Chile Peppers
by Gary Mattingly
Almost every other year I grow peppers. This year I grew more than ever before. I'm not entirely sure
why I did this. I do like peppers but the quantity I planted far exceeds my possible intake. I planted six
serranos, six jalapenos, five cayennes, six fresno peppers, six Mexican chile peppers, three thai peppers, two cherry bomb peppers, two mulatto islenos, three anaheim peppers, six habanero peppers, one tabasco pepper and a few unknowns. The order of hotness could approximately be as follows (from mildest to hottest): anaheim, Mexican chiles, mulatto islenos, cherry bomb, fresno, jalapeno, tabasco, cayenne, serrano, thai, and habanero. The habanero peppers are definitely the hottest. Some of the ordering in the middle is uncertain. I could go look at one of my books on hot peppers but if you're that interested send me an email for more exact information. There is actually a measure of hotness called a Scoville but it seems to be something you can only determine with sophisticated laboratory equipment.
There is a chile list server on the internet. That is a mailing list to which you can
subscribe. Many people send in questions, recipes, gardening information, and a myriad
of other pieces of information, stories, etc. about peppers. It is run by a guy at UC Davis,
who also has a Chile Pepper Web page. There are people from all over the world who send in messages. The majority are from the US but there are also many from England, Australia and even Japan. The people on the list refer to themselves as Chile Heads. Chile Heads even have gatherings. Basically these are pot lucks. Guess what types of food they bring.
It is nice to know that I'm not the only person who has twenty or thirty different types of hot sauces in
the refrigerator. However many of these people spend more time cooking than I do. I would consider
it but Patty definitely does not have the desire to sweat profusely while eating and I don't usually feel the urge to cut down the recipes just for myself. I have to figure out what to do with the remaining peppers that are still on the plants in the back yard. I can't freeze them all because there is not enough room in the freezer. I have taken a lot into work. There have only been a couple of incidents where people have not sufficiently heeded my warnings about the habaneros. One person actually bit off half of one. I definitely did not warn her enough. Fortunately she regularly eats peppers so she didn't have to go to the emergency room or die. I did dry a bunch of them and then ground them up into a very tasty chile powder. It is much better than that bland stuff labelled red pepper that you can buy in stores. That is probably what I will do with the rest of them.
Some pages on the net related to chile peppers include:
