Boonie Pepper

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

Boonie Peppers

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.

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

"(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.

boonie pepper

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

Boonie peppers are a small ( upto a little over 1 inch in length) slender pepper that grows throughout most of south east asia, they are a veriaty of Thai pepper, they go from light green to yellowish orange to red, they are very hot! and the the heat does not deminish with cooking. The plants are fast growing and hardy. I have several in my yard (all relatives of a house warming gift given 7 years ago) I routinely harvest peppers from June right up into December (we live in SE GA). I have several differant types of hot peppers growing and while not the hottest, the Boonie is still one of my favorites due to it's sustained lasting burn! Hope it helps.

svennn had it mostly right!  The Boonie Pepper is a relative of the Thai Bird Chile and Malagueta/Malaga Bird Pepper.  While they are similar in looks, they are distinctly different peppers in heat and taste.  These peppers are like coffee beans.  While most look the same, their taste differs dependent upon the climate, soil and growing conditions.  The Thai chili tends to be more on the "sweeter" side, meaning less heat and has a more subtle flavor than the Guam  Boonie.  The Malagueta comes close to heat but its effects are not as long lasting.

 

Growing Boonie Peppers can be quite tricky.  The plants like lots of sunlight, growing space, mild to very warm temperatures and humidity.  They easily die in the cold.  But once the fruit is harvested, it can easily be kept fresh longer by freezing with the stems on. Take them out of the freezer and leave them on the counter until they reach room temperature and they are almost as good as fresh.

 

The attraction of this pepper is its heat.  It can be very intense at first and then evens out and lingers on your tongue and lips which can last for a while (about four to seven times longer than a jalapeno).  It can also cause a little numbness. There's definitely a lot of tingling going on. Another attribute of the Boonie is that its heat can be amplified by crushing them (using a mortar and pestle or a small bowl and the back of a spoon). The heat tends to also bring out the sweetness in foods. So what hits your palate first is the heat, then sweet followed by the other flavors of the dish giving a greater depth to your flavor profiles when used correctly. Guamanians do not usually dry these peppers, we prefer them fresh. If not fresh, then frozen and maybe as a last resort, in a paste. Finding seeds and plants online is easier these days.  Just Google Guam boonie pepper plant for sale.

 

Here's a current link for live plants:  http://www.chileplants.com/search.asp?ProductCode=CHIGUB&SizeID=&ChileForm=&SearchMode=simple&LengthID=&WidthID=&HeightID=&OrientationID=&FoliageID=&FleshID=&UseID=&Color=&Location=&Keyword=&HeatID=5&TypeID=&DeterminancyID=&CategoryID=1&SeasonID=&NewProduct=&Letter=G&SearchButton=Pressed

 

This site has a lot of different pepper plants at very good prices. The only downfall is that you have to order at least 12.

When I was 7-9 years old I lived on Guam and picked a tiny red pepper and ate it whole.  Neither resembling a habanero, nor cubanelle nor scotch bonnet, the pepper tapered to a point and measured approx 1 inch in length.

 

Yet it had BIG fire, sending me and a friend who tried one scurrying back home screaming in utter tears.  Such was my first ever experience with a hot pepper and it could have been a boonie pepper but I'm not sure of this.

 

BTW the words 'boonie' and 'yo-yo' originate in the Philipino language. 

Just came back from Guam and my friends sent me home with a packet of dried Boonie Peppers, (Doni Sali).

They can be bought through    mystics@teleguam.net also came with an address if interested

P.O. Box 8123, MOU-3

Dededo, GU  96912       Phone 671 653 5770.

They are very tasty, hot like the dried peppers you'd put on pizza.

Chamoritto/Chamorro (Hafa Adai)  elegantly describes the heat and flavor sooooooo well. I couldn't have described it so well. I also agree who wants dried Boonies IF you can get them

fresh. I'm happy sharing with my friends the dried ones I have. What a flavor!

Oh, the memories! When I was in 2nd grade, (1972) My Dad was in the Air Force and we were stationed on Guam. All of us kids had the urban rumors about the boonie peppers, but I only tried a tiny bit ONCE. Ouch.

 

My best non-culinary memory of them was when a kid at daycare was running around loose with one, trying to jam it into the other kids' mouths. So, there were a couple of crying kids, and a lot of kids screaming and running aimlessly in panic. The teachers were trying to direct all these wild kids, and one of the grownups was yelling "He's got a boonie pepper! He's got a boonie pepper!".

 

You'd think the kid was a terrorist or something. At least, in those days, that was enough excitement for one day :)

 

-Russell

Boonie peppers (Donie Sali) can be purchased online at ebay by doing a search. Most are just for the seeds. For those that want to use for making kelaguen or finadene right away, you can purchase high quality washed and dried boonie peppers from "Aiko's Red Hot" sold on ebay in a 2 oz. vacuum pack. These peppers can also be opened for the seed to be planted. The feedback from these sellers is excellent and 100% positive. Shipping is very fast. Peppers are hot, hot, hot so don't let your kids play with them.