Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

Post by bb88 » Mon, Feb 26, 2024, 11:41 PM UTC

anthomtb wrote: post #101

dheera wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish we could have a habanero that is 1/4 as spicy. I LOVE the flavor of habaneros but their spiciness prevents me from putting too much. That said on the flavor/spiciness scale a lot of the Chinese varieties are excellent. The chili peppers used in Sichuanese cuisine are actually not that spicy compared to habaneros or Thai chilis, which allows it to be possible to dump a bag full into a dish and it gives i…

When using hot peppers I remove some of, or all, of the seeds and pith. You can greatly control the amount of heat this way since the seeds and pith have the most concentrated capsaicin. Maybe habanero is too potent for that strategy but it works well on jalapeno, serrano, and whatever they grow in Hatch, NM. (and it should be obvious but wear disposable gloves if you do this, unless you want the worst wank of your l…

Post by ohthatsnotright » Mon, Feb 26, 2024, 11:42 PM UTC

aegypti wrote: post #58

tptacek wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're just making a fermented hot sauce, why not just use serranos? The serrano is basically the consistently hot jalapeno you're looking from; it's just less plump and so less useful as a popper or whatever. And, of course, if you really wanted heat, you'd be using scotch bonnets anyways.

Each of these chiles have very different flavors friend. Serranos and jalapeños are much closer than habaneros but still cleanly separated by bitterness, brightness and acridity. Eg a grandmother’s salsa ranchera with jalapeño only is a much sweeter affair than when supplemented with serranos, and equally much less fruity than when pequins are used.

Post by canadianfella » Mon, Feb 26, 2024, 11:43 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #11

The reason I took away from this: large agricultural producers of peppers bred towards a "low heat, low variance" standard, away from a "high variance" standard that produced frequent hot jalapenos. Low-heat-low-variance is better for mass food production, because producers can just dose the capsaicin directly, which is something they can't do easily when every pepper is a wildcard. There are second-order effects, li…

Post by ortusdux » Mon, Feb 26, 2024, 11:45 PM UTC

jseliger wrote: post #24

tptacek wrote: post #11

The reason I took away from this: large agricultural producers of peppers bred towards a "low heat, low variance" standard, away from a "high variance" standard that produced frequent hot jalapenos. Low-heat-low-variance is better for mass food production, because producers can just dose the capsaicin directly, which is something they can't do easily when every pepper is a wildcard. There are second-order effects, li…

Less spicy is actually good. I prefer more flavorful chiles, with less spice. Mark Miller's conversation with Tyler Cowen is good on this subject: https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/mark-miller/ . Chiles are actually fruits and, combined judiciously, create a lot of complex flavors. Excess spiciness overwhelms the flavor. And people who want absurdly spicy peppers, can get them: ghost chiles, carolina reaper…

Post by theultdev » Mon, Feb 26, 2024, 11:46 PM UTC

bb88 wrote: post #107

PheonixPharts wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I enjoy plenty of non-spicy foods, and don't need every meal to be spicy, nor to I think that the only flavorful meals are spicy meals. My point is exclusively with chili peppers, as the spice increases so does the flavor. I didn't grow up eating spicy food, and my experience has been that as my spice tolerance has grown overtime I have found access to increasingly won…

That's interesting, I am curious if it's the capsaicin itself you're tasting directly. I know I've had hot sauces that were just heat without any kind of real flavor. It's not that I couldn't taste it. I could, I just didn't want any more of it.