Re: [CH] Tepin Vs. Red Savina

Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Wed, 19 Apr 2000 09:54:33 -0700 

> > No, Aji Yuquitania is the hottest, closely followed by Red Savina.  
> 
> 	No.  Aji Yuquitania is precisely equal to a standard
> Habanero, at 325,000 Scoville units.  The Red Savina is MUCH
> hotter.  I raise all three, and the Red Savina blows away 
> the standard Habanero and the Aji Yuquitania.

Well, truth be told, I mainly sent that message just to stir the nest,
since we know Red Savina is damn hot and may well be hottest of all.  But
I'm not at all convinced it is.  Hard to say.

And I really do think Aji Yuquitania is probably the hottest chile I've
ever encountered.  At the time I grew 'real' Aji Yuquitania several years
ago, I concurrently had numerous types of habaneros and other chinense
selections, and there was no question the yuquitania were much much MUCH
hotter than any habenero grown under any conditions of pleasure, stress,
drought, whatever.  But at that time I'd never seen Red Savina nor Fatali
(indeed Red Savina hadn't yet been discovered) so I've never compared them
directly.  All I can say for sure is those three types are the only types
I've yet encountered I cannot eat (back in the old days I commonly ate
whole fresh habaneros).

However, I can say that most of the Aji Yuquitania I've seen are NOT the
real thing, they don't LOOK like the real thing, and they are NOT the
hottest chile around.  Those imposter Aji Yuquitania got crossed with
something then propagated, something necessarily not as hot, of course --
lessers are all there are when you're at the pinnacle.  Cross Country
Nurseries told me when I complained about crossed yuquitanias in 1998 that
her Aji Yuquitania seeds came from Chris Weeks Peppers (she's at the mercy
of seed vendors from whom she gets her seeds and all).  I have no idea
where Chris Weeks Peppers got the offending seeds or who else might be
distributing them under the name Aji Yuquitania.

So, if your experience is with crossed Aji Yuquitania like those, then of
course I agree your Red Savina must be much hotter.  In fact, based on my
experience with the crossed ones, they aren't even up with an ordinary
habenero, much less competition with Red Savina (or 'real' yuquitania).

 ---   Brent