[CH] wimpy habanero
bradley ellis (h0t5auce@home.com)
Fri, 27 Jul 2001 16:02:45 -0500
Working at a newspaper has its benefits ... you might see this in tomorrow's
editions:
For the faint of heart, a milder habanero may be ready for market in two
years
By Lynn Brezosky
Associated Press Writer
HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) - From the plant science that has sized onions for
burger buns and made watermelon pits an option, there's a new innovation:
mild habaneros.
It's an oxymoron given the spicy nature of the orange peppers, but it's
bound to sell big. Salsa makers dream of bringing the aroma and taste of
habaneros to middle America.
"Mild. That's always the key word," said Ben Villalon, the veteran pepper
researcher who had a mild jalapeno out in the 1970s, long before salsa
became a billion-dollar industry.
Villalon's lab at Texas A&M had been fielding requests from salsa makers who
hoped the same could be done with habaneros.
Researcher Kevin Crosby, who inherited the habanero project when Villalon
retired, says his plants are only a few generations from perfection, which
means the milder pepper could be available to consumers in two years.
That's good news to marketers, bad news to "chile-heads" who fear the fire
is being bred out of peppers.
"I know every time something like this comes out, your hard-core chile-heads
get all up in arms," said David Gibson, editor of the Fort Worth-based Chile
Pepper magazine.
But Gibson and other aficionados see the logic in trying to tame the flavors
and aromas of a pepper that's six times hotter than a jalapeno _ so
blisteringly hot that a smattering can render a pot of food inedible.
Handlers wear gloves against the sting of the juice.
Crosby has been crossing Mexican habanero species with the milder wild
habanero species from Bolivia and Colombia. His research started as a search
for a hardy plant that would adapt to the southern Texas soils, which lack
the tropical moisture found in Central and South American soils.
Charles Davis, president of Habagallo Foods in McAllen, a business launched
on faith in the habanero, says the researchers are on to something big. He
takes credit for calling Villalon, and envisions big profits in what he
calls the "mildaneros." Most people use the pepper for its heat; he thinks
they could be used for the flavor that's currently overpowered by that heat.
In one of his frequent experiments with the peppers, he put some habaneros
on a cookie sheet and baked them.
"The smell was just unbelievable," he said. "I said 'Man, I would like to
get more of them in my sauce. But they're hot!"
Davis also is excited about using the hybrid in his new michelada mix. It's
used to make the popular Mexican cocktail, a mix of beer and spices served
over ice in a salt-rimmed glass. It's already available in supermarkets
across Texas.
He said a milder habanero would help him reach a wider market.
"The further north, the lighter the taste buds are," he said.
Pace, the nation's leading Mexican salsa marketer, knew that when it
introduced its milder jalapeno in 1996.
"When you have a mild (jalapeno) it expands your opportunity to reach
consumers," said John Faulkner, spokesman for Campbell Foods in Camden,
N.J., which now owns Pace.
P.S. There's a picture of one of these peppers on my site at
www.bradandpatty.com/wimpyhab.jpg
Brad