Many friends call me a chilli queen. To kill my curiosity, my sis-in-law brought back for me the Habanero Chile & Poblano Peppers from the States during her home visit recently. They are originated from Mexico. I will be saving the seeds for drying & plant them when they are ready.
Don't you think the tiny ones are very cute when put next to the big ones! Habanero Chile are the tiny ones & the big ones are Poblano Peppers. They are chilli pepper plants which also belong to the capsicum family.
The fruits contain capsaicin which is the “ingredient” in a pepper that tends to burn your mouth. It is technically a chemical that effects the nerve endings in our skin as well as our mucus membranes & that is why if you have a stuffy nose, eating something spicy often opens your sinus right up!
To know how hot or the 'heat' of a chilli pepper, we can use the scoville scale. The Scoville scale works by determining the amount of capsaicin that is present in a pepper and gives it a number of Scoville heat units which renders the rating. If, there is a rating of from 1 to 20, Habanero will be ranked no: 15. Thai chilli which is the capsicum pepper most people familiar with is only ranked no: 13. Poblanco only rank no 5. Either my taste bud is superb or has gone haywire, I can still handle the Habanero. I just cut up one into big pieces & ate them fresh together with my dishes. I like the crispy texture & the fresh 'heat'.
