Taste report Habanero Hot Lemon

Again a chilli I got from Volker in Berlin, the Habanero Hot Lemon, a stunning looking chilli. Lovely smooth and bright yellow skin, and I was told it is a heavy producer. Unfortunately, I forgot to make a picture when I had cut it, but it does not have a load of seeds in it. This is however one of the oddest Habañero’s I have ever seen. It is almost translucent and I find I even have trouble photographing it. Doesn´t it look superb?

Photo by courtesy from Volker 

With everybody talking to fear the tail I slit along the seed lists to get some taste without scorching. This time I succeeded and got a good bit of a bite without too much heat in it. I didn’t really taste any lemon, but a light and good habanero taste that is not at all over the top. You know with chocolate Habañero you get this overwhelming taste and smell really to fit a the heat it has. Now this overwhelming smell is lacking with this one. It is more subtle, this is a well-balanced chilli with an aroma to go with it. It has a bit of a bitter that is complementing the Habañero taste, almost no sweets in it, lovely herbs and almost totally lacking of Paprika or Bell Pepper tastes.

Some time ago I wrote about slowly getting fed up with the Habañero taste, and this one I think is lovely. It is hot mind, very hot for a habanero, but still I can get the subtlety of it and enjoy it. It is not as much perfumy, just has got a good and fruity smell.

This variety seems only available in Germany by semillas.de so I was kind of keen to taste it. I have seen several around and looked at the site from semillas, still these look a bit different.
I should have asked, but as it seems Volker did send me this one to get scared, or enjoy the beauty. It is really one amazing chilli.

Now I left half of it to dry and get the seeds out, then I tasted this bit again. Now that is stunning, dried it has some sweets to it, and the herbs sort of have matured to a deep lush and lovely taste. There is still that fruity tone to it and did not lose the subtlety, but the herbs in the taste are just more lovely and complemented with some sweets.
This is really a stunner to dry in my opinion and add to a milder chilli to make a great powder. Maybe it would be nice to add to Cayenne powder to get some real taste and make the powder sort of orange and a bit stronger in heat. I love it and it is one for my growing list for next year !
Thanks again Volker ! Great to see your new blog online!

Yours sincerely,

Bart J. Meijer