Habanero

A fruity aroma often compared to apricot, as Dave DeWitt notes, under a fierce heat.

Scoville heat units

100,000 to 500,000 SHU, per Fiery Foods (DeWitt) heat scale. DeWitt’s habanero profile gives 80,000 to 150,000 for typical commercial pods, and University of Arizona Extension gives 200,000 to 300,000. Log scale against the hottest chile in this guide.

The habanero is a small, lantern-shaped pod of Capsicum chinense, usually orange when ripe. University of Arizona Extension calls it the hottest commercially available chile in U.S. markets. In chili it is measured by the eighth of a teaspoon.

Habaneros belong to Capsicum chinense, a species named for China but native to South America. Dave DeWitt places its center of origin in the Amazon basin and notes that the oldest known pod, from Guitarrero Cave in Peru, dates to about 6500 B.C. The orange habanero is associated with the Yucatán Peninsula, and Fiery Foods' glossary takes the name to mean from Havana.

The pods are about an inch wide and an inch and a half long, green when young and ripening to orange, red, yellow, or white. Orange habaneros are grown commercially in California and Texas. Paul Bosland of NMSU calls the habanero, or Scotch bonnet, the best-known chile of its species.

Heat varies a great deal. DeWitt’s scale puts habaneros at 100,000 to 500,000 Scoville units, while his own profile gives 80,000 to 150,000 for typical commercial pods; one orange habanero tested at NMSU in 1992 measured 357,992. University of Arizona Extension gives 200,000 to 300,000.

Habanero

Sources