African Habanero Relative

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Dave:What type of chile is used in western Congo to make ’pilipili’, the local hot (hot hot) sauce? Your initial reaction might be that its a birdseye pepper, as used in East Africa to make ’piri piri’, but the two are not the same. The pepper used for Congolese pilipili is shaped like a habanero, but is deep red in …

Pasilla Problems

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Hi Dave:My name is Stephanie Dean and I work at Sunset Magazine with Margo True, our new Food Editor. We have run into a little chile mystery lately. She directed me to you. Basically, we have an enchilada recipe that calls for dried Pasilla chiles and one batch came out fine, but another batch using chiles titled Pasilla negra, were …

Red Scotch Bonnet Shape?

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Q: Hi Dave, I wrote to you back in January inquiring about the difference between the Red Savina and the Caribbean Red. I have one more to add to this comparison – the Jamaican Scotch Bonnet Red pepper. It looks like they could all be the same pepper but if they are different I want to make sure I grow …

’Red Savina’ vs. ’Caribbean Red’

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Q: Hi Dave, Just something real quick for you. I am banging my head against the wall trying to figure out if ’Red Savina’ and ’Caribbean Red’ are the same pepper. Please advise. Oh, also real quick, in your opinion, what are the 10 hottest peppers in the world? I’m going to try to grow the 10-20 hottest peppers in …

Siling Labuyo

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Dear Dave,How hot is the Philippine "labuyo" (a.k.a. siling labuyo)? These are small chilies and are terribly hot whether not-so-ripe green or mature red. I remember reading a paperback Guinness Book of World Records (forgot the year) which claims it is the hottest natural (meaning not artificially bred) chile in the world, having the highest capsaicin rating.Jack Hello Jack:For a …