Habanero Peppers

by Bob Gariano

This week I picked a big plastic bag of container grown peppers that I had cultivated in a sunny spot in a secluded corner of our driveway this summer. I traditionally grow at least five different cultivars of domestic peppers each summer including sweet banana peppers and several types of spicier peppers. By far the most piquant peppers that come out of these carefully tended plants are my orange habanero chili peppers, known in some quarters as scotch bonnet peppers.

Scotch bonnet peppers are small, rarely more than 1.5 inches long but they are powerful. They apparently get their name from their distinctive shape which is said to resemble a Scottish cap or bonnet. They are a showy and decorative orange color and when they are ready to be picked, it means that colder weather will be close behind.

Spicy Peppers

The habanero peppers vary in how hot they are when harvested, but the hottest are rated at over 350,000 units on the Scoville scale.  For context, the common hot chilli peppers usually register 3,000 to 8,000 on this scale. The hot Cayenne, Tabasco, and Cumari peppers are rated at 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville units. Habaneras beat these milder peppers hands down.

The little habanero peppers are green when they are immature, but they turn a bright orange when they are ready to be picked in late August. They like slightly acidic soil conditions and even thrive when periods of drought dry out the containers through the summer. In our temperate climate, habanero peppers are an annual plant, but in more tropical areas they grow as perennials, producing peppers for five to ten years on the same plants.

The precise origin of the habanero pepper is unknown but it is thought to be one of the oldest of all cultivated crops. It is also another plant which was developed in the New World before being exported to other countries and geographies.

Prehistoric Origins

Several years ago an intact habanero pepper fruit was found by anthropologists in a cave in the Peruvian highlands. This example was carbon dated at over 6500 years B.C. The cultivation of this type of pepper spread throughout South and Central America, carried as a valuable crop by the indigenous people who lived there.

During the Spanish conquest of the New World, the plant was next carried to the Caribbean and even to Africa where warm climate conditions were suitable to its cultivation. Today, habaneras are grown in the Yucatan peninsula as well as Costa Rica, Colombia, West Africa, and in the southern United States.

By the 18th century, habaneras had spread throughout the tropical regions so that its country of origin became unclear. Plant taxonomists of that era thought that the orange scotch bonnet originated in China and gave it its scientific name of Capsicum chinese. In spite of this misleading nomenclature, the scotch bonnet is used most extensively in Caribbean and West African cooking. These are the peppers that give the islands' pork and chicken jerk dishes their unique taste. Jamaican cuisine as well as the lesser known spicy dishes cooked in Haiti, Trinidad, Guyana, and West Africa make use of this characteristically flavored spice.

Chemical Heat

Scotch bonnet peppers are hot but they are not the hottest peppers. That distinction probably belongs to the Indian pepper species called the Naga Jolokia which is grown in the Indian states of Assam and Manipur. These peppers are rated routinely at over one million Scoville units. I grew some Naga Jolokia peppers several years ago, but found that they were not very useful in recipes. These peppers might best be used as a source for the chemical capsaicin, the active ingredient in pepper spray, a non lethal deterrent in controlling crowds or assailants. Capsaicin is the chemical that makes peppers taste hot.

Scientists have studied capsaicin for some time for other reasons. This chemical is found in the placental tissue surrounding the seeds of the pepper. There are also trace amounts found throughout the rest of the pepper, though, contrary to common perception, the seeds themselves do not contain this chemical. It had been theorized that the capsaicin helps the pepper plant resist diseases and fungus that seek to infest the plant. In fact, capsaicin has been shown to be a powerful anti fungal and anti microbial agent. Recent research has even initially indicated that the chemical may have positive effects in combating both stomach cancer and diabetes in humans.

Birds and Mammals

But several decades ago, scientists made another remarkable discovery about capsaicin. While most herbivores are intensively affected by the pain of ingesting capsaicin containing plant tissues, birds completely lack the neural receptors needed to sense this burning. Birds, therefore, are not deterred from eating the hottest peppers. And because capsaicin is  hydrophobic, ingesting water does little to attenuate the discomfort of a mammal eating hot peppers. But birds are immune to this sensation.

It is now clear that birds, lacking the molars needed to grind up ingested pepper seeds,  allow the seeds to pass intact through the digestive tract. In this way, as they fly, birds disseminate the plants throughout a large geographic area. Mammalian herbivores, with their crushing teeth, grind up and destroy the seeds, rendering them unable to germinate. In this way, the capsaicin becomes a means to select which animals eat the peppers. The destructive herbivores get burned, while the helpful birds are immune.

All of this technology does not deter my peppers from ending up in a spicy stew of tomatoes and sausage that is a perfect accoutrement to my home made pasta. This year I will bring my plants inside to see if they can survive a Chicago winter on my window sill. I am supposing that they will miss the morning sun and soft warm breezes of August. I think that they will stop producing peppers when confined indoors. Nevertheless, it is interesting that people more than 8000 years ago shared our attraction to these piquant and tasty little peppers, a culinary treat that has not been obsoleted even centuries after its discovery.