Tepin Peppers: A Habanero Killer?
Capsicum annuum var. glabrisculum, also known as Chiletepin, Tepin peppers or “bird’s eye” peppers are supposedly one of the hottest peppers in the world. Some chile enthusiasts argue that the Tepin is hotter than the habanero or Red Savina. These tiny peppers are about 3/8″ round to slightly oval, and are found in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Northern Mexico. The word “Tepin” comes from the Nahuatl Mexican word meaning “flea”. In 1995, Texans named the Jalapeno pepper the official pepper of Texas, but two years later, the Tepin was named the official native pepper of Texas.
Tepins are extremely hot, measuring between 50,000 and 100,000 Scoville Units. In Mexico, the heat of the Chiltepin is called arrebatado (“rapid” or “violent”), which implies that although the heat is great, it diminishes quickly.
You probably have never heard of the Tepin pepper, and probably would disagree that these tiny peppers could rival the heat of the Habanero or Scotch Bonnet. You may be asking why I’m bringing all this up. This is why:

A few months ago, my mother-in-law brought me a bag of tiny green pellets and said, “This guy at the office grows these and says they are hotter than habaneros. When he makes a batch of chili, he only puts on pepper in, and that’s all he needs.”
I couldn’t believe it. One tiny pepper? Hotter than a Habanero? How come I had never heard of this micro-monstrosity? Who’s been keeping this information from me? Is it terrorism? What’s our terror alert level!? Just look at the size of this thing:


Not one to be intimidated by such a small terror, I had to see for myself if the violent arrabatado was, in truth, a hotter burn than the infamous Habanero. I made plans for how I would test the peppers. To the Men in Aprons Laboratory! I devised three tests: 1.) the tongue touch, 2.) the beef taco test, and 3.) the eat whole thing and pray to Itzpzpaltol that I would live, or at least not crumple over in pain.
First up was the tongue touch. I cut one pepper in half and touched a half to the tip of my tongue. It was instantly lit afire. But, as suspected, the fire was abated in under a minute with no external milk interference. Judging by this lack of hellfire and brimstone, I decided to put four of the Tepin peppers (show above) in withe my taco meat. I made some quick smoky chili con carne tacos with 4 of the peppers chopped and thrown into the mix. The result: Nothing. Not a hint of heat whatsoever. In fact, I had to break out more Chipotle Tabasco just to bump it up a bit.

Finally, I did the eat-the-whole-pepper thing. Saying a quick Hail Mary, I popped the pepper in and chewed my way to glory. The heat was briefly intense, much like a serrano pepper. But there was a curious phenomenon. I only felt the heat on the places in my mouth where the pepper had physically touched. It was not like a Habanero, where your saliva helps the fire spread all over the inside of your mouth and throat. I figured that maybe since I had them in the freezer, the heat must have subsided somehow.
My other thought is this: since the Tepin peppers are so tiny, they actually have less capsaicin. A smaller size means smaller membranes which means smaller amounts of capsaicin.
In conclusion, I think the idea that the Tepin is hotter than a Habanero may be true in terms of pure Scoville Units. But in overall heat, mouth and butt-burning capability, and the amount of time the heat lasts, I still give Habaneros the award.
Sources: SGH Resources, Cornell Plantations: A Plethora of Peppers, Ecoseeds
Adam, happy holidays from Panama! I think I would disagree with you on this one. I know it very well, and like you…I thought it was the king. But it wasn’t. About two-three weeks ago I discovered another one: please read the following post from my blog to get more info: Link
Let me know what your thoughts are.
Hugs,
Melissa
I have one of those growing wild in my front yard. Tasty little devils.
It’s pretty much accepted as fact that they ARE NOT hotter than habs but in the wotld of chile peppers sometimes opinion overshadows fact.
Here’s some further blathering about these little guys…
Link.
I have some growing wild within my bushes…I am In Houston, Tx. I am looking for
a salsa recipe to use them.Green or red? Humm
Sorry Global Voices, I do not have a doctorate in Artes picante. I’m just a humble reviewer … never meanin’ no harm. If there were ever someone that has the PhD … it’s Nick.
