Tonight, I thought I would talk about, How do you know that pepper is seriously hot or not? Here is a tutorial for people who have never seen these peppers and don't know their names, nor do you have to taste any. And also a little bit about how they vary in heat.
First of all, in general, the peach or yellow form of a normally red pepper will be less hot, where many times, the chocolate form will be hotter than the original red pepper.
First question of the test, here are three forms of Bhut Jolokia, or ghost pepper. Which one is hottest?
Here is the fun part for me. As a general rule the bumpier the pepper is the hotter it is. Sometimes it will be little bumps, sometimes it can be big folds. Picture these as pockets of capsaicin oil. I kid around and talk about a certain pepper being really nasty looking, but that is a complement. So, even when you don't know the pepper, if it is gnarly looking, step back a bit. This is a good way to tell between different types of peppers, but interestingly enough, between different plants of the same type, and also peppers growing on the same plant.
OK, question 2, here are two Red Brain Strains, which taste wise treasures about 25% hotter than the previous hottest pepper, Moruga Scorpion. These came from two different plants, which one is hotter?
If you said the one on the left, you would be correct. If you taste a piece of each from the same location of the pepper there will be an obvious difference. This is the kind of thing I use to pick the best genetics and keep the best plants for the next year and slowly cycle out the ones that are not as good, since they will produce good peppers for 5 to 8 years. Above I mention the location of the pepper, for those who don't know, first of all the seeds are NOT the hottest thing in that pepper, in fact they don't have capsaicin at all. There is membrane, or placenta and that is where the majority of heat it, but also, super hots will have what looks like water in them and that is just pure heat. The tops are the hottest and the bottoms are less hot. If you want to get a good idea of the heat, taste a chunk of the top.
Anyway, a single plant will have peppers that vary in bumpiness at the same time, and yes, they will taste different. Then, the hotter it is outside, the hotter the peppers get. So a plant producing peppers in March will have comparatively another pods and will have bumpier pods in August. July and August peppers for me are the hottest for the year. Last two questions, here are two reaper peppers on the same plant, which one is hotter?
This one will be hard, especially with my tablet photo, which one of these ghosts are hotter?
You are now experts in heat and know what to look for when choosing your best genetics for the best seriously hot peppers. Tom
