Scotch bonnet pepper

Flavour and aroma

fiery, fruity, tropical, apricot-like. Fierce heat with a sweet, fruity, almost tropical flavour.

Heat

Very hot

Forms

fresh, dried

How to use it

• infuse · Simmering technique

  For flavour with controlled heat, prick the whole chilli once or twice and simmer it in the pot (rice and peas, stews, soups); lift it out before serving without bursting it.

• use raw

  For jerk marinade and pepper sauce, wear gloves, remove seeds and white ribs for less heat, and blend with the other ingredients.

• Added whole to curries and stews for flavour with controlled heat
• Blended into jerk marinade and Caribbean pepper sauce
• Chopped into escovitch, pikliz and salsas

Identifying good quality

Squat, lantern-shaped chillies 2.5–4 cm across, red, orange, yellow or green, with glossy, slightly wrinkled skin. Very strong fruity smell. Typically 100,000–350,000 Scoville units: many times hotter than a jalapeño.

• Not to be confused with Fresh red chilli: Bird's eye chillies are long and thin; Scotch bonnets are squat and much hotter.

Origin and history

Origin: Capsicum chinense was domesticated in the Amazon basin; the Scotch bonnet type developed in the Caribbean.. Grown and used: Grown across the Caribbean and West Africa; used in Jamaican, Trinidadian, Haitian, Guyanese and West African cooking..

Capsicum chinense chillies were grown throughout the Caribbean before European contact. The Scotch bonnet, named for its squat bonnet shape, became the defining heat of Jamaican jerk and pepper pot, Caribbean pepper sauces and, via trade, many West African stews.

Commonly told; not firmly documented