Shishitos peppers are known for spontaneously producing fruit far hotter then the rest of the plant. Usually they are harvested green and blistered, which is delicious, but I prefer them red.
I'm not sure the SHU has ever been tested, and I've seen ranges of
- 0-200
- 50-200
- 100-1000
I'm unsure if any of these numbers come from an actual test with HPLC, if they are done on green peppers alone as it's how they are usually harvested, or if anyone has ever done a test with HPLC for one of the hotter then usual ones.
I could theoretically grow a large amount of these this year, try to identify red ones with above average heat, and send them off for a test. That may be hard I would likely not feel a thing till 6k SHU with my mid level heat tolerance.
I could also request separate test for the normal red peppers.
by genericnekomusum
5 Comments
Shishitos are way better after they turn red
I can’t find any actual published test results, nor any mentions of whether or not the red ones are the same heat as the green ones.
From what I read while poking around, typically 90% of them are around 0-20 SHU, with the other 10% being up to about 200 SHU. Which, in that case, you’re right, even the hottest ones are pretty much going to have undetectable heat to most of us, it sounds like it’s really just a pepper that people with normal heat sensitivity could detect.
They sound tasty though.
I absolutely love shishitos and have ordered them countless times at restaurants. I’ve never once gotten a spicy one. Like WTF where’s my secret surprise??
I had a very productive shishito last year; only a couple of the peppers had any detectable heat at all.
Territorial Seed had a cultivar named “Mellow Star” last year that were listed as a heatless variety, 0-100 SHU.