Habanero Peppers

Habanero Peppers: Habanero Peppers are officially the hottest peppers in the world. There are several types of habanero, and the small bright orange peppers in your local produce department are hot but not the hottest on record. Habanero peppers are usually in the range of 100,000-350,000 Scoville units, but the Ghost Chile, which is rumored to be a habanero, can reach over 1 million units of heat and is officially the world's hottest pepper. The previous record was also held by a habanero, the Red Savina, at 350,000-577,000 Scoville units. Unripened habaneros are green, but they can ripen to a number of colors: orange, red, white, brown or pink. The name habanero is thought to have come from Havana, Cuba, and habaneros originated in the Caribbean and nearby South American Amazon Basin. When given it's latin name of "Capsicum chinense" the habanero was mistakenly thought to have originated in China.

Because of their high heat habanero peppers are a very popular ingredient in hot sauce. Homemade Caribbean hot sauce favors the habanero, as do some of their more potent jerk seasonings. Today the lantern shaped orange habanero is grown commercially in Texas and California. As tropical plants they prefer warm nights and lots of humidity. Drought and other types of stress cause the plants to produce hotter peppers. Habanero are slow growers too, the plants take more than 100 days to produce mature pods. This long growing period combined with the stress induced heat level means that the heat level of any individual habanero pepper is very unpredictable. With all that heat it can be hard to discern any other flavors in a habanero, but those who can refer to them as "fruity", "floral" or "smokey". Habanero can be found whole, dried, powdered, course ground, or crushed.

Habanero Peppers Facts:
• Habanero peppers are the World's hottest
• Habanero peppers come in many varieties
• Habanero heat can run between 100,000 and 1,000,000 Scoville units
• Habanero peppers originated in the Caribbean and South America
• Slow growing tropical plant
• Shapes range from orange lanterns to small berries to 5" long pods
• The familiar orange habanero originated on the Yucatan Peninsula
• Widely used in hot sauces
• Habanero heat can be unpredictable, but all are very hot

Nutritional data per 100g dried: Alanine - 0.433 g Arginine - 0.508 g Ash - 6.60 g Aspartic acid - 1.512 g Calcium, Ca - 45 mg Carbohydrate, by difference - 69.86 g Carotene, alpha - 994 mcg Carotene, beta - 14844 mcg Copper, Cu - 0.228 mg Cryptoxanthin, beta - 1103 mcg Cystine - 0.203 g Energy - 1355 kj Energy - 324 kcal Fatty acids, total monounsaturated - 0.468 g Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated - 3.079 g Fatty acids, total saturated - 0.813 g Fiber, total dietary - 28.7 g Folate, DFE - 51 mcg_DFE Folate, food - 51 mcg Folate, total - 51 mcg Glutamic acid - 1.397 g Glycine - 0.391 g Histidine - 0.215 g Iron, Fe - 6.04 mg Isoleucine - 0.342 g Leucine - 0.554 g Lutein + zeaxanthin - 5494 mcg Lysine - 0.471 g Magnesium, Mg - 88 mg Manganese, Mn - 0.821 mg Methionine - 0.127 g Niacin - 8.669 mg Pantothenic acid - 0.956 mg Phenylalanine - 0.327 g Phosphorus, P - 159 mg Potassium, K - 1870 mg Proline - 0.460 g Protein - 10.58 g Riboflavin - 1.205 mg Selenium, Se - 3.5 mcg Serine - 0.425 g Sodium, Na - 91 mg Sugars, total - 41.06 g Thiamin - 0.081 mg Threonine - 0.389 g Total lipid (fat) - 5.81 g Tryptophan - 0.135 g Tyrosine - 0.220 g Valine - 0.447 g Vitamin A, IU - 26488 IU Vitamin A, RAE - 1324 mcg_RAE Vitamin B-6 - 0.810 mg Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid - 31.4 mg Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) - 3.14 mg Vitamin K (phylloquinone) - 108.2 mcg Water - 7.15 g Zinc, Zn - 1.02 mg

Habanero Powder

Where to buy: Habanero Peppers