I have a story about heat and flavor. Often the flavor and heat ARE intertwined, if you “cool” the pepper you mute the flavor.
So I make lentil salad sometimes, it’s one of those dishes so much better than it should be - cooked al dente lentils, jalapeno, onion, carrot in a dressing of olive oil, mustard, lemon. My little kids loved it but would whine that it was too spicy. So my older daughter graciously de-seeded and took out the ribs of the jalapenos when helping make it one time and
They whined because it didn’t taste as good. The flavor was contained in the spicier part of the pepper.
Not everything should be spicy but it’s good to have a tolerance because some flavors are in those spicy foods that simply aren’t in the mild versions.
Chilis have a natural variation in heat, which depends a lot on growing conditions. Jalapeños can range from ~2000 to 8000 scovilles. The hotter ones don’t taste different, they just have more capsaicin. That molecule itself has no flavor, it just triggers the heat receptors in your cells.
Maybe your perception of the heat has gotten entangled with the flavor so cognitively one is less satisfying without the other. But that’s specific to your perception and not how it works at the chemical level of the plant or human sensory cells.
Sounds like a bell pepper with extra steps.
Different chili varieties definitely have their own flavors. Even blindfolded you’d probably be able to tell apart sauces made with poblanos vs banana peppers (both can have basically zero heat).
jalapeños are really good even without heat. It’s just a good pepper. I don’t see any issue.
Similarly seasoning peppers are a staple of Caribbean cuisine. They look and taste almost identical to habaneros peppers minus the heat.
Hotness aside, I actually prefer the taste of pretty much any pepper over jalapeños.
heat != flavor
i dont mind a little heat, but sometimes i actually want to taste the food.
That’s why you use jalapeños since they aren’t spicy like habaneros or seranos
If I had some issue that prevented me from eating spicy food, I would get these (well, if I lived anywhere they’re sold). I love the flavor and fruitiness of jalapenos (I grow them along with seranos, habaneros, and others since trying to buy them fresh in Japan sucks outside of a handful of stores (only one of which I know sells them out of season for the mainland))
Yeah, people should only eat the things I like to eat
I didn’t say anything about what people other than me can, should or would eat.
No worries, just making a joke and not saying it’s a reflection on your character.
When I see “I’m white but not white enough to eat this” I interpret that to be saying some people are unreasonable in their aversion to spice. What did you mean?
I like the heat though.
So buy the regular variety? They’re far easier to find.
I’d consider growing those. Mostly to blend alongside some extremely hot pepper, as then I can control the heat properly.
What’s the point of jalapeños if they’re not hot?
In my experience the spicier jalapenos are also the tastier ones so I have a hard time imagining how this works.
I mean, I also probably wouldn’t eat the spicy stuff if I didn’t love the flavor - I’m not suffering just for bragging rights! So I’d definitely be down for trying something like the coolapenos here, just would be going into it with some skepticism that it’s anything more than a mild pepper with the mild flavor they produce.
I didn’t know I liked jalapenos until recently and someone brought me a burger with them.
Holy shit I wish I could handle that heat regularly.
You can! You just have to train your body to accept it by regularly eating spicy things.
Good for you for reevaluating your tastes. I try things I think I dislike every few years to see if I still dislike them. Sometimes it turns out my tastes have changed and they’re great!
Oh yeah my favorite is a plain cheeseburger with fresh sliced jalapenos. So yummy.
Yeah that’s what I had and it was GLORIOUS!
They actually have really great flavor underneath the heat. I did a beer infusion years ago with jalapeño and IPA that wasn’t spicy at all but had a delicious peppery taste.
Good for you. Weird flex honestly “my stomach works” Well for many of us ours don’t work. If I eat anything that is spicy hot my stomach will have me bent over cramping constantly until it leaves my system. Is your next post going to be about how stupid people are for having to use wheelchairs?
I never said other people shouldn’t eat it.
No just making fun of them.
I apologize for my bigoted post against the oppressed and long-suffering minority group of people who’s stomachs can’t handle the regular spicy kind of jalapeños. It was horribly insensitive of me and basically racism.
Will you marry me?
Only if my wife lets me.
Yeah, I got so excited by your comment that I forgot to ask my wife. They’ll probably say no. 🙄
My wife said it’s fine
