| Pequin pepper | |
|---|---|
 Closeup of fruits, foliage, and flower | |
| Species | Capsicum annuum |
| Cultivar | Pequin |
| Heat |  Very hot |
| Scoville scale | 30,000–60,000 SHU |
Pequin (or piquín) pepper (/pɪˈkiːn/) is a hot chili pepper cultivar commonly used as a spice. Pequin peppers are very hot, often 5–8 times hotter than jalapeños on the Scoville scale (30,000 to 60,000 Units). Flavor is described as citrusy and nutty.[1]
Taxonomically, it is classified within variety glabriusculum of the species Capsicum annuum.[2]
Pequin pepper originates in the Mexican state of Tabasco, where it's widely used to make salsa or as a complement to many dishes. It's also known as chile pequín / chile petín / chiltepe (in Guatemala and El Salvador), chile congo (in Nicaragua and northern region of Costa Rica), chile de monte / chile del monte / chile mosquito / mashito (by the Chontal/Maya natives in Tabasco), amash / timpinchile (in Chiapas), chilpaya (in Veracruz), maax'ik (in Yucatán) and chile kipín (in Huasteca).
Pequin has a compact habit, growing typically 0.3–0.6 meters tall, with bright green, ovate leaves and small berries that rarely exceed 2 cm in length. Like most chilies, the berries start out green, ripening to brilliant red at maturity.
The name Pequin is thought to come from the Spanish pequeño, meaning small.[3] Its fruit is oblong and is found in the wild from the American Southwest to the Andes.[3] It is grown both wild and commercially harvested in Mexico.[3]
Common uses include pickling, salsas, sauces, soups, and vinegars. The Cholula brand hot sauce lists piquin peppers and chile de árbol peppers among its ingredients.[4]
Pequin peppers are highly valued in Mexico, often costing more than 10 times the price of other peppers, but their cultivation is limited due to low seed germination (15% average germination rate) and susceptibility to disease. Pequins prefer moderate shade levels (35% shade) and daily watering, though they are drought tolerant. In the wild, Pequins grow in the understory of trees as perennials; under cultivation, they are grown as annuals as disease susceptibilities limits their growth. Seeds germinate in 7 to 28 days, require 60 to 90 days for seedling development, and require 90 to 100 days after transplant to produce commercial fruit.[5]
- ^ Miller, Mark (1991). The Great Chile Book. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-0-89815-428-3.
- ^ Marco Antonio Alvarado Vázquez; Alejandra Rocha Estrada; Sergio Mereno Limón, eds. (2010). De la Lechuguilla a las Biopelículas Vegetales: Las Plantas Útiles de Nuevo León (PDF). Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c Bosland, Paul W.; Iglesias, Jaime (1992). "'NuMex Bailey Piquin' Chile Pepper" (PDF). HortScience. 27 (8): 941–942. doi:10.21273/HORTSCI.27.8.941. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- ^ "Nutrition Information", Cholula Website Archived 2013-06-27 at the Wayback Machine, Last accessed 02 Jul 2009
- ^ Valiente-Banuet, Juan I.; Gutiérrez-Ochoa, Alejandro (1 May 2016). "Effect of Irrigation Frequency and Shade Levels on Vegetative Growth, Yield, and Fruit Quality of Piquin Pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. glabriusculum)". HortScience. 51 (5): 573–579. doi:10.21273/HORTSCI.51.5.573.