What makes a Jalapeno a Jalapeno?

fortyonenorth · February 16, 2011

OK - this might seem like a bizarre question, but I'm no pepper expert, so here it is:

What makes a Jalapeno a Jalapeno or a Serrano a Seranno or an Ancho an Ancho?

As I read through the catalogs I see the obvious, (e.g. Jalapeno M, etc.) But there are other listings for "a jalapeno type" or "an ancho type" and so on. How does one distinguish between one pepper and another - is it strictly based on flavor and origin? What's the difference between a "jalapeno" and a "jalapeno-type"

What really irritates me (I'll digress here) is when I buy "hot" peppers at the grocery store and bring them home, only to discover they have no heat at all. Shouldn't these be labeled as such? When I think of jalapenos I think of a combo of flavor and heat. If you breed out all the heat (or flavor, for that matter) is it still a jalapeno?

Wi-sunflower · February 16, 2011

I think for the most part when you see something labeled "type", it's a hybrid with a specific variety name they you might not know is that type if they don't tell you.

For me it's a "flavor" that makes a Jalapeno or serrano or ancho.

As far as heat goes, yes they have bred too much of the heat out of them. But as far as the stores go part of the lack of heat is that, like tomatoes, they are picked too soon so they will last better in the stores.

In your garden if you want heat on the Jalapenos, wait till the fruit shows at least a little black streaking. Better yet, look for the corky short lines on the fruit. THOSE will be HOT, if the variety isn't one of those wimpy ones. You will almost never see fruit with the corky lines in the stores tho since those lines make the fruit loose moisture too fast so they don't keep as well for the stores.

Carol

RinTinTin · February 16, 2011

To add to the confusion, the same peppers are often given different names regionally.
I was on a site yesterday that listed several versions of jalepeños, and further down the list, they had a chipotle pepper listed. A chipotle is a jalapeño that has been ripened to red, then smoke dried/roasted. Either the site doesn't know, or they are catering to customers that don't know.

organichris · February 16, 2011

Yeah, to me its flavor. A serrano (my personal favorite) tastes like a serrano. Plus it is dense, whereas most other chilis are more hollow. And I really like all three mentioned (in this order): serrano, jalapeno, ancho (poblano).

I like them hot, and some of the jalapeno "types" are not very hot. The one I'm looking for this year is a big jalapeno with heat. I'm going to buy plants. Any suggestions? I'm always afraid I'll get some bunk jalapeno plant producing peppers with nominal heat value, because that's happened to me before.

barkeater · February 16, 2011

By far the hottest Jalapeno is also the biggest. Totally Tomatoes sells it as Goliath Jalapeno, variety "Tula". Every pepper is the same scorching heat that I love. I assume the consistency in heat is because it is a F1 hybrid. It is also twice as big as a normal jalapeno. I've grown it for 3 years straight and it is by far the hottest Jalapenos I've ever grown, and it doesn't matter what the weather is. Hot or cold, wet or dry, they are all the same.

My absolute favorite though is a hot banana pepper called "Inferno", also a hybrid from TT. I grew hungarian hot wax and hot banana peppers for years and loved the flavor but couldn't get consistent heat from them. Inferno is huge and early with consistent heat and flavor. Great peppers for freezing.

roper2008 · February 16, 2011

They say Billy Biker is the hottest , a hybrid from Burpee. I am growing
7 different varieties. Want to see which is my favorite. You want to try
a few billy bikers, organichris?

organichris · February 16, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by roper2008

They say Billy Biker is the hottest , a hybrid from Burpee. I am growing
7 different varieties. Want to see which is my favorite. You want to try
a few billy bikers, organichris?

Hmm...I may give it a try if I can find plants. I don't grow peppers from seed. Thanks for the input!

Chris

organichris · February 16, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by barkeater

By far the hottest Jalapeno is also the biggest. Totally Tomatoes sells it as Goliath Jalapeno, variety "Tula". Every pepper is the same scorching heat that I love. I assume the consistency in heat is because it is a F1 hybrid. It is also twice as big as a normal jalapeno. I've grown it for 3 years straight and it is by far the hottest Jalapenos I've ever grown, and it doesn't matter what the weather is. Hot or cold, wet or dry, they are all the same.

I'm pretty sure I can get Goliath Jalapeno plants. I've seen them in a nursery in years past. Sound like a good one to pickle. Thanks, barkeater.

robbyjoe01 · March 25, 2011

I do have some experience with jalapenos (since the 60's) and I believe the difference is the cultivator. A standard such as the jalapeno appeals to the masses and its the cultivator that puts their spin on it to appeal a certain crowd. Now just my personal belief the mass produced krap you see in the store will never compare to my almost natural homegrown produce

TomNJ · March 25, 2011

A little off subject, but since we are talking about Jalapenos...I've grown them successfully many times, but last year the crop was a disaster. The plants looked fine and yielded lots of fruit, but as soon as any red showed on the peppers they would rot internally (black). Any idea what can cause this?

TomNJ

robbyjoe01 · March 25, 2011

www.thechileman.org/guide_disease.php is a great source for disease

lurley · March 25, 2011

I agree that Goliath is a great one for jalepenos, I am growing it this year to compare to a past favorite much nacho. I had the same problem with my peppers last year, sweet and hot, never happened before in 20 plus years of gardening, as soon as they started to color they would get black, almost like BER on tomatoes. Don't know what it was, they plants and fruit looked fantastic right up until they started to color, lost tons of fruit last year to whatever it was and definitely don't want that to happen again this year. I did have ripe fruit early in the season, June through beginning of July, it was the main crop of July through Sept that was the issue.

organichris · March 25, 2011

Does anyone know if Mammoth Jalapeno from Bonnie is the same as Goliath? It sorta sounds like one is a knock off of the other and both are supposed to be big and hot. I just bought a couple of these Mammoth plants from freakin' Walmart.

