Scotch bonnet - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Scotch Bonnet, also known as Boabs Bonnet, Scotty Bons, Bonney peppers, or Caribbean red peppers (Latin: Capsicum chinense
Capsicum chinense
Capsicum chinense , commonly known as "Yellow Lantern Chili", is a species of Chilli Pepper native to The Americas. C. chinense chillies are well-known for their exceptional heat.-Taxonomy:...

) is a variety of chili pepper

Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...

. Found mainly in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

islands and also in Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

and the Maldives

Maldives

The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...

Islands and west Africa,http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/brewing/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-scotch-bonnet-capsimel it is named for its resemblance to a Tam o'shanter hat. Most Scotch Bonnets have a heat rating of 100,000–350,000 Scoville Units

Scoville scale

The Scoville scale is a measurement of the spicy heat of a chili pepper. The number of Scoville heat units indicates the amount of capsaicin present. Capsaicin is a chemical compound that stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes.The scale is named after...

. For comparison, most jalapeño

Jalapeño

The jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper that has a warm, burning sensation when eaten. A mature jalapeño fruit is 2–3½ inches long and is commonly picked and consumed while still green, but occasionally it is allowed to fully ripen and turn crimson red...

peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 to 8,000 on the Scoville scale

Scoville scale

.

These peppers are used to flavour many different dishes and cuisines worldwide. The Scotch bonnet has a flavour distinct from its habanero cousin giving jerk

Jamaican jerk spice

Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. Jerk seasoning is traditionally applied to pork and chicken. Modern recipes also apply jerk spice mixes to fish, shrimp, shellfish, beef, sausage,...

dishes (pork/chicken) and other Caribbean dishes their unique flavour. Scotch bonnets are mostly used in West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n, Grenadian

Grenada

Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

, Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

ian, Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n, Barbadian

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

, Guyanese

Guyana

, Suriname

Suriname

Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

se, Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

an and Caymanian

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

cuisine and pepper sauces, though they often show up in other Caribbean recipes.

Fresh, ripe scotch bonnets change from green to colours ranging from pumpkin orange to scarlet red. Ripe peppers are prepared for cooking by cutting out the seeds inside the fruit which can be saved for cultivation or other culinary uses.

See also