Habanero peppers are notorious for their fiery kick, but a new twist in pepper breeding offers a gentler experience. Researchers at the Oregon State University (OSU) have developed two new varieties of habanero peppers that retain all the flavor and fragrance of the original without feeling hot in your mouth. 

The new varieties named “Mild Thing” and “Hotta Notta” mark the culmination of 25 years of research and hard work of James Myers and his team of vegetable breeders — a group of scientists at OSU specializing in creating organic, disease-resistant, and highly nutritious vegetable varieties.

The researchers claim that Hotta Notta and Mild Thing cause 100 times less heating or burning sensation in the mouth than regular habaneros. They can be easily grown in the temperate Pacific Northwest region of the country where regular habaneros often fail to thrive.

“While typical habaneros register from 100,000 to 350,000 SHU on the Scoville scale, the new peppers top out at around 1000—it’s kind of like a pepperoncini on steroids,” Oregon Public Broadcasting said on Instagram.

The Scoville scale measures the concentration of capsaicin, a compound responsible for the spiciness or heat level of chili peppers and other hot foods.

What makes peppers burning hot?

The spicy hotness in peppers comes from a compound called capsaicin (a type of capsaicinoid). The amount of capsaicin is controlled by a single dominant gene called Pun1. This gene plays an important role in completing the final step of capsaicin biosynthesis. 

Different versions of Pun1 result in varying heat levels—ranging from very hot, like in Carolina Reapers, to no heat at all, as in sweet peppers like Aji Dulce from Puerto Rico. While Carolina Reapers measure 1.5–2 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU), most habaneros range between 100,000–300,000 SHU. 

The new mild Mild Thing and Notta Hotta, have just 500–1,000 SHU. When asked how this was achieved, James Myers told ZME Science:

“I started with a mild habanero line released by Kevin Crosby at Texas A&M University. This has a pungency level of 2,000-2,500 SHU. It spontaneously outcrossed to a hot habanero in my pepper nursery, which I discovered when I planted out the seed the following year. So I started selecting for the mild form as well as earliness and better adaptation to western Oregon. The result are cultivars that mature a week to two weeks earlier than traditional habanero peppers.”

This process may sound simple at first — except it’s not. Normally, it takes about 10 years from when vegetable breeders first make a cross to when the final variety is ready to release. 

Producing the mild varieties took even longer for two reasons. First, the researchers grew out advancing generations when they had time and resources to do so, which means that they were not grown every year. Second, since these peppers are a niche crop, there weren’t any big nurseries available to test them across different regions.

“Perhaps the greatest challenge was learning how to produce good quality seed. This species of pepper generally likes warmer growing conditions than we get in western Oregon, so we needed to determine what to do culturally to get good seeds. This involves starting transplants early and putting them out at a larger size than we would normally transplant,” Myers said.

It took the researchers around 25 years to overcome all these challenges and finally produce the two mild varieties.

Notta Hotta and Mild Things grow fast

According to the researchers, if you grow Notta Hotta and Mild Thing, they’ll take 91 to 95 days to first ripe fruit in western Oregon. That’s about 10 days earlier than most traditional habanero peppers. The modified peppers can be grown using the same cultural techniques used in conventional bell or chili peppers.

When it comes to their odor, cracking open these peppers releases a very intense tropical fruity aroma. Myers says that most people think that they are smelling capsaicin, but this is not the case. Instead, the scent is more closely related to the distinctive odors and flavors one commonly experiences in an Indian restaurant.

“One thing I have found is that a little bit of pungency enhances the flavor and aroma of volatiles. Those Capsicum chinense (a habanero variety) types that completely lack capsaicin are rather bland.  There is a sweet spot that Mild Thing and Notta Hotta occupy with a little capsaicin but not so much that it is overwhelming,” Myers told ZME Science.

Chefs and consumers can make new and novel foods using the two mild varieties. The tropical fruity flavor normally masked by pungency makes Mild Things and Hotta Notta suitable for use in a variety of food items including desserts.

“For instance, I’ve had chefs use them in dessert dishes such as ice cream and to make a very flavorful soda. Chefs like these because they can capture the flavor, and then use other peppers to adjust the heat to the desired level,” Myers said.

When can you expect to try the mild habaneros?

The only thing that Hotta Notta and Mild Things lack are high levels of capsaicin. But that’s the entire point of making these new varieties.

However, the levels of carotenoids, soluble solids, and other nutritional compounds in these peppers are the same as in other habaneros.

Although they have not been tested extensively in other environments, there might be some regions where certain disease resistance is needed to produce them in good quantity and quality. Hopefully, as production scales, these things will fall into place.

Currently, the OSU team is in talks with some seed companies. They will soon give the license to one or some of these companies, and it is expected that in 2025, Hotta Notta and Mild Things will be available to the public.

“This is all I will be doing with peppers before I retire. I have a number of other breeding projects that I am working to complete. These include developing a nuña or popping bean that can be grown in temperate climates, tromboncino summer squash, bush blue lake green beans, Mayo Coba (yellow) dry beans, Indigo tomatoes, snap peas, broccoli, and winter squash,” Myers said.