RayR · March 25, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by RinTinTin

To add to the confusion, the same peppers are often given different names regionally.
I was on a site yesterday that listed several versions of jalepeños, and further down the list, they had a chipotle pepper listed. A chipotle is a jalapeño that has been ripened to red, then smoke dried/roasted. Either the site doesn't know, or they are catering to customers that don't know.

Ya, the names can be confusing.

An Ancho chili pepper is actually a dried Pablano pepper.

organichris · March 25, 2011

I would like some anchitos! Haven't found any plants locally yet. A bit early still I suppose.

February 16, 2011	#1
fortyonenorth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 1,150	What makes a Jalapeno a Jalapeno? OK - this might seem like a bizarre question, but I'm no pepper expert, so here it is: What makes a Jalapeno a Jalapeno or a Serrano a Seranno or an Ancho an Ancho? As I read through the catalogs I see the obvious, (e.g. Jalapeno M, etc.) But there are other listings for "a jalapeno type" or "an ancho type" and so on. How does one distinguish between one pepper and another - is it strictly based on flavor and origin? What's the difference between a "jalapeno" and a "jalapeno-type" What really irritates me (I'll digress here) is when I buy "hot" peppers at the grocery store and bring them home, only to discover they have no heat at all. Shouldn't these be labeled as such? When I think of jalapenos I think of a combo of flavor and heat. If you breed out all the heat (or flavor, for that matter) is it still a jalapeno?

February 16, 2011	#2
Wi-sunflower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,591	I think for the most part when you see something labeled "type", it's a hybrid with a specific variety name they you might not know is that type if they don't tell you. For me it's a "flavor" that makes a Jalapeno or serrano or ancho. As far as heat goes, yes they have bred too much of the heat out of them. But as far as the stores go part of the lack of heat is that, like tomatoes, they are picked too soon so they will last better in the stores. In your garden if you want heat on the Jalapenos, wait till the fruit shows at least a little black streaking. Better yet, look for the corky short lines on the fruit. THOSE will be HOT, if the variety isn't one of those wimpy ones. You will almost never see fruit with the corky lines in the stores tho since those lines make the fruit loose moisture too fast so they don't keep as well for the stores. Carol

February 16, 2011	#3
RinTinTin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Seattle Posts: 581	To add to the confusion, the same peppers are often given different names regionally. I was on a site yesterday that listed several versions of jalepeños, and further down the list, they had a chipotle pepper listed. A chipotle is a jalapeño that has been ripened to red, then smoke dried/roasted. Either the site doesn't know, or they are catering to customers that don't know.

February 16, 2011	#4
organichris Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK Posts: 630	Yeah, to me its flavor. A serrano (my personal favorite) tastes like a serrano. Plus it is dense, whereas most other chilis are more hollow. And I really like all three mentioned (in this order): serrano, jalapeno, ancho (poblano). I like them hot, and some of the jalapeno "types" are not very hot. The one I'm looking for this year is a big jalapeno with heat. I'm going to buy plants. Any suggestions? I'm always afraid I'll get some bunk jalapeno plant producing peppers with nominal heat value, because that's happened to me before.

February 16, 2011	#5
barkeater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NE Kingdom, VT - Zone 3b Posts: 1,439	By far the hottest Jalapeno is also the biggest. Totally Tomatoes sells it as Goliath Jalapeno, variety "Tula". Every pepper is the same scorching heat that I love. I assume the consistency in heat is because it is a F1 hybrid. It is also twice as big as a normal jalapeno. I've grown it for 3 years straight and it is by far the hottest Jalapenos I've ever grown, and it doesn't matter what the weather is. Hot or cold, wet or dry, they are all the same. My absolute favorite though is a hot banana pepper called "Inferno", also a hybrid from TT. I grew hungarian hot wax and hot banana peppers for years and loved the flavor but couldn't get consistent heat from them. Inferno is huge and early with consistent heat and flavor. Great peppers for freezing.

February 16, 2011	#6
roper2008 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Virginia Bch, VA (7b) Posts: 1,337	They say Billy Biker is the hottest , a hybrid from Burpee. I am growing 7 different varieties. Want to see which is my favorite. You want to try a few billy bikers, organichris?

March 25, 2011	#9
robbyjoe01 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 30	I do have some experience with jalapenos (since the 60's) and I believe the difference is the cultivator. A standard such as the jalapeno appeals to the masses and its the cultivator that puts their spin on it to appeal a certain crowd. Now just my personal belief the mass produced krap you see in the store will never compare to my almost natural homegrown produce

March 25, 2011	#10
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 771	A little off subject, but since we are talking about Jalapenos...I've grown them successfully many times, but last year the crop was a disaster. The plants looked fine and yielded lots of fruit, but as soon as any red showed on the peppers they would rot internally (black). Any idea what can cause this? TomNJ

March 25, 2011	#12
lurley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Central Ohio Posts: 741	I agree that Goliath is a great one for jalepenos, I am growing it this year to compare to a past favorite much nacho. I had the same problem with my peppers last year, sweet and hot, never happened before in 20 plus years of gardening, as soon as they started to color they would get black, almost like BER on tomatoes. Don't know what it was, they plants and fruit looked fantastic right up until they started to color, lost tons of fruit last year to whatever it was and definitely don't want that to happen again this year. I did have ripe fruit early in the season, June through beginning of July, it was the main crop of July through Sept that was the issue.