno peppers rate a 400 on the scale, so you can see that ounce of peppers will create a detectable heat in 400 ounces of sauce if you use these peppers.
Most people think Jalapeno peppers are hot enough for them - but wait fans, there's more.
Habernero
Many area gardeners grow 'Habernero' peppers and consider them serious heat for hot salsa recipes; and, with a heat rating of 5925 they can produce serious warmth.
At this rating, it is important to be very careful how they are handled (rubber gloves please when cutting - great kitchen aeration when cooking or steaming) to avoid personal injury from the oily capsaicinoids. These oils, airborne from cooking or on exposed skin, can burn tender face, neck, eye or nasal tissue and can cause respiratory problems in some people.
'Japones'
'Japones' is a pepper used in Szechwan Chinese cooking and it is rated at 16,000 on the heat scale.
If you've ever eaten proper Szechwan style cooking, the hot peppers are the little bits that burn all the way down and that many people avoid with a little experience.
PC-1
Our last pepper is one simply called PC-1 and is reputed to be the second hottest pepper in the world, rated at a mere 25,000 heat units. I'm growing them for a friend who likes Szechwan cooking and always asks for the hot pepper sauce whenever we eat together. PC-1 should cure that habit.
Not Tepid
I note the hottest pepper in the world is one called 'Tepin', rated at 50,000 heat units. I didn't order any of those this season but the pepper company sent me an ounce of dried Tepin powder to try in my spaghetti dishes. So far it is still on the shelf and I'm waiting for the courage to try it out.
It'll probably sit there for a while yet.
Do you have a question about Growing Hot Peppers?
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