When do you know your green habaneros are ripe?

Question

Don't tell me when they turn red or I'll smack ya. ;)

Answer 1

you can tell by size, when they get to be about as big as a 50 cent peice they are ready. i own a commercial greenhouse by the way so i know. i also make and produce my own line of hot sauces so peppers are my life.

Answer 2

From another greenhouse person and pepper grower... If by "ripe" you mean at their full flavor and heat: when they change color. Truly. There are several varieties, all of which will eventually become some shade of yellow, orange, or red when ripe. They will be hot enough to use green at about the time mentioned before (when they're between the size of a quarter and a fifty cent piece), but they're not ripe at that point. "Ripe" indicates that the pepper has reached the point at which the flesh has as much sugar as it will make and the flavor and heat are mature.

Answer 3

If you pick them green, most likely they will have little or no heat. Orange habeneros will turn darker orange when ripe; reds will turn - you guessed it - darker red. Many orange varieties tend to develop black stripes of beginning rot which will take over if left to its own devices. Be on the lookout and harvest affected peppers as soon as it appears.

Some say that they reach their greatest heat level before the end of the season, but I have been growing the hottest peppers for years and have not found that to be so. I have trouble imagining that they actually would lose heat as the season progresses. I leave them as long as possible to maximize the sweetness aspect.

Answer 4

Well, how about if they turn yellow? (smack away!!!!)LOL!!! I guess when they change color, that's all I know unless they have a habenero that STAYS green all the time. (Do they?) I have grown peppers for years and that's the way I tell is when they change color--IF they change color, that is. LOL!!! ;) SD