Green Nagas

K

kreigle

I've been impatiently waiting for my 3+ week old nagas to ripen, so last night I picked one of the green peppers that had an old bug bite scar on it just to see what they were like.

I was cutting thin slices off of it to see what it tasted like, and I really like the taste and it has quite a bit of heat, which takes about a minute or two to kick in - enough time to get a good taste of the pepper itself. My wife wouldn't let it anywhere near her, told me the smell of cutting it from 2 ft away was making her eyes water.

Since my dad grilled up some pork chops for supper, I continued to take small slices off the pepper to spice up each bite of meat.

When these finally ripen, can I expect much of a change in the flavor? I really like the way they taste right now. I am also wondering if I can expect them to get hotter as the color changes. This is my first year growing peppers and I don't really know what to expect.
 
The flavor will definitely change and they will likely get somewhat hotter as they ripen. When ripe they usually have an apricot or green apple sort of taste but they are often used in the green stage to add heat without excessive fruity flavor.
 
Thanks guys.

The taste now almost reminds me of my bottle of fatalii puree, but not quite as fruity.

Now that I am slicing up near the seeds, the heat is getting to be more than I can handle, even with small slivers. I really can't wait for these to ripen.
 
HOTTEST is just before ripening...and therefore green.

Some of the cap converts into sugar through the ripening process, thereby slightly lessening the heat.....but not much.
 
There really isn't much placenta at the bottom of the pepper, that's where the heat is. Once you get to the middle and above of the pepper you're going to notice the heat. Seriously notice the heat.

Best of luck with them.
 
I believe peak heat usually occurs right before full ripeness and then declines very quickly afterwards. The flavor(or at least sugar levels) probably peak right at full ripeness
 
The level of heat produced by a pepper varies with time and type.

We conclude that the pungent compounds in hot chile peppers (capsaicinoids) decreased in the three cultivars studied 40-50 DFFS [Days From Fruit Set]. On the basis of the evolution of the activity of peroxidases, these are probably related to the loss of capsaicinoids. The ideal harvest time from a standpoint of maximum capsaicinoid content (and thus higher pungency) is ~40 DFFS for Piquin and ~50 DFFS for De arbol and Habañero. Due to the great importance of hot chile peppers as food additives and drugs in several cultures of the world, a mechanism by which capsaicinoids are degraded and lost needs to be elucidated, and thus methods to reduce these losses need to be developed.
Click to expand...


Contreras-Padilla, M. and Yahia, E. M. J. Agric. Food Chem., 46 (6), 2075 -2079, 1998. jf970972z S0021-8561(97)00972-2
 
Wow! We went from splitting hairs to nearly indecipherable.

Ripe is hotter than immature green, just starting to ripen is probably a safe bet for hottest.
 
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