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From: betsy@dartvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Tobasco Pepper seeds?
Message-ID: <2663@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Jan-85 16:35:35 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.2663
Posted: Wed Jan  2 16:35:35 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jan-85 04:54:04 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 30

Now that it's winter here in N.H., my thoughts naturally turn
to the garden.  (It's an easier place to turn to when there's no 
weeding to be done!).  I'm looking for seeds for the true Tobasco
peppers: the peppers which are about half an inch long at maturity, roughly
cylindrical in shape, and unmatched in terror per unit fruit.
 
Park's 1984 Catalog claims to sell Tobasco
peppers on p.45, listing them as 
"Chili Pepper Serrano (Capsicum frutescens).  The Tobasco pepper, small,
pungent ingredient of Mexican hot sauces."
 
Two things that bother me about this listing: first off, Serrano peppers
are a different variety than Tobasco.  Secondly, Tobasco peppers aren't
used in the Mexican dishes I've eaten in Mexico.  Serranos, yes, jalapenos,
yes, but I never saw a Tobasco-sized pepper in the markets.  Does Park 
know what they're talking about?  Does anybody know the Latin name for
the truly vicious Tobascos?  Or can anybody supply an alternate source?
 
Yours in search of greater pain,
Betsy Perry
 
P.S.  Park is also offering another variety I'm definitely ordering:
"Pepper Thai Hot ... We've never tasted a hotter, zestier, pepper, and
we've tried quite a few. ... This new exotic from Thailand will add 
a new dimension to your cooking."  I can hardly wait.
-- 
Elizabeth Hanes Perry
UUCP: {decvax|linus|cornell}!dartvax!betsy  
CSNET: betsy@dartmouth
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