Jalepeno vs Habanero in chili

[GenIke]

Hi all, I usually make my chili recipe with jalapenos, but I have a ton of habenero from the garden this year. I usually would use 2 large or 3 small jalapenos in the recipe.

How would I swap in the habeneros without making it too hot for my wife? Would two habenero be equivalent to two jalapeno since they are smaller?

 

[ajdelange]

Jalapenos generally run about 150K Scovilles while Habaneros are twice that (if I remember correctly) so it should take less Habanero for the same heat. But the thing that makes Habaneros unique is that citrusy flavor, not so much the heat. I think it goes really, really well with eggs and poultry - chillie I'm not so sure but it's clearly a matter of taste. I'd start by splitting the chillie in half. Add one Habanero to one half and taste (or have her taste). If its not too hot add the second habanero to the second half and mix. If its not hot enough add a third.

 

[zzzzzzzzz]

I have entered a few chili cook offs and habaneros are much much hotter than Jalapenos. http://www.ushotstuff.com/Heat.Scale.htm
I'd try a small batch and use much less, maybe 1/4 a small habenaro (you can always add cant take away.
Link to scoville chart
Jim

 

[estricklin]

A Jalapeno is about 5,000 on the Scoville and a Habenero can be up to 500,000, WAY hotter. Of coarse, the habeneros are a lot smaller so your smart for taking that into consideration.

I would probably use 1, and then taste it to decide if I wanted to go for a 2nd. I don't know your recipe, but 3 jalapenos isn't much in the first place so be careful with those little orange guys. Use gloves when you cut them up!

 

[ejf063]

So, you don’t want to simply swap the habenero for jalapeno. They each have different Scoville units, which is the measurement of heat in certain foods. Check this out:

http://www.pepperscale.com/

The heat comes from the capsaicin, (the same stuff in pepper spray), and different variety of peppers have different units. Different crops can also affect the outcome of heat.

Simply because the habenero is smaller, doesn’t not mean it has less punch…. It’s like that old Tom and Jerry, when it’s the 4th of July and Jerry threw a little firecracker at Tom. Tom picked it up, put it on his nose…. And blew his face off.




I have a feeling that a similar situation would take place in the event your wife is sensitive to hotter foods.

 

[MaxStout]

If you use the habaneros, be sure to fish them out of the chili before serving. Otherwise, some lucky person gets to unknowingly bite into one.

Ask me how I know that.

 

[GenIke]

The recipe uses two cans of the "texas style" chili magic, which is the hotter version. I then jazz it up with bell peppers, onion, jalepenos, skirt steak and chicken.

 

[ejf063]

sounds fantastic. man, I dont see how you could go wrong. I was just worried for a person who isnt use to heat like that.
Let us know how it turned out

 

[HomebrewCraig]

Regarding the peppers, if you de-seed them and wash out the inside, the peppers will be tamed down a bit. They will still burn you good twice though.

When I make chili, I have to make two pots... One the wife and kids can tolerate, and the other for me and my oldest son. We just picked our Aribibi Gusano bushes lean of peppers.. We harvested more than 100 off each bush, and they're still flowering (but the season is gone, no more peppers)

The pic is of a few of the Aribibis... Rare, hot (350,000 to 500,000 Scoville units) It only takes three to light up a pot of chili. They resemble little creamy caterpillars.

 

[krackin]

Next year try some ancho peppers. They are jalapeno heat range but very flavorful for chili, etc. They are fantastic grilled on burgers.

 

[GenIke]

Good stuff guys. I ended up going mostly jalapeno and ~1/2 a diced habanero. There will be no fishing out of them at this point. I hope nobody throws a clot tomorrow!

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

lol ....no comparing Jalapeños to Habaneros.
Good guess on the half.

You should try making a Habanero Pale ale. Mmm Mmm good!

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, the anchos are darn good.My son, always the glutton for punishment, grew jalapenos, ghost chilis & scorpions on his apartment balcony. Boy, those bushes got big! When I make my chili, I like to use 3-4 different forms of cayenne, including fresh when I grow them. If you can keep 1 or 2 bowls of it down when your sick in the evening, you'll be well enough to go to work, etc the next morning!

 

[mikescooling]

I'd take a bite of habanero and see if it burns your face of, if it does, cook those a little separately and longer to tone the heat down and it will sweeten them up too.

 

[Qhrumphf]

The issue I'd see is that habanero flavor is so much better than jalapeno flavor. But to get the same intensity you have to up the heat. As mentioned above, taking out the seeds and ribs would tone it down, but I'd also make sure that either mixed in or on the side is plenty of dairy (cheese, sour cream, whatever). I know there's some chili purists out there, which I am not, and I'm not familiar with all the various rules about what is or isn't allowed with chili, but something dairy based can dramatically take the edge off of peppers (something about the milk protein binding to and neutralizing the capsaicin or something to that effect). My wife can't even stand jalapenos, so our chili is very very mild and I just dose mine with a real pepper no extract hot sauce. Something where the majority of the content is pureed pepper.

 

[mattd2]

If you use the habaneros, be sure to fish them out of the chili before serving. Otherwise, some lucky person gets to unknowingly bite into one.

Ask me how I know that.

All I am thinking now is playing Chilli roulette