Peppers are the crop Florida is genuinely good at. Heat that ruins tomatoes suits them, and in most of the state they live for years. Companion to the Florida Planting Calendar.
Capsaicin is an oil. It does not wash off with water, and water spreads it. For anything above roughly 100,000 SHU, wear nitrile gloves and keep your hands away from your eyes and face for hours afterwards, including after washing.
On skin, use full-fat dairy, or oil followed by dish soap. In eyes, flush with plenty of cool water or saline and do not rub. Remove contact lenses first and do not reinsert them. Grinding dried superhots aerosolises capsaicin and will empty a room. Wear a respirator, work outdoors or under extraction, and let the dust settle before opening the grinder.
Superhot eating challenges send people to emergency rooms every year with vomiting, severe abdominal pain, and in rare cases thunderclap headache from arterial spasm. Treat these as ingredients, not dares, and keep them away from children.
Scoville ratings are ranges, not constants. The same variety varies by a factor of several depending on sunlight, water stress, soil, and how ripe the pod was when picked. Drought-stressed plants make hotter fruit. Treat every number here as a band your pepper will land somewhere inside, and expect your own results to differ from a seed packet.
The scale on each card is logarithmic, because a linear one would render everything below habanero as a flat line against the superhots.
Five domesticated Capsicum species cover almost everything grown. Species predicts germination speed, heat tolerance, days to maturity, and what will cross with what, which is why this guide is organised that way rather than by heat alone. Datil and habanero behave alike in the garden because they are the same species, whatever the labels suggest.
Windows follow UF/IFAS Extension guidance for the three Florida regions, adjusted for the longer season that chinense and superhot types need. Treat the edges as approximate. Your county Extension office is the tiebreaker and the service is free.
It is a growing reference, not food safety certification. The fermentation section covers the acidity principle because it matters, but anything you intend to sell falls under Florida cottage food rules and acidified food regulations, which are a separate matter and worth reading before you bottle anything for anyone but yourself.