Mild Habaneros from OSU Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. This may seem unusual for the Fruit Grower Report, but today we’re talking about peppers, specifically a new breed of Mild Habaneros created by breeders at Oregon State University.
OSU Professor Jim Myers says peppers are indeed a fruit …
MYERS … “Yes, they are, but they’re used, in this case, you know, quite often they’re used as a vegetable. You know, they’re used in a savory dish. But I would say these are very, highly versatile so they can be used in savory dishes or in deserts and that makes it fruit too.”
Not a big fan of the HOT peppers, Myers has several years developing two new mild Habaneros varieties called “Mild Thing” and “Notta Hotta” …
MYERS … “I’ve always liked the Habanero peppers because they have this wonderful fruity fragrance and aroma and flavor, but then that gets masked by the heat in the Habanero type.”
Myers says the journey began 25 years ago kind of by accident …
MYERS … “So, I found a pepper that was given to me by a breeder down at Texas A&M University that was a mild Habanero, and I grew it out one year in my pepper nursery at the research farm. And the next year it had outcrossed with the hot Habaneros. So, then I had to start a project to breed it back to a mild state again.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on when you might be able to find
these new mild Habaneros.
