Nil wrote:
On 25 Sep 2011, Nil wrote in
rec.gardens:

An acquaintance gave me some hot peppers from his garden. Can
anyone identify their varieties?

http://home.comcast.net/~esionder/temp/peppers1.jpg

I think the green one is a jalapeno, but I don't know about the
others. The orange one and the little red ones are *VERY* hot.

OK, thanks everybody for the hints. Sounds like there are too many
varieties to be sure, but it looks like the little read ones are Thai
chiles and the orange one is a Habanero. The bigger red one may be a
ripe Jalapeno (I didn't know they got red) but if it is, I bet it's a
slightly different variety than the green one, as it was from a
different plant and the fruit was a little smaller.

And thanks for the pointers to those pepper ID web pages. Very
interesting.

I got these last week from a B&B in Niagara Falls, NY. The owner has a
small patch of pepper plants that were doing really well, and he
invited me to take some with me, so I just grabbed a few of each kind.
I have to say that I don't think the Habaneros will be very useful -
they're just too damn hot to put in many things. I made chili last
night and put a tiny bit in there, and even that small amount made it
borderline too spicy for me. And its essence seems to have soaked into
my fingers, I can still taste it. I can see why I saw some advice to
wear rubber gloves and safety glasses when working with them. Those
things could be dangerous!

I like it when people handle the insides of habaneros with their hands. I
really got into it a couple years ago. My hands gradually started to burn.
I pick them up and take bites. Small at first. The good ones have a great
smell and taste that hits before the hot hits. When you use the habanero,
discard the seeds and white parts, and use small slices of the shell, if
you can't stand the hot.

Most of the peppers have different flavors. My garden didn't do well, but
my two yellow habanero pots did great. My ghost peppers ran out of sun and
heat, but got a couple of outstanding pieces. What smell! The ghost and
jalepino peppers got hit hard with stink bugs. Going to start making dry
pepper.

It does require several washing hands to get rid of the burning and don't
rub your eyes. Knifes and ceramic dishes just require hot water to get the
sting off.

The typical scotch bonnet habanero is around 300k units, the red ones 500k,
and the ghost 1000k

Greg