comments on these peppers?

i got seeds for 3 peppers.

datil - the envelope says very, hot wikipedia says 100-300k shu. very hot? 100k is not very hot, 300k is pretty hot. is 100-300k accurate?

tobago - the envelope says very hot. from what i can find it is a scotch bonnet but can't find the shu.

tabasco - the envelope says very hot and under the name it says "the real thing". the real thing throws me, are there different tabasco peppers? the shu i have been able to find is 30-50k. that isn't really hot. is this pepper what tabasco sauce is made from? i don't find tabasco very hot, i used to but not anymore.
 
i got seeds for 3 peppers.

datil - the envelope says very, hot wikipedia says 100-300k shu. very hot? 100k is not very hot, 300k is pretty hot. is 100-300k accurate?

tobago - the envelope says very hot. from what i can find it is a scotch bonnet but can't find the shu.

tabasco - the envelope says very hot and under the name it says "the real thing". the real thing throws me, are there different tabasco peppers? the shu i have been able to find is 30-50k. that isn't really hot. is this pepper what tabasco sauce is made from? i don't find tabasco very hot, i used to but not anymore.
Not sure where your tolerance is, but Tabasco sauce is only about 5k I believe, which puts it on scale with a fresh jalapeno. The datils, at 100k - 300k are in line with habs and scotch bonnets, which are pretty warm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Tobago's were non-lethal seasoning peppers?
 
On the Tobago's, I only know of three varieties. The Tobago Seasoning and Tobago Sweet Scotch Bonnet are both so mild as to only tingle the tongue a bit, yet have the chinense flavors. I grew both of those this year. The other is the Faria pepper, or the Tobago Scotch Bonnet. It is supposed to be comparible to a Caribbean Red in heat level, but have a different flavor profile, however I have not grown or tried it.
 
i got seeds for 3 peppers.

datil - the envelope says very, hot wikipedia says 100-300k shu. very hot? 100k is not very hot, 300k is pretty hot. is 100-300k accurate?

tobago - the envelope says very hot. from what i can find it is a scotch bonnet but can't find the shu.

tabasco - the envelope says very hot and under the name it says "the real thing". the real thing throws me, are there different tabasco peppers? the shu i have been able to find is 30-50k. that isn't really hot. is this pepper what tabasco sauce is made from? i don't find tabasco very hot, i used to but not anymore.

I consider the Datil moderately hot with excellent flavors that are very unique. I grow them every year.

I know the Tabasco is rated in the literature at 30-50K, but some of the most blistering heat I've tasted was from the Tabasco. My theory is that it's the particular mix of capsaicinoid compounds rather than the actual level.

As far as the "real thing" comment, perhaps the seeds came from Avery Island, Louisiana. Most of the plants that are grown to produce the peppers that are used to produce Tabasco hot sauce are actually grown in South America from seed stock grown in Avery Island. I went there this year and bought some seeds that I'll grow next year.
 
so the tobago is not a hot pepper it's a seasoning pepper? what is a seasoning pepper, i saw that at different sites. my guess is it's a mild seasoning ie to be ground up not eaten whole?

tabasco sauce is not that hot to me to answer the where's your heat level. i was uncertain whether to grow them cuz the sauce is not so hot... to me.

the tobago seeds sound like i should toss them???? i want to grow hot peppers for eating not mild seasoning if i understand the seasoning thing correctly.
 
The Tobasco pod is hot - Tobasco sauce is not. I think the pod rates about 50,000 SHU. They thin the mash down with vinegar and salt to get the sauce down to around 5,000 SHU.
 
so the tobago is not a hot pepper it's a seasoning pepper? what is a seasoning pepper, i saw that at different sites. my guess is it's a mild seasoning ie to be ground up not eaten whole?

tabasco sauce is not that hot to me to answer the where's your heat level. i was uncertain whether to grow them cuz the sauce is not so hot... to me.

the tobago seeds sound like i should toss them???? i want to grow hot peppers for eating not mild seasoning if i understand the seasoning thing correctly.

If the Tobago's say hot, I'd assume they are the Faria pepper, or the Tobago Scotch Bonnet. It is supposed to be comparible to a Caribbean Red in heat level, but have a different flavor profile, however I have not grown or tried it. Where are the seeds from? I haven't seen much about that one and have never seen it available from a seed seller. The more common Tobago's are both seasoning peppers.

