Jalapeño chilli
Jalapeño chillies are commonly used in Mexican cooking and praised for their slightly sweet and smoky flavour. In their natural form they are torpedo-shaped, thick and hot. They are often used in salsas or sliced and used to top nachos and pizzas.
Chilli heat is calculated on the Scoville Scale, which measures how much of the chemical capsaicin they contain. Bell peppers score zero while the apocalyptic red savin habañero has recorded a whopping 577,000. In this context, jalapeños are relatively mild at up to 10,000, but will still inject a fiery kick into your cooking.
As with all chillies, the heat is concentrated in the seeds, so remove them if you can’t handle the heat!
Jalapeño recipes:
Jalapeño cornbread with charred spring onion soured cream
Jalapeño, coriander and lime salt crusted ham with mango salsa