Adam, there you are…., ok, you both have the PhD 🙂
Hugs, Melissa
Can you Please just Send me a JAR of PEPPERS for my Dad to try cause he Loves Peppers.
Can You PLEASE Send Me A Jar Of The HOTTEST PEPPERS Out There,Cause He Dont Think Nothings Hot!!!
Chiltepins make KILLER salsa – use about 6 to 10 peppers – tomatos – garlic – whatever else you want to put in! WOW! yummy!
I guess Tepins are more concentrated heat as for the Habaneros are plain hot in big size you know’I mean?
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Alot also depends on the individual and how they perceive heat ma’am. Different chiles burn different parts of the mouth & some folks are more sensitive in some areas than others. A friend of mine could eat Red Savina(R) like candy but ran in fear from Thai peppers. I could eat Thais’ but wouldn’t consider eating the Red Sav… not for at least some money 😉
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Or Food TV exposure… Like you hav,e “Eat the Heat”
Hi CaJohn
Like I said- money 😉
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Why Hello the Lovely Mrs pmac!!! Glad to see you’re with us!!!
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What money? Another .02, and a new chapter for the Legend of Open Fields?
Oh yeah, the orders that streamed in, right?
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Thanks. I am having a great time.
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Just like for you 🙂 Poured in after the Roker on The Road episode too 😛 Couldn’t take the money out of their hands fast enough!
For anyone reading this, the above is *severe* sarcasm 🙂
I am looking for Tepin peppers to purchase, and I’m not finding many resources. My dad makes an awesome hot sauce with them and he just paid $25.00 for 1 little bag of them This seems a little rediculous. Any suggestions?
If your ever around Austin or San Antonio TX., you can buy a small Tepin plant in a pot and trans plant it at home they grow pretty fast and make millions of peppers, and it wont cost you an arm and leg, Russell!
u can buy the plants online at Amazon……4 plants for 9.99 plus 7.00 for shipping….thats cheaper than what u paid for a small bag of dried ones…….and u will have fresh peppers to pick and u can dry them yourself with a dehydrator…..there easy to grow and will grow for years…….
I’d say if you grew them you didn’t give the plant enough stress or you picked them too early by your picture provided. The Tepin pepper should have a reddish-orange color to it, not green. Try again.
the article clearly states that my mother in-law gave them to me from a guy at her work that grows them. I didn’t grow them. I just ate them. You should read before commenting.
Try again.
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It might be a little high, but given their size they *will* be pricey as they are very labor intensive to pick. I’ve got about a hundred of them out for Open Fields- you’re welcome to come & help yourself. You’ll soon see why they’re so pricey 😉
I have three wild tepin plants in my backyard here in Austin. The largest is about 4 feet in diameter and produces hundreds of peppers. The pepper is ripe when it turns a “Hookem Horns” orange to a cayenne red. I am not familiar with the small round black pepper shown in this post. I dry mine, and then in the winter make hot sauce for my chili. You can buy the Tepin at local nurseries here in Austin. It is indeed, as our governor would say, “A hot little mo fo”.
I get only a few red chiles from they tend to go black when should they be picked
Most people pobably haven’t heard of Chiltepin in the U.S. that’s including people of Mexican ancestry. I’ll tell you why. The majority of the people living in the U.S. with Mexican ancestry or immigrants from Mexico are from the Southern part of Mexico,. Chiltepin grows wild mainly in Sonora Mexico which borders with Arizona. That is why you will see more Passilla peppers than Anaheim peppers in your grocery stores. The Chiltepin pepper is not only very hot but it also has a great taste. That is hard to find with most peppers. It goes great with soups (caldos), and it makes a killer salsa.
Dawn, I bought some seeds from a supplier and the plants from those are close to having some ripened peppers on them. In addition I purchased some tepin flakes from the same people. They are pretty cool people to deal with. here is the link to their website look half-way down the page for the info:
http://www.batnet.com/rwc-seed/Pepper.worlds.hottest.html
good luck
pat
These little peppers grow wild here, and there are a LOT of them around. Anyone interested in some might let me know what quantity they want and what they want to pay. …If we come to terms, you might get you a good deal on these little burners. A now deceased Mexican friend used to pick the peppers and sell them to friends and relatives for supplies to last him the entire year!
