Donne Sali

[dvg]

I had a chance to sample some dried Donne Sali pepper pods last night, that another THP member had kindly sent me. Thanks Wayright!

And that little pepper really has a nice bite to it.

They aren't large, maybe about three times as large as a grain of rice.

But boy do they give a nice addictive tongue sting.

At first when I chew one up, there is no immediate heat.

So you might think that these might not be that hot.

But the heat just kinda gradually creeps up on you and just continues to build.

The heat was very intense on the outer sides of my tongue and at a point 1 to 1.5 inches back from the tip of my tongue, it felt like I had been stung by a bee.

My lips tingled a bit from the heat burn, and there was also a bit of residual burn on the roof of my mouth.

But mostly, the sides of my tongue and the front part of my tongue got a very good intense burning.

The burn goes on for a good long while too, easily for at least twenty minutes or so. I wished I had timed it to know for sure, but the tongue sting felt like someone had reared back, wound up and bitch-slapped my tongue.

And these little peppers are addictive too.

Over the course of the evening last night, I dipped into the Donne Sali bag around seven or eight times, looking for another pepper fix and realizing that I might be getting addicted to the burn of these little pepper gems.

The plants are supposed to produce quite a few of these peppers, so that will go a long way to feeding the addiction to these little heat snacks.

I'm really looking forward to growing some of these later on this year.

dvg

 

[wayright]

Nice review,I agree those little peppers are hot!
One of my favorites!

Kevin

 

[RedtailForester]

How was the taste? They are Chinense, so do they have the Hab taste? I was considering growing them this year.

 

[dvg]

Hi Dan, actually these peppers are a frutescens.

The dried peppers don't have a lot of flavor, but I haven't had a chance to try the fresh pods yet.

From what I've been told though, the fresh fruits are more flavorful.

dvg

 

[SuperHot]

Look out Neil "dvg" is closing in, nice demo. I grew 3 hot pepper species which produced very small pods last season, but not quite as small as your demo. They were the Bolivian Tepin, Tepin and White Habs. They all had a good balance of heat and flavor, but seem to be very time consuming when processing. For that reason I'm only growing superhots with the larger pods. I do love trying new species and appreciate the various heat and flavor blends they produce. They all have a place in the kitchen and certain foods do taste better when cooked with the right peppers.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Jack

 

[RedtailForester]

That's strange. Everything I've found on them has said they are Chinense. It makes sense that they are Frutescens from their shape. Anyway, what is taste like???

 

[naganumbness]

nice review. glad you found one you really like. wait till you try them fresh. it's like somebody stuck a firecracker in your mouth. the heat also varies from pod to pod on the same plant so you'll get a few that are hot then WHAM! good strain. lets see some videos man!

 

[RedtailForester]

So is the taste more tabasco-ish since it is a Frutescen? Come on Doug, inquiring minds want to know.

 

[wayright]

I dont think they are Tabasco-ish tasting, having eaten fresh ones,,I would say more Tepin-ish, but hotter,full of seeds but they are so small you dont notice it much!

Kevin

 

[RedtailForester]

Well I'm all about the tepin. Thanks Kevin.

 

[dvg]

Thanks for reading the review and for your encouragement.

Dan, I've only tried the dried pods and they are hard to get a handle on flavor-wise.

Because of my very limited exposure to different peppers thus far, asking me to compare pepper flavors is probably more akin to asking the guy who has only eaten apples, to describe what an orange tastes like.

But I will tell you that the dried pods have a green bell peppery taste with just a slight tinge of bitterness to them, and then finishing with just a hint of a nutty flavor in there.

dvg

 

[RedtailForester]

That is a great description Doug. I don't know if I would describe a tepin like that but it is just giving me all the more excuse to try to grow these little buggers this year. Thanks man!

 

[cmpman1974]

I'm growing it this year. Looking forward to it.

Chris

 

[Sandgroper]

Mine are flowering at the moment with a couple of little baby pods so it wont be long. I thought they were a chinense too.

 

[Sandgroper]

Just found this, to be honest I hadnt given it much thought but I did think from memory that it was a chinese but it was not to be.

Found it here http://foodnearsnellville.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/the-origin-of-the-boonie-pepper/

I wrote my bachelor’s alma mater, the University of Guam, and got a couple interesting comments out of that. From a comment from Phoebe Wall to a member of the alumni group at UOG I get this:

The “boonie pepper” is definitely Capsicum frutescens. There is a lot [of] variation in types. I imagine [Food Near Snellville] is probably referring to the donne’ sali (the small one that is really pika).

and from Professor Mari Marutani (she’s the resident UOG expert on the Guam boonie) I received this reply:

Hi [Food Near Snellville],
Two hot pepper plants are known in Guam. One is “donne’sali” (C. frutescens) that is characterized to have small, bright red, and very pungent fruits. The other is “donne’ ti’au” (C. annuum), a long, red and pungent pepper. “Donne’sali” has long been harvested from the wild and “donne’ ti’au” is mainly grown in the backyard garden. Selections of each were documented once as ‘Guam Super Hot’ donne’sali, (C. frutescens), and ‘Guam Regular Hot’ possibly a selection of donne’ti’au C. annuum. ‘Guam Super Hot’ is very pungent having Scoville heat unit of 4000-4250, while ‘Guam Regular Hot’ was reported to have an average of 3450 (Lee, C. T. 1987. ‘Guam Super Hot’ chili pepper. HortScience 22:1341). However, unfortunately original specimens of both ‘Guam Super Hot’ and ‘Guam Regular Hot’ have been lost and we will not be able to examine them.

