I enjoy growing peppers, and I have varieties of all heatlevels. and as anyone who has ever grown peppers knows, there is no such thing as a pepper shortage this time of year,all the plants are pumping out peppers! For me, part of theenjoyment of growing anything is being able to share.So, here's the problem, I have found that "hot" is a relative term. I brought in some peppers to one of myco-workers who insisted he liked hot peppers. "Theseare really, really hot, now," I warned him; but heassured me he liked 'em hot.Apparently he doesn't like 'em *that* hot, cause hewas back in here complaining about my devil peppers.I didn't have the heart to tell him those weren't even close to the hottest ones I have.Anyway, I'm starting to use what I call "The Old El Paso"scale. Almost everyone has had Old El Paso salsa at sometime or another, so I ask them what level - mild, medium, orhot- of Old El Paso salsa would they eat, or would theyconsider Old El Paso far too I know there arefar better salsas out there, both homemade and commercial, but Old El Paso seems to be so ubiquitious, it's a handy reference. It has narrowed things down a lot, but there are still a few who are convinced they like much hotter peppers than they really do.And then there are those annoying people who think thatliking hot peppers somehow makes them kewl. I will confessto making pepper poppers out of Devil's Tongue peppersto take to parties just to watch that sort start making allkind of excuses about why they can't have anything hottonight! Some of them even get all scaredy at the Lemon Drop poppers, and they're merely hot.Penelope

Is the "scoville" unit scale not working for you? I doesn't sound nearly as"kewl" as the "Old El Paso" scale but it is a good reference point.Try this link.

How Hot?

Oct 19, 2004 21 Replies

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Mark Ingram 21 years ago

5 days and counting

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Penelope Periwinkle 21 years ago

with her, a habanero is a cultivar of _C chinense_ that has a fiery pungency*, is yellow/orange, lantern-shaped, and has an unmistakable flavor.

Is this correct?

Penelope

she does not, in the information provided, use Scoville units, so please pardon my lack of precision.

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