Wondering Why Jalapeños Aren’t as Spicy as Before? The High Demand for Mexican Food Is to Blame
Spice tolerance ranges from one person to another, depending on their taste buds and preferences. However, many spice fanatics who enjoy a good bite of heat from jalapenos have begun to notice the mild varieties in the market lately. Mexican cuisine is highly dependent on peppers to live up to its heat intensity, but the modern varieties cater to an audience larger than that, and hence, have brought in a range of options in pepper spice. Food critic Willa Paskin broke down the shifting trends in jalapenos and their plummeting spice in the U.S. market and fresh produce industry, per Food & Wine.
Like everything else, humans are held responsible for this absurd shift. Anyone who loves chomping on a hot pepper or jalapeno would know how their meals no longer taste the same with the subpar flavors and spice, of course. “In the early nineteen-eighties, demand for Mexican food was growing all over America. Sales at Mexican restaurants had doubled in just a few years, but consumer tastes varied widely,” explained Paskin in the podcast, The Sporkful. Jalapenos, being a staple in Mexican cuisine, were in high demand amidst the growing popularity of the cuisine. While most loved Mexican food, not everybody had the same heat tolerance. Hence, producers and consumer food manufacturers were forced to find an alternative.
Jars of salsa and other consumer products got a permanent place in supermarkets and grocery stores. Production of jalapenos was a piece of cake, however, their heat was unpredictable. Therefore, it was unable to cater to consumers with different tastes, thus creating a need for more production. “For chili peppers, predicting pungency is hard. So the pungency level of a different chili pepper variety is based on genetics, but also the environment,” said Dr. Stephanie Walker, who works as an extension vegetable specialist at New Mexico State University. Salsa products were required to be sold at three different heat levels– mild, medium, and hot.
The producers realized that jalapenos are made spicy with the natural component, oleoresin capsaicin. This could be controlled to create resultant variations in pepper heat. Mild versions of pepper and jalapenos became the ideal choice for producers because they could use them for any salsa and tweak the heat as required. This is when Dr. Benigno (Ben) Villalon, also known as Dr. Pepper, caught the attention of major brands looking to create a milder version of the favorite pepper varieties. “They call me Dr. Pepper, you know, so I was the man for the job… They came to me — Pace Foods, Old El Paso, La Victoria, and all of the big guys,” he continued.
“They said, ‘If we had a mild jalapeño, we could sell a lot more salsa picante with less heat.’ So I said, ‘Well, we already have it. We’ve been working on it since 1972.” Dr. Pepper was a chili expert who had degrees in plant breeding, genetics, and pathology. While the milder varieties were available, the signature flavors of certain peppers were lost in the creation process. After a decade of experimentation, he developed a variety of low-heat peppers with the classic flavor– the TAM Jalapeno in the 1980s. “Was controllably, mildly hot. It was resistant to bugs. It didn't develop kind of gnarly black spots, and it wasn't so curved. It's a glorious little invention,” said Dan Pashman, the host of The Sporkful.