I’ve always liked a bit of heat in my food, and the truth is that most cultures enjoy their own distinct brand of heat.
Man’s fascination, in particular, with the hot pepper is certainly a strange one, as the hotter the better with no end in sight!
We even have the handy Scoville Scale, with which to measure the degree of pain inflicted by a particular variety of hot pepper.
In actual fact, it measures the amount of capsaicin, the chemical compound found in hot peppers, that seem to have such a pleasing, or stimulating effect, on the nerve endings of our mucus membranes.
The scale starts out at zero units, with the standard bell pepper, and tops out at well over a million, with some seriously hot peppers.
Although we often associate “hot” sauces and condiments with many Eastern cultures, it was actually Christopher Columbus who was credited with the discovery of various wild hot peppers throughout the Caribbean and South America, and the subsequent introduction of the plants to the East.
It should also be noted that no other mammals, other than humans, enjoy hot peppers.
I can attest to the fact that the monkeys know better, but somehow, I would take great pleasure in seeing a monkey’s mouth on fire.
Recently, I planted a variety of peppers known as Hungarian Hot Wax.?These are a fairly mild variety at no more than 8 000 Scoville units.
Interestingly, these peppers when ripened fully to red, dried, and ground are used to make the vibrant red Hungarian spice, Paprika.
The plants have been in containers for about a month or so. They have grown quickly, but remain compact. The peppers have emerged quickly.
As I had no idea what to expect, an Internet search revealed that the peppers would at most be an inch and a half in diameter, and grow to about five and a half inches long. They prefer full sun, and regular, even watering.
So far, on the four plants I have, there are three to four peppers starting to grow on each plant, with many more flowers blossoming.
Growing vertically in an almost upside-down fashion, the peppers are expected to reach maturity at 50 to 60 days and be a yellow green colour, for full red colour an additional 30 days is required.
As for pests, my friendly neighbourhood white flies don’t seem as keen on these plants as they would be on Bell or Scotch Bonnet peppers.
The leaves of the plant are a bit smaller, perhaps not as accommodating as the other members of the pepper family.