from the REDWOOD CITY SEED COMPANY, Box 361, Redwood
City, Cal. 94064
Copyright © 1996, 1999 by Craig C. Dremann
Phone (650) 325-7333 This information is free to link or include in your
web page,
as long as the Copyright information is included.
Habanero and Scotch Bonnet are the most commonly grown varieties
of the pepper species Capsicum chinense. This species comes in many
forms of pods ranging from round, top-shaped, long, or lantern-shaped. Colors
can range from white, yellow, orange, red, and brown when ripe.
The red Capsicum chinense pods are known as Scotch Bonnet. Habanero
is the name usually used for the orange lantern-shaped pods. The Habanero
when ripe or dried and powdered has a unique apricot scent.
There have been many erroneous claims that Habanero is the world's hottest
pepper, but that title actually belongs to the Bird Peppers,
the wild forms of Capsicum annuum.
There are dozens of varieties of Bird Peppers knwon throughout the world.
The two best known Bird Pepper varieties in the United States are:
TEPIN= Chiltecpin,
Chiltepin, Chile mosquito, Chile de pajaro, Chile silvestre or Tecpintle.
The world's hottest pepper, collected from wild stands that grow in the
mountains of northern Mexico and southern Arizona. Pods are round, 1/4"
across, turns red when ripe. One ounce of this dried pepper with seeds removed
will produce a detectable hotness in 30,000-50,000 ounces (over 300 gallons)
of salsa!
PEQUIN=Chilipiquin (Mexico), Turkey Pepper (Texas), Grove Pepper
(in orange groves, Southern Florida), and Pring-kee-new [Rat-turd pepper]
(Thailand). Pods oval, less than 1" long with the smallest pods being
the hottest. Grows wild in Texas, Florida, and south throughout the Americas.
An interesting story about the bird peppers:
Birds cannot taste the hotness in peppers and the fruit of the bird peppers
are so small that they are eaten whole. The bird gizzards break up the pods
and seeds pass through undigested and surrounded by nice nitrogenous fertilizer.
Mammals, on the other hand, are discouraged by the extreme hotness of the
bird peppers. In Texas, where they call them Turkey Pepper, that the wild
birds intentionally eat a lot of peppers, which then flavors their flesh
and makes the turkeys distasteful to carnivores.
Hot Pepper Links:
PEPPER HOTNESS SCALE--DREMANN'S.
PEPPER SEEDS of Habanero, Scotch Bonnet, Tepin and
other common peppers.
PEPPER SEEDS of the rarer sorts.
HABANERO and TEPIN POWDER for
those brave souls with fire in their heart.
PEPPER BOOKLETS.
PEPPER SEED GROWING INFORMATION.
PEPPER HOTNESS ESTIMATED BY
POD SIZE.