Chili Pequin

We had our annual retreat at Liz's house yesterday. A very nice house with a lot of collectables (antique cameras, masks from different countries, etc.). What interested me most, however, were plants in her gardens. She has three gardens - a tomato garden, a garden full or flowers and edible plants, and a cactus garden. It's interesting to see varieties in your yard, but of course, you need to have a really big yard (Did I mention that she has a land of five acres? Yeah...I know what you are thinking...this is Texas. :-)).

Let me begin by telling you my first-time experience tasting a chili pequin. Alarm bells should have rang in my head when Liz introduced this plant's name - CHILI pequin - to me but it didn't. I actually only paid attention to the edible part and wanted to give it a try. After handing me a tiny fruit picked from the bush, she warned me it's spicy, but for some reason I still thought it wouldn't be that spicy (well, if you see the fruit you will understand what I mean. It looks just like a sweet berry.  Who would think it will be spicy at all? :-( )

So, I just threw one in my mouth and gave it a bite. The juice came out immediately and so was my tears. I simply felt my whole mouth was burning and had to drink some ice water to cool my mouth down. Actually, after almost five minutes I was still wiping tears from my eyes. Later on, I checked it online and here is the information about this unique plant:

Chili peguin is also known as bird pepper because it is loved by all kinds of birds. It is both fiery and tiny, making it ideal for pickles. It is indigenous to Mexico and has a elongated oval shape. Its nutty and citrous-like flavor is responsible for its usage as liquid hot pepper seasoning agent. Pequin plants are suited to grow in any kind of climate, being both heat and drought tolerant.

Pretty fruits, huh? Believe me, they are really spicy.