Page 16 - BOTANIX Garden Center Fresh garden ideas you can taste

16 Add a little zing… or a lot!

Add a little zing… or a lot!
The fun thing about growing peppers is their exuberance and range of colours.

And the fun thing about eating them? From mildly spicey to flaming hot, peppers
transform an ordinary dish into an unforgettable one.

Most pepper plants do just fine in containers: In the garden, or in raised beds:
• Use a quality potting mix • Very fertile and well-draining soil is essential
• Ensure drainage holes are adequate. • Make sure not to overwater your plants
• Strong light is a must!

Scoville Heat Units

The heat of a pepper is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU), the heat-producing
compounds in a particular pepper. Pay attention when you select the peppers

you want to grow; some like it hot, and some like it hotter!

SHU stands for Scoville Heats Units. The Scoville Scale below shows the classification
of sweet and hot peppers according to their capsaicin content.

Bell (sweet) ‘Mariachi’ ‘Aji Mango’ ‘Super Khi’ ‘Red Habanero’ ‘Ghost Pepper’
Peppers: red, or ‘Cubanelle’ 10,000 40,000 150,000 (Bhut Jolokia)
green, yellow 500 to 600 SHU to 23,000 SHU to 50,000 SHU to 350,000 SHU 1,000,000 SHU
0 SHU Jalapeno
2 500 – 8000 SHU

Very mild Mild Medium Spicy Ultra spicy

‘Espelette’ ‘Time Bomb’ ‘Golden ‘Orange ‘Trinidad Scorpion ‘Carolina Reaper’
100 to 500 SHU Cherry Pepper Cayenne’ Chili Habanero’ Butch T’ Primotalii
2,500 pepper 150,000 800,000 2,200,000 SHU
to 5,000 SHU 30,000 to 350,000 to 1,463,700 SHU
to 50,000 SHU SHU