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Chili pequins. Photo submitted by Jerry Hall

EXPLORING NATURE: HOT PEPPERS

Sunday, July 12, 2020

I am a big fan of hot sauces and hot peppers. I recently ordered a bottle of “Zulu Fire Sauce,” made in South Africa, and I am growing a chili pequin bush in a container on my back deck. The bush is currently loaded with little round, green peppers.

The Zulu sauce turned out to be disappointingly mild, so I am now in the market for something a tad hotter. I have researched the matter and discovered the ten hottest peppers in the world, in descending order of hotness, are Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, 7 Pot Douglah, 7 Pot Primio, Trinidad Scorpion (Butch T), Naga Viper, Ghost Pepper, 7 Pot Barrackpore, 7 Pot Red Giant and Red Savina Habanero.

By the way, the “7 Pot” designation means one pepper can heat up seven pots of stew. Frankly, I find the average jalapeno pepper way too hot to nibble, and the Carolina Reaper tested at 200 times hotter than the jalapeno. Wow.

On a long-ago trip to Trinidad, I purchased a jar of pickled Scorpion peppers and when I got back home, I found that just a tiny bite of the pepper was like tasting molten lava. So I am a weenie when it comes to really hot peppers.

I am told the Carolina Reaper “has an excellent fruity flavor – right up until it melts your face off.”

While I look forward to my chili pequins turning red, and eating one occasionally mixed with other food, I’ll leave the Carolina Reaper to someone who will appreciate its excellent fruity flavor.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666