One
of the most famous and most used chilies in the Western world. The
jalapeno chili is smooth skinned and the unripe fruit varies in colour
between bright green to a dark, almost black-green. The jalapeno is
normally around 50 - 75 mm long and 20 mm wide. The
jalapeno is prized for the warm, burning sensation when eaten. It
has a very distinctive flavour and is often used in salsas (both cooked
and raw) and is prevalent in many different Mexican dishes. The
jalapeno can be frozen if first blanched for 5 minutes in boiling water
and drained. In Mexico, it is best known as "en escabeche" and as a
pickled chili.
It is a cultivar of the species
Capsicum
annuum. It is named after the town of Xalapa, Veracruz, where
it
was traditionally produced. 160 square kilometres are dedicated for the
cultivation of jalapeno in Mexico alone; primarily in the Papaloapan
river basin in the north of the state of Veracruz and in the Delicias,
Chihuahua area. Jalapeno is also cultivated in smaller scale in
Jalisco, Nayarit, Sonora, Sinaloa and Chiapas. The jalapeno is known by
different names throughout Mexico such as cuaresmeņos, huachinangos and
chiles gordos.
The growing period for a jalapeno
plant is 70–80
days and when mature, the plant stands 750 to 1,000 mm tall.
Typically, a single plant will produce twenty five to thirty five pods.
As the growing season comes to an end, the jalapenos start to turn red
which are considered inferior. Growers often either discard the red
jalapenos into the ground or use them for the production of chipotles.
The
jalapeņo rates between 2,500 and 5,000 Shu's on the Scoville scale
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