Jalapeño
University of Arizona Extension credits it with a rare balance of flavor and heat.
2,500 to 10,000 SHU, per Fiery Foods (DeWitt). University of Arizona Extension gives 2,500 to 5,000. Log scale against the hottest chile in this guide.
The jalapeño is a thick-walled green chile about two to three inches long, named for Xalapa in Veracruz. DeWitt counts it among the most famous chiles anywhere. Texas made it the official State Pepper in 1995.
Dave DeWitt counts about 40,000 acres of jalapeños in Mexico and about 5,500 in the United States, where Texas leads and New Mexico follows. Pods are green and ripen to red. Brown streaks on the skin, called corking, are prized in Mexico but less so north of the border.
Most of the crop is canned, pickled, or sliced for nachos. About a fifth of Mexico's harvest is smoked into chipotles. NMSU's garden guide notes that jalapeños can be highly pungent, and heat swings widely by variety, from mild TAM types to hot Early Jalapeños.
The 1995 Texas resolution calls the jalapeño an essential ingredient in chili, the official State Dish.
Sources
- Pepper Profile: Jalapeño (Dave DeWitt, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)
- Backyard Gardener #174: Growing Peppers and Chiles (Jeff Schalau, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, 2024)
- Heat Scale Updated (Dave DeWitt, Fiery Foods & Barbecue Central)
- Growing Chile Peppers in New Mexico Gardens, Guide H-240 (Walker and Bosland, NMSU Cooperative Extension, 2019)
- H.C.R. No. 105, 74th Texas Legislature (1995): jalapeño as official State Pepper
- 2006 CASI Terlingua International Chili Champion recipe, Dana Plocheck (CASI)
- 2016 CASI Terlingua International Chili Champion recipe, Lisa Stone (CASI)
- 2025 CASI Terlingua International Chili Champion recipe, Greg Lindsey (CASI)