Eddie
Pat,
My dad had tried to grow Tepins and I don’t think they do well in our climate. We are at a high elevation and althought we have very warm summers we also have very cold winters with lots of snow. (Salt Lake City.) I would love to give it a try, if you think it might work, though. Any particular growuing tips?
Dawn
Dawn, they are difficult to get started. The website that I bought the seeds from gives some good tips to get them started. It took almost two months to get them to just sprout! I then put them into some pots and they have been kicking ever since. I planted them in a couple 3 gallon pots. Even though all peppers are perennial, they ussually aren’t in colder winter climates i.e. Utah or Colorado (where I live), so by potting them you can bring them in for the winter and back out the next spring once the night time lows are above 45 degrees. I have them on a drip watering system that give them about 1 gallon of water every day, though I recently cut the watering to every other day now, so the plants struggle a little to help the fruit to ripen. As far as the summer heat goes, I think these plants thrive in it. Give it another shot, these peppers are worth it.
Just got a big package of goodies from these guys. They give a small package of tepin flakes for you to test drive with your order.
I will try to grow them next season. I am in Montana and easily grow THAIs from seed. You just need to start them inside. Peppers are perennials, so you can take them in for the winter, too. Keeping aphids off of inside peppers can be a chore.[Comment ID #47359 Quote]
http://www.batnet.com/rwc-seed/peppers.html
Here’s the answer from South-Asia. Enjoy your next curry. 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_Jolokia_pepper
Dawn I have more tepins than I know what to do with growing on my ranch in Texas. I just picked a few pounds two weekends ago. They are a pain to harvest. I’ll send you some in exchange for your hot sauce recipe !!! Also can send you seeds if you are interested. I need a few good tepin-based recipes.
I’ve grown them from seed this year in my garden in England. The green chilis turn black before they turn orange then red. I have 3 plants which are ready to harvest now.
When I saw the first red one I picked it and squeezed juice from it onto my tongue, nothing, so disappointed I popped the whole thing into my mouth and chewed.
Bwaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! Not a good move, half an hour later I was ready for bed, and the flames had just subsided, I kissed my wife goodnight (just a peck on the lips you understand) and she ran to the bathroom for a drink of water to sooth her glowing lips.
Oh yes, they are pretty hot.
What is the hottest strain of the jalapeno pepper,and, or how can i make mine grow even hotter, If you cant help ,please tell me who can . Thank You .I appreciate your time .Sincerely,…Matthew Decker
What kind of peppers are perennial: you can plant them in a container and later take them inside in the winter. In the spring you have a head start [!]. I have heard you can do this with manzanos.
thanks, guys
dean
I have left two tepin plants in the garden and one I cut back to about 8″ and left it in a pot in the greenhouse.
The one in the the pot is sprouting nicely now. I’m not sure how the ones in the garden are doing.
I found that infusing them in olive oil made an excellent oil for drizzling over home made pizzas before cooking. The oil gives a slight somewhat pleasing bite to the throat.
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Any of them Dean. Chiles will live for several years in warmer climes, and reach impressive size.
as the others have mentioned, all peppers are perennial. The only thing the didn’t mention is that aphids are a serious pain once you bring the plant/s inside. You need to plan on keeping them in a place that allows you to spray with one of the many organic sprays available. It’s ideal to have a greenhouse for this, but that is not always feasible for everyone. That being said I think it is worth the effort necessary to be successful in keeping the plants inside for the winter.
I need help to identify some small, round, 3/8″ red, hot pepper I am growing (…perhaps a cherry pepper?). Who should I send a .jpg image to?
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I’d be more than happy to help try identify them. jim @ wildpepper.com
Hey y’all! Im just some random person. I had to do a science fair project on habenero peppers and I found this site really helpful, thnx!
Hi Adam,
I am quite familiar with these little devils. I have found the green ones are not quite ripe and not even close to being hot. But if you let them ripen better yet on the vine they can be super hot! They can rival the heat of a Habanero but it dissipates really fast and does not stay with you close to the time a Habanero will. If you want to really feel the effect, grind up a dried red Tepin and try it that way you will get a much better burn.