Occasionally, some farmers sell their own selected lines and wild hot peppers (‘boonie’ peppers) to the roadside vendors and local supermarkets. Since there is a great possibility of cross pollination (often by bees), this self-pollinated plant often has a genetic variations in natural environment. People of Guam know there are variation of Donne sali. For example, Mr. Cruz has one kind and Mrs. Santos has slightly different one, hotter or very PIKA.

Mari

In short, the boonie is not the Thai pepper. And what you get may vary considerably, due to genetics.

 

[RedtailForester]

I'll take that as a pretty reliable source for Frutescens...

 

[Downriver]

...‘Guam Super Hot’ donne’sali, (C. frutescens)...is very pungent having Scoville heat unit of 4000-4250...

So, how hot are these guys? 4,000 SHU is like a lightweight Jalapeno. Tepins, on the other hand, can be an easy 100k or more.

Can anybody zoom in on the heat level a little more?

Thanks

 

[dvg]

I'd say that these Donne Sali are easily over 100,000 SHU and could be around the 200,000 SHU range.

When I first tried one, I had just finished sampling some Brain Strain powder, some Yellow 7Pod powder and some Yellow CARDI Scorpion powder as well. And then I popped a Donne Sali into my mouth.

In a few minutes I was wondering why my mouth was so hot, and suspected it might be the tiny pepper that had the heat.

So I tried another one again later, after the heat had subsided in my mouth.

And sure enough, that was the hot little pepper that really lit my mouth up.

dvg

 

[wayright]

Hey Downriver, they are definitely hotter than a Tepin,I have eaten them side by side!

If you need a few seeds ,just shoot me a PM!

Kevin

 

[Goonie4Boonies]

I had a chance to sample some dried Donne Sali pepper pods last night, that another THP member had kindly sent me. Thanks Wayright!

And that little pepper really has a nice bite to it.

They aren't large, maybe about three times as large as a grain of rice.

But boy do they give a nice addictive tongue sting.

At first when I chew one up, there is no immediate heat.

So you might think that these might not be that hot.

But the heat just kinda gradually creeps up on you and just continues to build.

The heat was very intense on the outer sides of my tongue and at a point 1 to 1.5 inches back from the tip of my tongue, it felt like I had been stung by a bee.

My lips tingled a bit from the heat burn, and there was also a bit of residual burn on the roof of my mouth.

But mostly, the sides of my tongue and the front part of my tongue got a very good intense burning.

The burn goes on for a good long while too, easily for at least twenty minutes or so. I wished I had timed it to know for sure, but the tongue sting felt like someone had reared back, wound up and bitch-slapped my tongue.

And these little peppers are addictive too.

Over the course of the evening last night, I dipped into the Donne Sali bag around seven or eight times, looking for another pepper fix and realizing that I might be getting addicted to the burn of these little pepper gems.

The plants are supposed to produce quite a few of these peppers, so that will go a long way to feeding the addiction to these little heat snacks.

I'm really looking forward to growing some of these later on this year.

dvg

Hi, Everybody!

You may remember me and my quest to find my beloved Boonie Pepper seeds last fall. Well, my wish was granted in January by a generous individual in San Antonio whose wife is from Guam. One sunny afternoon, I received an envelope packet of seeds from his own stock in the mail, complete with planting instructions and growing tips!! I very impatiently held onto them until I could hold out no more; in March, I started 2 seeds (along with several others from a hot mix that our friend AjiJoe sent me - thanks Joe!). Joy! Both seeds popped, and I was thrilled! Lo' and behold, all these months later, I'm about the harvest some of those bad puppies! (see pic of one plant with a Boonie baby just getting started).

dvg - I have to tell you, your review of them is spot on! As a goof, I picked a green one - again being impatient - as my husband and I were hanging out while grilling, by the pepper buckets one evening. We were picking and sampling the different peppers I've got growing on. We'd already eaten a Thai chile, and a variety of others. Well...I thought: "I'll eat a whole one of these. They're green. They're small. How bad can it be?". Mind you, back in the day when I had unlimited access, I cooked with them a lot. They were always chopped, and I didn't use very many - 1 or 2, maybe three in a large dish. So, I took a swig of beer, bit the whole thing off to the stem, and although still green, it had that "flavor" that took me back. So, I'm chewing, thinking: "It's not THAT bad!". Before it even hit bottom, before I could even feel the sting, I got this crazy "rush" - kind of ethereal feeling, that really rang my bell! DING! Wow!!! THEN the heat kicked in! I was stunned, and couldn't do anything but pace back and forth waiting for the sting to go away. It was a good half-hour before it was totally gone. Nothing could put that fire out; no water, no milk, no acid, no sugar. The strange thing about it was that it was such an unusual feeling; it wasn't painful, just....I dunno. There. But in good way. After that, my beer tasted flat for the rest of the night. lol I can hardly wait for them to turn red so I can eat some more!

Yeah, I'd say they're addicting. Did anyone else get theirs going? If so, how goes it?