Jalapeno alternative?

[nofeargardener]

I'll be planting a few jalapeno's this year as part of our garden. We like to use them in the Mexican dishes we cook. I just wondered if there was another pepper out there, good for that type of cooking, and had the heat of a jalapeno (maybe "slightly" hotter... maybe even "slightly" sweeter).

We'd be using these fresh. Oh... and it'd need to be something ready to plant and readily available at most garden centers (as I've obviously not started from seed yet).

Any suggestions???? Just looking to try something new. :)

Thanks forum!
nofeargardener

[pharmerphil]

NFG, I'd go with Serrano pepper for a "slightly" hotter variety...we also like Limon pepper, I use that alot, but about a half amount of the serrano

[nofeargardener]

Thanks Phil! I'll look for both those varieties. Hoping to expand our "pepper horizons" a little bit this season. :D

[thebigtomato]

You could also try using a Sandia pepper. The Sandia will be as hot or slightly hotter than the Jalepenos but not quite as hot as the Serrano pepper. Let me know what you end up trying and what peppers seem to hit home for you! :D

[thebigtomato]

Those peppers look good! But they also look too hot. Too bad their out of stock!!! What a tease! ;) jk

[organic mommy]

One of the difficulties that many pepper growers have is consistency - I can grow one jalapeno plant and pick 3 different peppers and all provide different heat levels. It sure makes for a tough time when using them in a dish! My best advice for that is to simply cut off the very tip and chew it prior to using, then gauge the heat and determine usage. I have had some jalapenos taste just like green bells but the next one taste like a serrano!

One great activity I enjoy each summer is planting a salsa bed. I will grow a selection of everything I need for good salsas, and experiment over the season with slightly different combinations of my various tomatoes,various onions, various types of hot peppers, anaheim and poblano, garlic, cilantro, dill, lemon basil - whatever suits me that day. And being able to make such small, controlled batches allows me to reproduce if I love that batch or also not really be so disheartened if one batch comes out poorly. Also allows for you to be able to experiment with flavors and textures that may have never been combined before!

Cheers!:)

[thebigtomato]

Wow. I had no idea that one individual jalapeno plant would produce different peppers at varied degrees of "hotness"! lol

[miles.o]

have you heard of the ghost pepper? (: it's definitely "slightly hotter".

[klevelyn]

I have had peppers vary in hotness from season to season. It is hard to find the variety of plants in the nursery's. It pays to start your own plants. Peppers are harder to germinate but worth the effort to learn so you can plant new varieties.

[jonesy]

I have so many varieties of peppers going, some I have never actually eaten before! All I have started from seeds:
Jalapenoes
Serranos
Habaneroes
Kung Paos
Pepperchinies
banana
Hot cherry
poblanoes...

I am excited cause I got all to start from seed with no problems- I upcycled the grow light from an areo garden, and put together other grow lights from pieces at the hardware store (150w grow bulbs at $10, basic dome lamps on clamps for $6)
I started them in solo cups! I cut the cups down though, to make it easier when it comes time to transplant.