Rob
“Don’t cook Chili naked!”
Scorpion Bay Hot Sauce
I have been grinding chiletepin (pronounced chee-ta-peen by those who know) seeds for the last 11 years. Found out about them after moving to Tucson. They are fantastic since they don’t have any taste to speak of… just the heat as you eat! Use them during every meal. Can’t enjoy food without them. They make eating a true experience. Unfortunately, we have moved from Southern AZ and don’t have access to them anymore. Still have some left but would like access to anyone who sells them so I can keep my supply up. Can anyone help me on that?
Does anyone have a recipe for the great chiltepin sauce you can get in some Tucson places? I think it involves sauteing the chiles in oil until they’re brown and then adding to tomato paste etc.
Can someone tell me a restaurant in NYC that uses them? We would like to feature them in our magazine but cannot seem to find a place that uses them in their menu.
I would really appreciate some help. nic.haddad@gmail.com
Thank you!
For restaurants, ask around at a Guatemalan restaurant. Was served a huge bowl of soup made exclusively out of these suckers in the middle of the jungle. They always had them dried on the table next to a bit of salt in Guate., the salt was in case it got too hot. They said the pepper gives “calor,” which I never knew if they meant heat or a red face….
I have red and green tepin peppers growing in my backyard. I need a good hot sauce recipe or salsa recipe for these bad boys. Or if anyone has any ideas how to pickle/can or preserve them I’d appreciate it. I think the sauce would make great Christmas gifts. Thanks.
can i buy some from some one who grows them or has any to sell let me know my email is jrangel@knology.net thanks i miss them here in montgomery alabama they will not grow
Leslie below is a link for tepin recipes and one of them is called “pure tepin sauce.” I have made it before and made enough to go in a 16oz bottle a stored it in fridge for 9 or so months. It never spoiled and I ran out. I liked it on fish & chicken, really any meat and even in some salads, my favorite was tabouli salad.
http://www.batnet.com/rwc-seed/tepin.recipes.html
As far as preserving them, I have both dried them and frozen them and kept them in a jar in the freezer, mostly I dry them. If you want to save some seeds for growing go to the link below & the instructions are about 6 pages or so down. Good luck
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this website sells both the seeds for planting or to buy the flakes. The flakes are not cheap. I’m jealous, where you live you should be able to grow them year round.
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do you still have plants?
I would like to ick some peppers
A long time ago, I have some friends from Mexico that were in PA working with me. They brought some pickled chiltepins over and we ate them on Doritos. Those peppers have long been my favorites, but of course, I can’t find them anywhere. I have seen sites online where I can buy the plants to grow them (I hope in my area, Philly) next year……but does anyone know if there is a place to actually buy pickled chiltepin peppers?? Please help me find them!! Thank you!
Mark Groves- you can google “tepin products” & come up with several pages to search. http://www.woodlandfoods.com/products has tepin in several forms. If you can search the vendor list for Zest Fest this year, a company named La Chingada offered nothing but tepin.
Hope this helps!
Mark-
I also forgot to mention “The Chile Woman” in Bloomington Indiana as a source for mail order plants.
Hi,
Thanks for a most informative page.
I’m thinking if it would be ok to ask for information on two plants I just bought.
One I think is a Tepin ( image ) and the other I think is a Numex Twilight ( image ).
I havn’t been able to 100% positively identify them though, and would like to get assistance if possible.
Also, one poster mentions spraying the plants, but I couldn’t quite make out with what ? ( English isn’t my first language, so there might be a slight barrier on technical words belonging to other areas than computer science 😉 )
Thanks again!
/Þór
I have been selling Tepin Pepper for the past 8 years. I have these peppers harvested from your Family Ranch in Northern Mexico (SONORA). We are producing approximately 4000 lbs every year. This pepper is great to add a kick to any meal. Just be careful and do not over do it you may pay for it later (if you know what I mean….).
