I thought I'd copy this to all of the chile-heads because these questions are asked quite often. > Hi there, > I live in Australia and I would like to order some pepper seeds for next > season. > > 1) Which is your hottest pepper? The Red Habanero or the Red Carribbean > Hab? The hottest pepper is usually the one that gets the most hype. At the present time that's the Red Savina Habanero from GNS in California. Red Savina is listed in the Guinness book at about 500,000 Scoville units which is about twice the heat of an Orange Habanero. I had Red Savina which had been grown under ideal conditions in the San Francisco Bay area tested against Orange Habanero grown under less than ideal conditions (benign neglect) here in Nevada tested two years ago. The Orange Hab was hotter! This leads me to believe that the idea that stress causes hotter peppers is true. The hottest pepper that I carry that has been tested is the Caribbean Red Habanero which came in at about 475K Scoville Units and has also been extensively hyped. No one to my knowledge has tested any of the the other peppers which I sell. I have a new Caribbean Red Hot Pepper which I purchased from a French company this year and it may or may not be related to the other Caribbean Red. When Jim Campbell and I were in Jamaica in the fall of 1997, they were growing Orange Habaneros, Caribbean Red Habaneros and Jamaician Scotch Bonnets. I sampled them all and couldn't detect a difference in heat level. I also couldn't detect a difference in flavor even though our Jamaican friends claimed that the Scotch Bonnets were tastier. They were all hot, by the way. Peppers have different heat levels from garden to garden depending on growing conditions and even have different heat levels on the same plant. They also have different burn durations and different reaction areas in the mouth. > > 2) Which are your rare peppers? Rarity kind of depends on what part of the world you are in and what's available there. I define rare as something that isn't usually available in US or Canadian seed catalogs. Off the top of my head, that would include Caribbean Red Hot Pepper, Cascabel, Chimayo, Espanola Improved, Guajillo, Jamaican Scotch Bonnet, Mirasol, Pasilla, Piquin, Peter Pepper, Safi Red from West Africa, Tepin and West Indian Red Pepper. Michael Bailes grows many peppers in Australia and some of these may not be rare there. > > 3) How long do the seeds usually keep? Would I refrigerate them or > freeze them? I have seeds which I purchased in in 1990 in New Mexico which are still germinating 100%. Most sources say that Peppers remain viable for about 5 years though. Do not freeze or refrigerate them. Keep them in a dark dry place. If you are in an area which has high humidity, store them with some desiccant. I recently ordered desiccant pillow packs and plan to offer them for sale when I receive them. > > 4) Is the postage and handling still US$2.00, does this come by Air > Mail??? Shipping and handling is $2.00 and no charge on orders of $20.00 or more. US shipments are First Class mail and overseas shipments are via air mail. Global Priority mail is also available for about $4.00 additional. . > Hope to hear from you soon? Hope this is soon enough :-) Dave Anderson Tough Love Chile Co. http://www.tough-love.com