Super hot jalapeno

[DeanRIowa]

I tried one bite of a jalapeño the other day and it was bland, so you had me scared, that my jalapeños were bland as well, but the second bite had the spice. I tried another jalapeño and all is spicy as normal.

Dean

[barkeater]

I have to agree, Michael. My Jalapenos are as hot as ever, and its been cold and wet most of the summer.

I've grown hot peppers for years, about 400 per year when I was farming. Mostly Hot Portugals, called Long Hots locally, which were the most popular seller in Jersey, but also grew about 50 Jals and 50 Hungarian Hot Wax. The results were always variable for me too.

But here in the Vermont hills, my Jalapenos are consistently hot as hell every year. I have no explanation either

[mdvpc]

Bark-are you saving your own seed? As I said, I have tried several seed sources and they keep getting milder.

[barkeater]

Michael, unless you bag the blossoms, if you cross your eyes it will cross with a hot pepper

I did save seeds a few years ago not knowing how readily peppers cross, and luckily ended up with a jalapeno x thai hot cross with jalapeno flavor and thai heat. The next year they were a mess.

This year I bought the hybrid Goliath Jalapeno, what a fantastic and HOT jalapeno, complete with the beautiful corking that always symbolized pure heat to me. And, my workhorse every year, Early Jalapeno, though half the yield, are hot too.

[mdvpc]

Bark-Where did you purchase your seed from?

[barkeater]

I got the seed from Totally Tomatoes. I measured one the other day and it was just shy of 5", and nice and corky. Its advertised as the hottest Jalapeno available, and maybe its a little hotter than the others. Its a hybrid, so maybe it will be more consistently hot in different areas of the country.

This year I only planted 5, and I can already see it will equal or beat the production of my 9 Early Jals.

[mdvpc]

Bark-Thanks for the information.

[Worth1]

You have to plant peppers when you’re mad I mean steaming mad, darn near stroke mad, vane popping mad.
Then after that stand out in the garden and curse at them in the most horrific manor you can think of.
If you cant do it than hire a Marine to do it.
THEN your peppers will be hot.

Worth

[mdvpc]

Worth-My wife wont let me curse at the chile. Any other suggestions?

[Zana]

Worth, you grow hot peppers like I golf. I'm not sure it helps my score or your peppers, but I enjoy letting off the steam. Maybe I should try that just before eating the latest batch of pickled hot peppers...when they're ready.

[spyfferoni]

I wonder if soil ph can effect flavor and heat in peppers. We have alkaline soil.
I'm sure there are many factors. I'm a wimp, so I don't even plant any hot peppers. When my neighbor moves I'll have to plant at least one plant to make salsa. I am growing Beaver Dam this year. I really want to try Aji Amarillo from Peru. There is a Peruvian dish made with the peppers that I just love. The peppers are blended up with milk, cheese, oil and a few other things I'm sure. The dairy in the sauce cuts the heat. It is usually poured over cooked potatoes---but I think I could eat the sauce on anything!

[Worth1]

I got the idea from a story I read when I was a kid in grade school.
It was about a man that could never grow hot peppers.
Story has it that his family went to a witch woman or something to get some help for him.
She told them he had to be mad on pepper planting day.
He was one of the nicest well tempered men around.
They nailed his boots to the floor, sewed his pants up served him cold coffee hid his garden tools, turned the mule loose and all sorts of things to make him mad.

It goes on to say that the peppers were so hot that they glowed in the dark and if you put one in a pot it would boil water.
I might be a little off but I think they used them to heat the cabin that winter.

I have found that sometimes pepper plants put out hotter peppers with age.
A lot hotter!!!!
I’m an ill tempered person so maybe that is why I grow HOT peppers.

Worth

[Grub]

Fun post. Thanks for all you help with peppers, Michael.

I like hot food, and was brought up on very hot stuff, but this season past everything was blazingly hot including, get this, even the non-heat seasoning types.

I think the drought helps. That's my theory.

[Granny]

Originally Posted by Grub

Fun post. Thanks for all you help with peppers, Michael.

I like hot food, and was brought up on very hot stuff, but this season past everything was blazingly hot including, get this, even the non-heat seasoning types.

I think the drought helps. That's my theory.

I think you're right Grub - though my "drought" has been man-made. I happened to read somewhere that peppers like to be dry. And noted that when I lived in the SW, where peppers grow to beat the band, it might rain once in a summer if you're lucky. So while I have been watering everything else, I have mostly ignored those peppers. Watered them maybe once a month. And my jalapenos are the hottest I've ever had. In Vermont of all places. I used to eat these things raw for breakfast, but not this batch!

[barkeater]

I have the hottest jalapenos ever, and it has been constantly wet all month. Wonder how hot they would be in a drought then?