If any of you would like to purchase tepin peppers I take orders in 1 lbs increments and I can ship all over the world (10 lbs minimun for international). I currently ship to Germany, Spain and a few places here in the US. You may contact me either by phone at 520-907-9411 or by e-mail aymo11@msn.com
i had some in yuma, az. the produce house i was picking up at had the ground with just garlic salt and alittle cilantro big mortar and pestle you could have chicken, beef, beef and potato or potato tacos or just cheese yes i was stupid and put to much on the mexican at the place looking at me like i was stupid or crazy not sure which one. it was very hot very very really really. hottness, it was like the bomb final answer! my brother laughed hahah not funny.
Well I really wish I could find a pepper hotter than the Habanero.I have been eating the habanero so long that it just isn’t hot anymore. Some day I hope to find one hotter.
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Well Mary, find the bhut jolokia, that should make you more than happy. I know CaJohn makes hot sauce, bbq sauce, mustard, salsa, rub, wing sauce and I know I am leaving something out and also sells the pods. Go to his website and take a look: http://www.cajohns.com/jolokia.html
send me info on where i can get a plant are some seed to this pepper plant are someone send me some iv’e ate these before but never new where thay came from
My first experience with the wild tepin was in Arizona some 40 years ago. We grew them in the front yard. Let these little monsters turn totally orange too red in color and then try that same tounge test and you will find them to light your fire!! I believe they are as hot as a habanero for the first initial blast off of the tounge but as the other readers have also found out they do not keep the fire on for a long length of time. Thank-you Alan Ortega I will be contacting you prematurely. I been growing Habaneros for years now in Ohio (orange, red and this year the African brown. Will let you know how it compares to the others. Happy Hotness All !!
Hi All,
I live in Canada. Calgary to be accurate. I have grown some four foot high Tepin plants and I am getting a decent crop coming on. I would really like some good recipes for hot sauce or hot jelly to put them in. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Hey Peter,
Fill up your blender with tomatoes, throw in cilantro, a half a handful, or a handful of tepins depending on your heat tolerance, some smoked paprika, and some powdered chicken stock (one or 2 spoonfulls) and then blend. Once you are done, heat up some olive oil and then simmer the sauce for 2o minutes. Great sauce.
the tepin is hot, and the habenaro is hot so I have perfected a new type of pepper I call it the death adder. It is a mix of the deadly devil (habenaro) and the tiny terror (tepin) and finaly the huge bannana peper. first I breaded the habenaro and tepin, but like the tepin it did not last very long. so I got the biggest pepper i could find (bannana) and bread a new speicies of hot pepper. im proud to say it is the worlds hottest pepper. LOOK FOR IT IN THE GUINNES BOOK OF WORLDS RECORDS 2010!!!!!!!!!! thats when i realease it!!!!!!!!!!
Hi all, I started Tepins for the first time last Feb, and now I have a few decent sized plants. I live in Western Canada and frost is quickly approaching. To date only 3 out of a couple hundred peppers have turned red/orange. Are more going to turn, or have I lost the ideal conditions? I’ve only tried a couple green ones so far, the first being a month ago, and nothing spectacular. I tried one again yesterday and it felt like somebody put out a cigarette on my tongue. Is there really much difference in the “fully mature” red?
The mature red Tepin is very, very hot. The green is nothing. Since I live in the Desert my plant was a volunteer left by seeds from the birds who love the peppers.
I would be more inclined to believe you if you had eaten them when they were red. The ones on my bush won’t even come off until they are bright red all around. The birds love them and they don’t eat them either until they are red. Any green pepper which is not ripe is bound to loose potency, even the mighty Habenero.
Wi do some of my chile tepin s grow black instead of red do u know I still pick them and they r good just curious I grow them in el cajon san diego ca
You have to try a ripe one. Green ones are not mature or ready to eat. Mature ones are Red and very very hot. I promise. Tepins are wild peppers that grow in mexico texas arizona new mexico and southern california. I grow my own they produce peppers for years. I have had my plant for 18 years now still cranking them out.
Green, un-ripened chiles and red, dried chiles are not the same thing. Ripening sometimes increases potency and drying always concentrates capsaicin. In a typical variety chile much of the heat is concentrated in the seeds. Chiltepins have little flesh thus a very high seed to flesh ratio. I used to grow them outdoors in Arizona but recently started some indoors here in Washington State and despite trimming them back twice they’re already a few inches short of the ceiling.