U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show consumption of fresh peppers at an all-time high, but only a fraction of these are grown domestically according to an article in Texas A & M AgriLife’s AgNews. Most of these peppers are grown in Mexico (70%) and Canada (18%) and imported instead of being grown in the Southwestern US as many varieties once were.
But there’s no reason that can’t change say Texas A & M scientists and agriculture experts who are teaming up with pepper producers in the four southwestern states of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona to develop new pepper hybrids that are drought, heat, and disease resistant, factors that in the past couple of decades have caused the decline of pepper production in the southwest.
The team has already bred several new cultivars of jalapeno, serrano, Habanero, poblano ancho, bell and other fresh pepper plants and according to Dr. Daniel Leskovar, a vegetable physiologist with Texas AgriLife Research, the objective of this research is to “maximize pepper production efficiency and improve the quality of specialty peppers. The cultivars are being developed with several criteria in mind including size, shape, color, capsaicin (the active “heat” ingredient) level, nutritional content, and higher yields.
Recommended reading:
The Pepper Garden
The Peppers Cookbook: 200 Recipes From The Pepper Lady's Kitchen
Beginning with Chiles: How to Roast, Peel and Prepare Chile Peppers for Authentic Mexican Salsas, Stuffers and Seasonings
