the.com/habanero
a tiny orange landmine that ranks pain on the same scale as pepper spray
means A small, intensely hot chili pepper, typically orange or red, prized for its fruity flavor and searing heat.
from Spanish for 'from Havana' — la habanera being the feminine form. The pepper picked up the name through Cuban trade, even though it's most associated today with Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, where it's grown in abundance. The chili itself, like all Capsicum species, is a New World native that Spanish and Portuguese traders carried across the globe after 1492.
- heat level
- up to 350,000 Scoville units of regret
- origin name
- means from Havana, though it grew in Mexico
- burning culprit
- capsaicin tricks nerves into feeling fake heat
- milk fix
- casein protein washes out the burn, water won't
- former champ
- world's hottest pepper until 1999 dethroned it
scotch bonnet — caribbean habanero variety, 100,000-350,000 scoville units, dominant in caribbean cuisine
red savina habanero — cultivated variety from california in 1994, hottest habanero at 577,000 scoville units