Boonie Pepper

[Free Rider]

What exactly is a "boonie pepper"? I believe the name is a slang term used on Guam. Anyone know the normal name?

[bigwheel]

Taking a wild guess it might be a shortened version of Scotch Bonnet. Which is either a type of habanero peppa or close kin to one depending on who speaking on it.

bigwheel

Originally Posted by Free Rider

What exactly is a "boonie pepper"? I believe the name is a slang term used on Guam. Anyone know the normal name?

[Free Rider]

Thanks, bigwheel. I'm getting a little closer. It seems it is very close to the peri-peri capsicum pepper I encountered as a kid. Mmmm.... love peri-peri.

[JonK]

I don't think the boonie pepper is the Scotch Bonnet. You can get boonie pepper plants from Cross Country Nurseries (http://www.chileplants.com), though when I checked today, they were out for the season. Their on-line catalog describes them as follows:

GUAM BOONIES - very hot; Pequin/Piquin Type; 1 to 1.25 inches long by 0.5 to 0.75 inches wide; thin flesh; matures from medium green to orange to red; upright pods; green leaves; 36 to 42 inches tall; Very Late Season; Uses: Drying; from Guam; C.chinense.

(Just to confuse matters, Dave's Garden (www.davesgarden.com) says they're C. frutescens, which would make them a Tabasco pepper--I don't think so)

For a picture, see http://www.mpwarner.com/in-depth/image-295.html

One writer refers to them as a cross between a jalapeno and kung pao, but I think that's figurative, not botanical. In any case, they are extremely hot and definitely require gloves whilst cutting. I don't know what their Scofield/Scoville number is.

If you want recipes on how to use 'em, just pop "boonie pepper" into Google and you'll get everything from chicken to cream sauce.

[Free Rider]

I want to get some for a friend who used to live on Guam and misses them. The piquins have a heat rating of some 140,000

[bigwheel]

Well sorry I missed my guess on it being in the hab genre..sob. So sorry. Now that we found out whut it is for sure...I got input. Them chili pequins grow wild over all S. Texas to way N. of Austin..and they like to grow along the river. Depending on the geography whut folks calls em ranges from pee peppas to river peppas..blah blah blah. Now ours are plumb round just like a pee. Roughnecks was fond of stipping off a limb full of fruit and leaves and holding it in their fist whilst blowing out the leaves and leaving the fruit. Then they toss em in the mouf chew em up and swallow em. Was some kind of testosterone tournament from whut I could gather from my daddy. Anyway like the man say them things is hotter than heck. Ranks about half way on the heat scale twixt a jap and and hab (course I aint seen a hot jap in the past 20 yrs or so. They is now custom designed mild for the yups ya know?) Anyway if that Guam version is like the ones we got..they got plenty of heat but zero flavor. Hope yalls dont work like that.

bigwheel

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by bigwheel

Well sorry I missed my guess on it being in the hab genre..sob. So sorry. Now that we found out whut it is for sure...I got input. Them chili pequins grow wild over all S. Texas to way N. of Austin..and they like to grow along the river. Depending on the geography whut folks calls em ranges from pee peppas to river peppas..blah blah blah. Now ours are plumb round just like a pee. Roughnecks was fond of stipping off a limb full of fruit and leaves and holding it in their fist whilst blowing out the leaves and leaving the fruit. Then they toss em in the mouf chew em up and swallow em. Was some kind of testosterone tournament from whut I could gather from my daddy. Anyway like the man say them things is hotter than heck. Ranks about half way on the heat scale twixt a jap and and hab (course I aint seen a hot jap in the past 20 yrs or so. They is now custom designed mild for the yups ya know?) Anyway if that Guam version is like the ones we got..they got plenty of heat but zero flavor. Hope yalls dont work like that.

bigwheel

Oh I hope what you meant was "pea" pepper and not "pee" pepper.

I think my friend is looking for heat. His brother was a roughneck. Good old Texas roughneck. I'm not sure everbody knows what a roughneck is. I didn't until I met his brother.

A couple of years ago, I bought some jalapeños that tasted like bells.

[cliveb]

"(Just to confuse matters, Dave's Garden says they're C. frutescens, which would make them a Tabasco pepper--I don't think so)"

Capsicum Frutescens is a species of hot pepper; Tabasco is a member of that species, as is the Malegueta Pepper from Brazil and the Angkor Sunrise from Cambodia. The frutescens species are often known as bird peppers. The boonie /booney pepper from Guam is also from the same species - the pods grow upwards and fall off easily, making them ideal bird food!

No, I'm not a chili expert; I'm currently preparing a Cooking Course on hot peppers!

Scotch Bonnets are Capsicum Chinense, the same as the Habaneros.

[frankfejeran24]

im pretty sure you can find them under Dane Sale....my micro green farmer is growing them for my personal use now