Red Habanero Chile Peppers

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Description/Taste

Red habanero chile peppers are small, lantern-shaped pods, averaging 5 to 7 centimeters in length and 2 to 5 centimeters in diameter, and have many indentations, folds, and creases on the surface tapering to a point on the non-stem end. The skin is waxy, glossy, and smooth, ripening from green to bright red when mature. Underneath the surface, the flesh is thin, crisp, and pale red, encasing a central cavity filled with round and flat, cream-colored seeds. Red habanero chile peppers have a sweet, fruity flavor with an intense and pungent heat.

Seasons/Availability

Red habanero chile peppers are available year-round, with a peak season in the summer through fall.

Current Facts

Red habanero chile peppers, botanically classified as Capsicum chinense, are a fully mature, hot variety that belongs to the Solanaceae or nightshade family. Considered to be one of the common colors of habanero peppers found in commercial markets along with orange varieties, Red habaneros range 100,000 to 300,000 SHU on the Scoville scale and are favored for their intense heat and fruity flavor. The name habanero translates to mean “from Habana,” which is another name for the Cuban city of Havana. The spicy pepper earned this name due to its popularity in the Cuban commercial markets, and the name spread with visiting traders, expanding the peppers to be globally known as a habanero. There are many varieties of habanero peppers, all closely related and grown throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Depending on the region they are grown in, they will have varying characteristics, which is a reflection of the way the pods have adapted to the topography, climate, and soil of each region.

Nutritional Value

Red habanero chile peppers contain vitamins A and C, iron, folate, magnesium, fiber, and riboflavin. The peppers also contain capsaicin, which is a chemical compound that triggers the brain to feel spice or heat and has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties.

Applications

Red habanero chile peppers are best suited for both raw and cooked applications such as roasting, grilling, sautéing, frying, and simmering. The peppers are popularly cooked down to make vinegar-based hot sauces, chopped into salsas, minced into marinades, or cooked into pepper jelly. Whole pods can also be added to soups and stews to impart a spicy, fruity flavor, or the pods can be used to flavor bean dishes, rice dishes, and grilled meats. In addition to flavoring, Red habanero chile peppers can be stuffed with cheeses, battered, and fried, roasted to enhance their fruity flavor, or infused into desserts such as cheesecake or brownies. Red habanero chile peppers can also be pickled for extended use or dried and ground into a powdered seasoning. It is important to note that gloves and goggles should be worn when handling and slicing the pepper as the capsaicin can profoundly irritate the skin and eyes. Red habanero chile peppers pair well with tomatoes, tropical fruits such as oranges, pineapples, and mangoes, avocado, pickled onions, tomatillos, potatoes, garlic, pork, poultry, beef, shrimp, and fish. The fresh peppers will keep 1-2 weeks when loosely stored whole and unwashed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Ethnic/Cultural Info

In the Caribbean, before salt was discovered and extracted from the sea, habanero type peppers were popularly combined with cassava juice and used by the Carib and Arawak Indians to create an early form of hot sauce called coui. Habaneros were also used on European ships during the slave trade to make “slabber sauce,” which is a mixture of water, chile peppers, and palm oil. The sauce was commonly served over beans, rice, cassava, and other mealtime dishes to slaves aboard the ships as a flavoring to encourage food consumption.

Geography/History

Habanero chile peppers are descendants of peppers native to the rainforests of South America that were discovered over eight thousand years ago. These ancient peppers were transported into Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean via immigrating tribes and peoples, and as pepper cultivation increased, many new varieties were developed from the native peppers. Habanero chile peppers were believed to have been developed in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico and were spread across the world via Spanish and Portuguese traders in the 18th century. Today Red habanero chile peppers are commercially grown through small farms in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, the Caribbean, the United States, and in select regions of Asia and Europe. In the Yucatan, habanero chile peppers are grown extensively both outdoors and in hydroponic greenhouses, and the seeds are also available globally through online catalogs for home garden use.