Red Habanero pepper: lab-tested Scoville rating and flavor
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The Red Habanero in our Habanero Kit runs about 200,000 to 250,000 Scoville heat units (SHU), and the lot we sent to the lab tested at 237,663. It is the hottest of the three habaneros in the kit and above our numbered habanero grinder: no. 4 Habanero tested at 171,446, so this lot came in about 1.4 times as hot. On the SpiceQuest scale it sits between no. 4 Habanero and no. 5 Ghost at 417,166.
Why a range and a number
Heat changes from batch to batch. The same pepper from the same grower will test differently from one harvest to the next, so the range, about 200,000 to 250,000, is what to expect from the grinder over time, and 237,663 is the exact result for the lot we tested. Both are true. The whole range sits in our Hot tier, which runs from 100,000 to 349,999.
The tested lot is about 1.5 times Yellow Habanero at 158,206 and about 1.6 times Orange Habanero at 149,987, the other two peppers in the kit. It is above White Habanero at 194,937 and below Chocolate Habanero at 299,667, the hottest habanero we have tested. The flakes in the SpiceQuest chili grinder are pure pepper, with no salt and no preservatives, and the number comes from an HPLC lab test. Our lab-tested Scoville chart has every result.
Darker fruit, a touch of smoke
A red habanero is a habanero variety that ripens red, not an orange one left longer on the plant. The flavor runs deeper than the orange: dark fruit and stone fruit, sweeter, with a little smoke and earth, and less of the floral perfume that orange habanero carries. The heat arrives fast, as habanero heat does, then builds and stays longer than the other two in the kit.
Try it on beef chili, barbecue, a beef stew, roasted salsa or a tomato sauce. Start with one press. How the three colors differ is in Red vs. Orange vs. Yellow Habanero.
Who it suits
Red Habanero is sold in the Habanero Kit with Orange Habanero and Yellow Habanero, each in its own SpiceQuest push-button grinder. The product page shows whether it is available.
It suits someone who uses no. 4 Habanero every day and wants more depth and a step more heat without moving up to a ghost pepper.
Questions people ask
Is a red habanero hotter than an orange one? In our tests, yes. The Red Habanero tested at 237,663 Scoville units, the Orange Habanero in the same kit at 149,987 and no. 4 Habanero at 171,446.
Is the Red Habanero the hottest pepper in the Habanero Kit? Yes. Yellow Habanero tested at 158,206 and Orange Habanero at 149,987.
How does it compare with a ghost pepper? No. 5 Ghost tested at 417,166, about 1.8 times the Red Habanero. Habanero vs. ghost pepper has that comparison.