Re: [CH] Re: Capsaicin in the (chemists) news; rocotos V8 #743
Cameron Begg (begg@ceof.ohio-state.edu)
Thu, 12 Feb 2004 08:37:40 -0500
Hi C-H's,
Thanks for the links Gene.
You asked:
>I haven't had any tepins that I considered 'hotter' than habs [as
>the letter writer claims]. But maybe my 'Birdseye' tepin is not as
>powerful as the wild ones. Comments?
As you may be aware the debate over which type of pepper is "hotter"
crops up (pun intended) here from time to time. I used to grow tepins
and can assure you that from my experience they are incredibly hot.
It could be that your pampered tame tepins have less of a kick than
the wild ones. They may also have cross bred with another less
pungent variety. Even without those variables we know that pungency
varies from plant to plant and even from pod to pod on the same plant.
So to the question "Which is hotter?", my answer is "Who cares?"
There could well be individual differences in peoples' sensitivity to
different capsaicins. I might think tepins are hotter than savinas
and you may not. No amount of Scovilles and GLC results are going to
change those perceptions.
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Regards, Cameron.