Tabasco

The tabasco pepper, Capsicum frutescens, is a variety of chili pepper spices Capsicum originally from Mexico. It is best known through its use in Tabasco sauce, followed by peppered vinegar. Like all C. frutescens cultivars, the tabasco plant has a typical bushy growth, which commercial cultivation makes stronger by trimming the plants. The tapered fruits, around 4 cm long, are initially pale yellowish-green and turn yellow and orange before ripening to bright red. Tabascos rate from 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale of heat levels and are the only variety of chili pepper whose fruits are "juicy"; i.e., they are not dry on the inside. Tabasco fruits, like all other members of the C. frutescens species remain upright when mature, rather than hanging down from their stems.A large part of the tabasco pepper stock fell victim to the tobacco mosaic virus in the 1960s; the first resistant variety (Greenleaf tabasco) was not cultivated until around 1970. The peppers are named after the Mexican state of Tabasco. The initial letter of “tabasco” is lowercase when referring to the botanical variety, but is capitalized when referring to the Mexican state or the brand of hot sauce, Tabasco sauce. Tags: Type: Chili, Color: Red, Heritage: Heirloom.

Capsicum frutescens is a species of chili pepper that is sometimes considered to be part of the species Capsicum annuum. Pepper cultivars of Capsicum frutescens can be annual or short-lived perennial plants. Flowers are white with a greenish white or greenish yellow corolla and are either insect or self-pollinated. They are usually very small and pungent, growing 10–20 millimetres (0.39–0.79”) long and 3–7 millimetres (0.12–0.28”) in diameter.Fruit typically grows a pale yellow and matures to a bright red, but can also be other colors. C. frutescens has a smaller variety of shapes compared to other Capsicum species, likely because of the lack of human selection. More recently, however, C. frutescens has been bred to produce ornamental strains, because of its large quantities of erect peppers growing in colorful ripening patterns.

The Capsicum frutescens species likely originated in South or Central America. It spread quickly throughout the tropical and subtropical regions in this area and still grows wild today. Capsicum frutescens is currently native to the majority of Central America as well as Northern and Western South America. It is believed that C. frutescens is the ancestor to the C. chinense species.