Datil Pepper Presents Complex Heat

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, The Herb Society of America

I’m a whiner when it comes to hot peppers. I try to wish away my pain and continue to torture my taste buds. This week, while visiting St. Augustine, Florida, I tried again. I sampled the Datil Pepper, an herb nearly exclusive to the northeastern Florida city. As hot as habaneros (Scoville 100,000 – 300,000), these little orange-yellow horns are unique because they’re a bit sweet and fruity.

I wanted to know what sweet and fruity meant, so I tried Datil B. Good 2^nd degree burn sauce. It was fruity and sweet up front, but the burn certainly followed. With a low-level of datil in the recipe, I was safe.

Datil peppers only grow commercially, according to my sources, in St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States. They seem to love the combination of soil and climate in this 450-year-old historic city. And, those who’ve tried to propagate the plants elsewhere get short plants with few peppers, says Sherry Stoppelbein, owner of Hot Shot Bakery & Café and maker of Datil-B-Good condiments. Sherry, who is known affectionately as the Duchess of Datil says her pepper plants grow up to five feet tall and might produce as many as two bushels per plant.

All those peppers become various products in Sherry’s commercial kitchen. The most popular is the ketchup-like sauce in four levels of heat – 2^nd degree burn, 3^rd degree, 4^th and 5^th. She also uses datils in BBQ sauce, salsa, mustard, jam and pickles.

Around the corner from Hot Shot, The Spice & Tea Exchange sells straight datil powder as well as myriad seasoning blends that include a pinch of punch. The pepper powder is good in chili, chowder, hot wing sauce and more.

 

Tracking the datil backwards is a bit of a mystery. Some suggest that it came from China, hence it is considered a variety in the botanical species Capsicum chinense. Still others suggest it came from Spain or Africa. But, the most likely origin, says Chef Sherry is South America – Peru or Chile.

To get your own supply of datil or datil products find Sherry at Datil B. Good  or visit The Spice and Tea Exchange. Uncertain where to start, try Spice and Tea Exchange’s hot cocoa mix with datil.

As for me, I couldn’t bring myself to try one of Sherry’s chocolate-covered datil peppers. Maybe next time.

Hot Stuff: Chile Pepper, Herb of January and 2016

By Paris Wolfe, Blogmaster, Herb Society of America

The chile pepper is hot.

It’s January 2016 Herb of the Month for The Herb Society of America AND 2016 Herb of the Year for  the International Herb Association.

I’ve been herb gardening since 1990 and never would have considered the chile to be an herb. Piper Zettel, assistant to the curator of the National Herb Garden, says I’m mistaken. And, I’m OK with that.

“Chile peppers are considered an herb because they’re used to enrich human lives,” she says. “Herbs are plants used to enrich lives in ways that are not strictly edible or ornamental. Chile peppers are used medicinally and industrially.”

Thus, an herb.

“There are more than 30 species and probably a couple 100 different varieties,” she notes. “The National Herb Garden plans to grow 100 varieties to celebrate the herb.”

Chile peppers may be one of the most global of herbs. Consider their use across cultures – starting in South America thousands of years ago and traveling around the world during the last 500. Today, Americans are fascinated by the chile-pepper-spiked foods such as  hot wings, hot sauces, chili,  infused vodka, flavored cocktails.

I recently had a jalapeno-cucumber mojito. The heat of the pepper with the cool of the cucumber created a balance that was delish.

Food fascination aside, chile peppers are being studied for medicinal uses.

A February 2015 news article in The Scientist notes:

“Initially causing a burning hot sensation, the compound [capsaicin] is used as a topical pain medication because, when applied regularly, results in numbness to local tissue. Despite being widely used, researchers have previously not known how capsaicin exerts its pain-killing effects.”

While medicinal uses may be significant, some folks use them to torture themselves and, perhaps, unsuspecting exes.

Fear holding you back? Search “Hot Pepper” on YouTube to watch capsaicin masochists in action..  Apparently, you’ll find popular videos reaching millions of viewers. One chilehead has gathered more than 34 million – yes, million — views.

While the hottest pepper of  2016 hasn’t yet been determined, the hottest pepper in 2015 was the Carolina Reaper, checking in at more than 2.2 million Scoville units.

For the initiated, the Scoville scale measures ‘hotness’ of a chile pepper or anything made from chile peppers. Developed in 1912, it’s named after founder William Scoville.

Pure capsaicin – which determines the hotness of peppers – is 15 to 16 MILLION Scoville units. No pepper has gotten even close. And, that may be a good thing.

Several sources agree the 10 hottest peppers are

1	Carolina Reaper	1,200,000 ~ 2,100,00
2	Moruga Scorpion	1,200,000 ~ 2,009,231
3	Choclate 7 Pot	1,169,000 ~ 1,850,000
4	Trinidad Scorpion	1,029,000 ~ 1,390,000
5	Naga Jolokia “Ghost Pepper”	1,020,000 ~ 1,578,000
6	Naga Gibralta	900,000 ~ 1,086,844
7	Naga Viper	800,000 ~ 1,382,118
8	Infinity	800,000 ~ 1,067,286
9	Dorset Naga	800,000 ~ 970,000
10	Naga Morich	770,000 ~ 1,034,910

For the record, the jalapeno checks in between 2,500 and  8,000 Scoville units. That’s hot enough for me.

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