Seasoning peppers are chinense species peppers that have been selected over generations to have little or no heat, but the chinense species flavors. I personally have been trying to get as many true lines as I can of these for the past couple of years because I think there is potential for using them in mild pepper sauces that have all the flavor but little or no heat that will be of interest to people who shy away from even Tabasco or Franks.

Plus it can be fun to walk through the pepper patch with someone who keeps asking how hot they all are, reach down and pull a seasoning pepper off a plant and just pop it in my mouth. Then you assure them 'it's not that hot' and hand them one to see how much they trust you...

Tobago%20Seasoning%20Fruit%20Form.jpg



The two Tobago seasoning peppers have different plant forms and fruiting characteristics. Tobago seasoning is a smaller plant covered with small peppers, they have one of the more complex flavor profiles for seasoning peppers and a small tingle of heat. The Tobago Sweet Scotch Bonnet I suspected was the same thing as the Aji Dulce #2 as the plants look very similar, but they do have a slightly different flavor and if you do get some placenta material they do have a touch of heat, where the Aji Dulce #2 has none that I can detect. The amount of heat in either of them I would compare to a mild pepperocini at most, so definately not much.


Tobago%20Sweet%20Scotch%20Bonnet%20Fruit%20Form.jpg



The problem is you won't be absolutely sure what you have until you bite into one, as if you haven't grown them before you won't be able to pick them apart by looks. I believe the Faria pepper looks a lot like the Tobago Sweet Scotch Bonnet, or about the same as a Caribbean Red Hab.


Tabasco sauce is relatively toned down; lots of dilution. The peppers themselves can light you up unless you have built up quite a tolerance to capsaicin.
 
You need to use the SHU numbers as a guide and not at face value. I personally find Tabasco peppers hotter 'n hell. First time I ate one right off the plant I was totally shocked by the heat.

The ONLY way to tell if a pepper is hot to you is to eat it. I would suggest you find a way to sample each pepper you're interested in and go from there.

Good luck.
 
You need to use the SHU numbers as a guide and not at face value. I personally find Tabasco peppers hotter 'n hell. First time I ate one right off the plant I was totally shocked by the heat.

The ONLY way to tell if a pepper is hot to you is to eat it. I would suggest you find a way to sample each pepper you're interested in and go from there.

Good luck.
I don't there's anyone that considers tabasco chiles to be mild. they're very hot. it's not even a capsinoids thing. I honestly think anything anywhere near that heat scale is exceptionally hot. yes most of us grow chiles that are much hotter, but it does not make tabascos any milder.
 
The Tobasco pod is hot - Tobasco sauce is not. I think the pod rates about 50,000 SHU. They thin the mash down with vinegar and salt to get the sauce down to around 5,000 SHU.

so that explains a lot! the sauce at 5,000 is not hot and nowadays to me it isn't a really hot sauce. now 50k shu isn't a sweet pepper but not all that hot, but it is relative right. i mean i just had a carribean red yesterday and i have been eating fatallis and what looks more like an orange hab than the scotch bonnet plant that it was supposed to be. the fatallis and the carribean were hot but we're talking 200-300k shu. this is why i wouldn't think that 50k shu pepper would be all that hot. i guess i need to grow it an see.


If the Tobago's say hot, I'd assume they are the Faria pepper, or the Tobago Scotch Bonnet. It is supposed to be comparible to a Caribbean Red in heat level, but have a different flavor profile, however I have not grown or tried it. Where are the seeds from? I haven't seen much about that one and have never seen it available from a seed seller. The more common Tobago's are both seasoning peppers.

The problem is you won't be absolutely sure what you have until you bite into one, as if you haven't grown them before you won't be able to pick them apart by looks. I believe the Faria pepper looks a lot like the Tobago Sweet Scotch Bonnet, or about the same as a Caribbean Red Hab.

