Peppers and Eggplant

1. Peppers and Eggplant

2. Peppers and Eggplant • Pepper • Origin and spread • Species • Hot pepper and hotness • Sweet pepper • Pepper problems • Eggplant • Characteristics • Problems

3. Peppers • Most hot and mild peppers are the same species: Capsicum _______ • Only common exception is tabasco pepper, which is Capsicum ________

4. Peppers • Capsicum _________ • Native to _______ and Central America • Earliest evidence of cultivation is about _______ years ago • Europe • _________ found peppers during his first visit to the New World and introduced them in ________ • Hot types were used as a substitute for Peper nigrum (black pepper), an expensive import

5. Pepper • Sweet pepper, bell pepper, pimento • Most popular in __________ climates • Fruit • Large and __________ • Red when ripe • Cultivars exist that are yellow, orange, or purplish-black when mature • Why are green bell peppers sold?

6. Hot Peppers • Hot peppers, chili peppers, _______ peppers • Have gained an increased popularity • Widely used in Mexico, Asia, and West Indies • Rather _______ fruit • Fruit usually red color when mature Cayenne peppers

7. Capsicum frutescens • Widely used in SE Asia & _______ • US most wide use in ________ sauce • _________ pepper -first evidence of cultivation from coastal Peru • Named after a region in __________

8. Hotness of Peppers • Factors influencing hotness • _________ • Environmental conditions (______ and ______) • ________ of fruit • Fruit part • Seed and associated ________ are the hottest

9. Hotness of Peppers • Capsaicin is ______ soluble • Means that the compound can get into _____ on _____ and when you touch your ______ it can cause burning • Rinse eyes with water • What should you do to reduce the burning in your mouth? • Eat ______ or ______ foods

10. How do we measure hotness? Using ________ Units Devised by chemist Wilbur ______ in 1912 Based on diluting the hot material in a sugar _______ solution until no longer can taste Ranges from 0 for sweet bell peppers to ________+ for habanero Purified capsaicin oil is around 16 million Hotness of Peppers

11. How hot is that pepper? Type Scoville units __________________________________________________ Pimeto 0 Santa Fe Grande 500 to 750 Pablano 1,000 to 2,000 Jalapeno 2,500 to 8,000 Cayenne & Tabasco 30,000 to 50,000 Tepin 80,000 to 240,000 Fatalii 125,000 to 325,000 Scotch Bonnet 150,000 to 325,000 Chocolate Habanero 200,000 to 385,000 Rd Savina Habanero 350,000 to 577,000

12. Horseradish and Wasabi • Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) • In mustard family • Wasabi (Wasabia japonica) • In mustard family • Pungency caused by allyl isothiocyanate (mustard oil) • Stabilized by addition of vinegar or sealing in a tube • Can desensitize to capsaicin • Vapors irritate nasal passages more than tongue Horseradish roots Wasabi roots

13. Onion pungency • Slicing onion breaks cells which releases enzymes called alliinases that breaks down sulfides • Generates sulfenic acids • Unstable and breaks down to volatile gas • Gas reaches eye and reacts with water to form sulfuric acid

14. Pepper Problems • Blossom end rot • Is caused by in adequate ______ reaching _______ end of fruit • Generally related to uneven ______ levels

15. Pepper • Corn ________ can attack and bore into pepper fruit

16. Eggplant or Aubergine (Solanum melongena) • History • Wild species native to ________ • First records of culture are from ______ in 5th century B.C. • First introduced to England and were grown as an _________ with white colored fruits • Early eggplant had white, egg-shaped fruit

17. Eggplant • Description • A ______ plant up to 3 feet tall that is grown as an annual • Flowers are deep ________

18. Eggplant Problems • Avoid • Brown or ______ colored fruit: over-mature • ________ and seedy fruit are also over-mature • Problems • __________ beetles • Colorado ________ beetle