Hot Peppers! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Poblano

Try roasting poblano chilis on the grill until they are charred black, peel the burned skin under in cool water and use in fajitas or tacos. You can also eat a more healthy version of chiles rellenos by blanching the poblano, stuffing it with a filling, then baking it for 30 minutes on 375 F.

This is a much healthier alternative to deep frying. On the Scoville Heat Scale (a scale that measures how hot peppers are), the Poblano rates in the 1,000-1,500 range.

Answer: False

The Scotch bonnet rates between 100,000 and 350,000 on the Scoville scale. The hottest peppers in the world rate above one million on the scale, so as hot as a Scotch bonnet is, it is not the hottest. Scotch bonnets are native to the Caribbean and West African regions and are used in Jerk seasonings, fresh salsas and spice rubs.

Answer: Jalapeno

The jalapeņo is the go-to spicy pepper in the United States and Mexico. It is difficult to find a restaurant these days that does not have jalapeņos available for customers to spice up their dishes. I enjoy grilling mine before slicing them and placing on a hamburger.

As hot as they are, they only rate about an average of 3,500 on the Scoville scale. I have seen the number as high as 20,000, but most aren't nearly that hot.

Answer: Cayenne

Dried, crushed Cayenne peppers were named after the region where they were discovered, Cayenne, French Guiana (South America). These versatile chilis are dried and used whole in Asian cooking, especially Chinese and Korean. They are dried and crushed to make up the defining ingredient for fra diavolo sauces and on pizza in Italian cuisine, and they are dried and ground into powder and labeled as ground red pepper or Cayenne pepper.

The Cayenne pepper rates a 30,000-50,000 on the Scoville scale.

Answer: True

The "strength" of a spicy pepper varies a great deal. There is evidence that suggests peppers grown in hot, tropical weather with nutrient-rich soil, are hotter than the exact same variety grown in a more temperate, or cooler climate. There are currently about ten peppers that rate over one million Scoville units and out of those, there is one that was rated the hottest in 2016: the Carolina Reaper.

The Reaper is a hybrid chili created by Ed Currie and grown in South Carolina, hence the name. Mr. Currie reports that the pepper is a hybrid of a ghost pepper and a red habanero. I have never had a Carolina Reaper, but I have had a ghost pepper and for about 30 minutes I was in pain!

Answer: Smoked, dried jalapeno pepper

"Chipotle" is an Aztec word for smoked chili. Jalapeņos that are picked for the chipotle market are not the green variety, but the sweeter, ripened, and more flavorful red jalapeņo. Popular in Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking, most stores now carry either dried chipotles, or chipotles in a can in a red sauce.

Answer: Dried poblano pepper

The ancho is a vine-ripened, red version of a poblano pepper. It is dried and used in Mexican and Tex-Mex recipes that require a more mild pepper than a chipotle. The word "Poblano" refers to the region of Puebla in central Mexico. "Ancho" translates to "wide" in English.

Answer: Tianjin pepper

The Tianjin or "Tien Tsin" pepper rates at 50,000 to 75,000 Scoville units and is the main hot pepper that you will find in most authentic Chinese Szechuan dishes. They are usually used in their dried form and tossed in whole into the dish with the other ingredients. As they heat up, they impart spicy flavor to whatever dish they are found in.

Answer: True

The Spanish and the Portuguese are responsible for the spread of hot peppers to Asia and Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Answer: Piquin

Piquin chilis are tiny, about the size of a small raisin, and quite hot (60,000-100,000 Scoville units). They are what makes the popular Mexican hot sauce brand, Cholula, so different from all the other brands.