Tabasco sauce is relatively toned down; lots of dilution. The peppers themselves can light you up unless you have built up quite a tolerance to capsaicin.

yes on the envelope the tobago seeds are in it says "very hot pepper" with the "very" underlined. the seeds are from carig lehoullier aka nctomatoman. he's well known in the world of tomatoes and peppers. so the same as the tabasco seeds, i have to grow these to see what they are like ie how hot they are.


50,000SHU is VERY HOT! 100,000SHU is WAY HOT!

maybe i'm uninformed cuz i am new to this but the pepper i ate that is 100k shu (lemon drop) isn't all that hot, hot but not wicked hot. the 200-300k shu peppers i have eaten are hot - fatalli and carribean red.

You need to use the SHU numbers as a guide and not at face value. I personally find Tabasco peppers hotter 'n hell. First time I ate one right off the plant I was totally shocked by the heat.

yes the shu is a guide not an absolute. i am surprised how many have said the tabasco pepper is so hot, again it's just 50k shu.

thanks for the replies.
 
You need to remember not all peppers of the same variety have the same capsaicin content or heat level.
 
You need to remember not all peppers of the same variety have the same capsaicin content or heat level.

Absolutely correct. I grew some pequins a while back. Had one plant that wasn't as hot as a tabasco and a couple others that were just as hot as my orange habs. Even the midrange of the plants they were pretty hot for being a mid to upper mid heat level pepper.
 
You need to remember not all peppers of the same variety have the same capsaicin content or heat level.

oh, see i thought variety x was pretty constant re shu. i expect that weather and soil could play a role in different levels of capsaicin from garden to garden.... so i guess that's what you mean. but i would have expected that in any given garden all plants of variety x would be basically the same in shu? but then maybe the seeds aren't all pure, ie some may have come from crossed peppers even from your own seeds?

i'm still learning about these things. peppers are the biggest mystery and challenge of all the various vegetables i have grown over the past 20 years of growing vegetables. i attribute this to the fact i always bought sweet pepper plants locally and until 2 years ago i never ate anything hot at all much less grew any hot peppers and then i again bought plants locally. this year i bought 2 hot pepper plants locally and i'm hoping to grow some from seeds i have collected recently but this seems to be a real challenge. perhaps i should start a new thread vs adding that issue to this thread.
 
Ever bought a Jalapeño that had no heat, but then you took a bite of one that made you think you're dying? same sources do not give the same Scoville rating... same plant does not give same Scoville rating.

Most of the numbers you see online are from chiles that were grown to be tested. meaning people who knew what they're doing, did their best to make them hot. Bhut Jolokias aren't really 1,000,000SHU. I've been told in average anywhere from 650,000SHU to 800,000SHU, when in some cases below 500,000SHU.
 
Ever bought a Jalapeño that had no heat, but then you took a bite of one that made you think you're dying? same sources do not give the same Scoville rating... same plant does not give same Scoville rating.

Most of the numbers you see online are from chiles that were grown to be tested. meaning people who knew what they're doing, did their best to make them hot. Bhut Jolokias aren't really 1,000,000SHU. I've been told in average anywhere from 650,000SHU to 800,000SHU, when in some cases below 500,000SHU.

uh that's interesting i assumed those shu numbers were reliable and a good measure of the pepper, this is why i ask what's the shu of x or y. apparently when it comes to hot peppers it's kinda sorta probably maybe! nothing is cast in stone with these babies is what i'm learning!
 
Well there is the obvious genetic tendency of producing a certain Capsaicin content, but you also need to remember Capsaicin is a defense mechanism.

Nicotine is a defense mechanism in Nicotiana plants. they produce and release it into their tissue once they're threatened. because of that, even though harvesting your plant right away will result in leaves containing Nicotine, if you stress the plant by injuring leaves and even removing some, the Nicotine content will go way up.

Similar enough, Capsicum plants produce more Capsaicin to ensure the survival of their gene pool. the fewer pods, the more Capsaicin. the worse conditions, the more Capsaicin. extreme heat, under-watering and many other examples are ways to increase the heat of your chiles. because that different conditions, even with the slightest difference, will produce chiles of different heat, even the same plant might produce different levels of heat. now Capsaicin production is a phase in the development of chiles, meaning once they produced it and moved into ripening, you can't make them other. this makes different levels of heat on the same plant AT THE SAME TIME not just possible, but also likely.
 
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