Weslaco, Texas
August 12, 2004
Texas pepper breeders have done it
again -- they've created a mild version of a pepper infamous for
its heat. First came the mild Jalapeño; now comes a mild version
of the habanero, considered by many to be the hottest pepper in
the world.
The TAM Mild Habanero, the result of a five-year breeding
program in South Texas, is now available to growers and should
eventually find its way to kitchens, salad bars and salsas
everywhere.
Like the TAM Mild Jalapeño, the new mild habanero is expected to
entice the palates of consumers who may have shunned its
culinary attributes for fear of its mouth-scorching,
tear-jerking heat. This new version is much more user friendly,
according to its creator.
"It's a beautiful pepper with all the aroma and flavor of the
traditional habanero but with just a fraction of the pungency,"
said Dr. Kevin Crosby, a pepper breeder at the Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station at Weslaco. This is the same
facility that released the world's first mild jalapeño pepper in
1981.
Crosby began crossing peppers in 1999, hoping to develop a new
product for growers in South Texas. Biting into pepper after
pepper, Crosby and his technicians discarded thousands of
breeding lines for being too hot or too bland, or for not
exhibiting plant characteristics important to growers, including
early maturity, high yields, properly shaped and sized pods, and
resistance to insects and diseases.
But eventually, progeny from a cross between a hot Yucatan
habanero and a heatless habanero from Bolivia began to show
promise. Several generations and a few backcrosses later, the
TAM Mild Habanero emerged.
Laboratory tests verified extremely low pungency.
"It's got only 150 parts per million capsaicin, compared to the
12,700 parts per million in the original Yucatan habanero,"
Crosby said, "It's comparable to the very low heat you'd find in
Anaheim peppers or Greek salad peppers."
Capsaicin is the compound in peppers that gives them their heat.
Depending on growing conditions, habaneros can have up to 35,000
parts per million capsaicin, some of the highest levels found in
peppers that are consumed and far too hot for most connoisseurs
to enjoy, Crosby said.
With a slightly more yellow skin than its hotter, darker orange
cousins, the mild Habanero should do well among growers and
consumers, Crosby said. "Demand for habaneros, for use in salsas
and as a fresh market product, has been increasing the past five
to 10 years, more so than the demand for other hot peppers," he
said. "And they've maintained their high value. Fresh market
Jalapeños sell for 50 cents a pound; habaneros sell for between
$3 and $4 a pound."
The TAM Mild Habanero was approved for release to the public by
Texas A&M's Plant Release
Committee, and a patent is pending from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Plant Variety Protection division.
How soon the new pepper will be available to consumers depends
on how quickly commercial seed companies buy rights to the new
pepper and increase seed for sale to growers.
"We also have several salsa companies who are interested in
growing their own mild habaneros," he said. "And we have seed
companies who would like to see more growing data in regions
other than Texas before they commit. But I suspect that by next
spring consumers may finally get a chance to taste this new mild
habanero."
Two years ago Crosby's pepper breeding program released the TAM
Mild Jalapeño II, a better-yielding pepper than the original.
And other new peppers are in the works, including a
virus-resistant habanero and a bell pepper with enhanced amounts
of antioxidants and other naturally occurring healthful
compounds. |