When is a hot pepper hottest?

[StephandElizabeth]

Hi all,

I've got a veggie garden growing, and I've added some hot banana peppers. Can anyone tell me when they're the hottest? I've had several people tell me they get hotter as they mature, but several others have told me that they start out hot and grow milder with time. Anyone know which it is?

Thanks in advance!

[Quietly Awesome]

Hot Banana's are at their hottest when they are a nice yellow color.

[Trentt]

The conventional wisdom I've always heard is they are hotter before they're completely ripe. The heat is a defense mechanism meant to ward off would-be pepper-eaters during the plant's crucial seed maturation stage. Once the fruits are ripe, the seeds are mature and the protection is unnecessary.

I've found this to be true with jalapeños, which are the hot chilis I usually grow.

[opabinia51]

Where's Franco? He's an officianado on Hot Peppers.

[bcomplx]

Weather is a variable, too, because hot weather makes hot peppers hotter. I would think that they would be hottest at the "breaker" stage, when they're just changing from yellow to red, which will probably coincide with the heat of summer. Lots of chemical conversions take place at fubak ripening, and the fruits develop sweeter, fuller flavors.

Maybe that's one of the ways peppers have gotten we omnivores to do their bidding so well -- get tasty and nutritious at the end, when the seeds are ripe, but stay upalatably hot until then. Something to think about.