Chiltepin Pepper - The World's hottest Bird's Eye Pepper. This extremely hot bird's eye Pepper originates from a native Mexican shrub. As a wild plant the germination and fruit maturity takes longer than traditional chili peppers. Plants can be over-wintered in a frost free place to flower and fruit the following year as a short-lived perennial. Important! Handle seeds very carefully, wash hands after sowing. Do not allow near your eyes and keep away from children. The Chiltepine is a very small chile in size and has a quite distinctive smoky bite. The Chiltepin is eaten sun-dried, added to cheese and ice creams, fermented into sauces, and pickled with wild oregano, garlic, and salt as a tabletop condiment. As the only wild native chile to the US, the Chiltepin is sometimes called the "mother of all peppers.” Known by many names—Chiltepin, Chile Tepin, Chile del Monte, Chillipiquin, a'al kokoli (O'odham), Chiltepictl (Nahuatl), Amash (Mayan) HOT PEPPERS:When Wilbur Scoville first devised a means to test the heat of peppers, his hottest entry then came in at 20,000 units. Habanero and Thai chilies can go as high as 60,000. Compare that to the sweet bell pepper at zero. When hot peppers are consumed, capsaicinoids bind with pain receptors in the mouth and throat that are responsible for sensing heat. Once activated by the capsaicinoids, these receptors send a message to the brain that the person has consumed something hot. The brain responds to the burning sensation by raising the heart rate, increasing perspiration and release of endorphins. Hot peppers should be eaten with caution!
