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Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

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Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#31

Post by NoboruWataya »

simonsarris wrote: post #2

It's interesting how bad incentives are when something with qualitative differences (flavor, heat) is sold by the pound. Making it more palatable expands the market up to a point, but so does requiring more peppers generally. The most durable countermeasure seems to be totally outside of the purview of economics: building up a culture of caring about the product. Like tomatoes in Italy, or coffee beans among coffee l…

Are the incentives "bad", really? It seems like they are getting less spicy because that is what most people want. There seems to be an assumption that because Big Jalapeño are changing the flavour it must be for the worse. Personally I prefer spicier peppers but I am definitely an outlier amongst my friends at least.

I don't know that we need countermeasures, as such. I think it's fine to have a very common, affordable product that is predictable and palatable to the masses alongside other more niche variants which are popular with "enthusiasts" (and therefore might be less widely available and more expensive).

That's kind of how it is with coffee. Most people get theirs from Starbucks or some other big chain. I hate that stuff but they clearly like it, and I don't begrudge them it. As long as I am able to get my fruity single-origin light roasts.

I guess maybe you don't have those niches in jalapeños (I don't know where I would go to get a spicier jalapeño) but as you mention, there are other peppers we can look to if spice is what we want.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#32

Post by koyote »

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…

As someone who grows their own jalapenos:

My plants produce extremely mild peppers...

So either the seeds I got were already bred to be mild or maybe there's something else going on there :)

My habaneros are spicy as ever though, so it can't be exclusively be environmental.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#33

Post by progmetaldev »

thrwwycbr wrote: post #18
episteme wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do bug bites increase spice?

They release enzymes necessary for the spice/acid production. The acid counteracts those enzymes. If you cut open peppers, you can see the black veins which were bit by bugs, those are the ones containing the carbon acid. A better way to protect them against virusses but not against bugs that won't harm them is by combining the top of peppers with the root of potatoes, and by using moss to heal the cuts where you com…

I've read that slightly dehydrating your plants as they fruit is developing helps increase the capsaicin. You can also blend up the peppers and spray them down, which seems to agitate the peppers, and possibly send a chemical signal for the plant to start produce more capsaicin (although that's all been anecdotal evidence to my knowledge).

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#35

Post by dekhn »

I've been on a salsa making kick lately and use chipotles, which are dried and smoked jalapenos. Raw plain jalapenos were never that attractive to me although I did eat them whole frequently when I worked in a mexican restaurant...

The chipotles I get are plenty spicy- 3 small chipotles is enough heat for an almost uncomfortably spicy salsa (in this case, I'm talking about a salsa is made just from the chipotle flesh and some spices and water). If it wasn't spicy enough, I'd add arbol chiles (just one) which are painfully spicy.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#36

Post by resolutebat »

tptacek wrote: post #14
ramraj07 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has got to be the funniest responses to the problem at hand: peppers not spicy enough? grow your own..

Have you never grown peppers? It really is absurdly easy. The point though really isn't that everyone's just going to grow their own peppers; rather, it's that it's very easy to introduce an alternate supply of highly-variable jalapenos, because there aren't many barriers to producing them. There are urban garden companies in Chicago that produce lettuce right now and could probably produce jalapenos if anybody reall…

I don't think anybody wants highly-variable jalapenos though? Industrial processors want reliably mild, chileheads want reliably spicy.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#37

Post by fabian2k »

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…

I find the variance in spiciness for peppers quite annoying. If the same packaged product can vary between "I don't even notice any spiciness" to "Too spicy for me, I have to throw it away" that is just wasteful.

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#39

Post by ryukoposting »

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…

I got the same impression. There's no nefarious conspiracy to make shitty peppers for the tasteless masses. It just makes a lot more sense to make mild peppers, then add the capsaicin later on.

It'd be nice if you could still get a dice-roll-super-spicy jalapeno from the grocery store, though. I can't imagine my landlord would be keen on me growing jalapenos behind my building (or maybe they'd be fine with it! There's really only one way to find out).

Re: Why jalapeño peppers are less spicy (2023)

#40

Post by tptacek »

resolutebat wrote: post #36
tptacek wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you never grown peppers? It really is absurdly easy. The point though really isn't that everyone's just going to grow their own peppers; rather, it's that it's very easy to introduce an alternate supply of highly-variable jalapenos, because there aren't many barriers to producing them. There are urban garden companies in Chicago that produce lettuce right now and could probably produce jalapenos if anybody reall…

I don't think anybody wants highly-variable jalapenos though? Industrial processors want reliably mild, chileheads want reliably spicy.

Reliably spicy jalapenos have never been a thing, but you can optimize growing conditions for heat and produce a spicy cultivar if you want to go into business serving chileheads who want, like, hot, but not that hot?

(I get it, jalapenos have a particularly useful form factor; you can't really do a serrano relleno).

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