The Chocolate Habanero pepper is a rare color variation of the hot traditional Orange Habanero pepper. Habanero peppers are most commonly red or orange in color, but other Habanero varieties also exist. In 1999, the Habanero was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's hottest pepper, but it has since been displaced by a number of other peppers. The Chocolate Habanero ranges from 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU), which is about 70 times hotter than an average Jalapeño. It starts off green and ripens to brown.
Like other Habanero varieties, the Chocolate Habanero pepper is very spicy and has a slight fruity flavor, which makes it very popular in hot sauces, salsas, and powders. The chocolate version also has a slight smokey flavor so it is commonly dried and used in dry rubs. In recent years, Habaneros are becoming more and more mainstream as they are often thought of as the go-to pepper for those looking to spice up a meal. The recent surge in spicy fast food items, spicy chips, and spicy craft beers often list the Habanero pepper as a main ingredient.
The Habanero pepper has several different color strains, including the Orange Habanero, White Habanero, Red Savina Habanero, Caribbean Red Habanero, and Honey Fire Habanero. The Habanero pepper was the first pepper ever grown at Tyler Farms.
