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Peppers are an integral part of many Mexican Recipes. Knowing
your peppers is important. In the grocery stores in the Rio Grande Valley we've
been able to buy both fresh and dried fresh peppers.
As a general rule the smaller the pepper the hotter it is.
In peppers, the majority of the chemicals that create the 'heat' in the pepper
are contained in the webbing and seeds. The outer flesh is not as hot. The heat
of a pepper is measured in something called Scoville Units. You can read all about
how chili peppers get their 'heat' by clicking here for the Wikipedia
Pepper article, or The
Chilipepper Institute. For comparison, we've put the Scoville heat unit range
behind the name of each pepper below.
Green Pepper/Bell Pepper (0 su's)
Poblano peppers (1000-2000 su's) are mild - almost green peppers
- and they are less than bell peppers in the store. If they are dried they are
called Ancho peppers.
Jalapeno (2,500-8,000 su's) and Serrano (5,000-23,000) peppers
are hot - when diced as a fresh ingredient they are great.
The two hottest peppers commonly found in the grocery store
are Chile Piquin (40,000-58,000 su's) and Habanero (100,000 - 350,000) peppers.
These are very hot! We don't eat these, by the way.
Caution!
Be careful when handling hot peppers - the chemicals can burn the skin and
be very careful not to touch your eyes or other mucus after handling chilies.
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