Jack Schmidling wrote:
What has happened to jalapeno peppers?
The ones in the supermarket more often than not taste like bell peppers.
I have noticed this over the past few years and it seems to be getting
worse with time. We used to get a dudd now and then but now we rarely
find a hot one.
The solution of course, is to grow them ourselves. Well guess what?
The ones from the garden shops have the same problem so we started
growing our own from seed. Well, guess what again?
This year's jalapenos grown from seeds advertised as hot are perfectly
sweet. We sampled three different plants from different areas of the
garden and they are all the same.
Any thoughts?
js
You're pampering the plants, and picking the peppers too early.
When buying jalapeņos at the grocery store, look for peppers that have
cracks in them, or are turning red. They will be the hotter ones
because they are more mature and/or grown when the plants were more
stressed.
When growing your own, leave them on the plants a while after they get
big. Wait until they have stopped growing for maybe a week (or you can
wait and pick them red)
Or the seed company may have mixed up the seeds and you really got one
of those cursed mild jalapeņo varieties.
Bob