A World of Peppers Under One Roof

Photo by Tara Walton
Shirley Ladouceur, top, inspects her peppers at her Stevensville greenhouse. She says she didn't grow up eating spicy foods, but quickly developed a taste for them as an adult. After some research, she fell in love with the idea of growing peppers, such as the Naranga, top right, for their taste and cultural significance in the countries from which they originate.
The Rocoto pepper, bottom left, is grown in South America and well known in Peru and is unique for its black seeds. It's not common in Canada, but Ladouceur hopes to change that.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the hottest chili pepper is Smokin' Ed's "Carolina Reaper," grown by Ed Currie of PuckerButt Pepper Company in the U.S., which rates at an average of 1,641,183 Scoville heat units (SHU), according to tests conducted by Winthrop University in South Carolina. The Scoville heat unit scale is a method of quantifying a substance's spiciness by determining the concentration of the chemical compounds responsible for the sensation, known as capsaicinoids. By contrast, the Aleppo peppers, seen here, average 10,000 SHU. Also known as the Halaby pepper, this pepper offers a sweet flavourful heat that isn't as hot as the common chili flakes and it's one of Ladouceur's favourites