The jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species Capsicum annum. A mature jalapeño chili is 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and hangs down with a round, firm, smooth flesh of 25–38 mm (1–1+1⁄2 in) wide. It can have a range of pungency, with Scoville heat units of 3,500 to 8,000. Commonly picked and consumed while still green, it is occasionally allowed to fully ripen and turn red, orange, or yellow. It is wider and generally milder than the similar Serrano pepper.
Jalepeno seeds
Cracks or Corking on Jalapeno peppers
Unblemished home-grown produce is often hard to find, but some marring is not necessarily an indication that the fruit or veggie is not usable. Take jalapeños, for example. Some minor jalapeño skin cracking is a common sight on these peppers and is called jalapeño corking. What exactly is corking on jalapeño peppers and does it affect the quality in any way?
What is Corking? Corking on jalapeño peppers appears as scaring or minor striations on the surface of the pepper skin. When you see jalapeño skin cracking in this manner, it simply means that it needs to stretch to accommodate the rapid growth of the pepper. Sudden rains or any other abundance of water (soaker hoses) combined with plenty of sun will cause the pepper to go on a growth spurt, resulting in corking. This corking process occurs in many types of hot peppers, but not in sweet pepper varieties.
Jalapeños that have corked are not often seen in the American supermarket. This slight blemish is seen as a detriment to the growers here and peppers that have corked are more likely processed into canned foods where the defect is unnoticed. Additionally, the skin of a corked jalapeño may be slightly thicker, which really has no bearing on its quality at all. In other parts of the world and to the true pepper aficionado, slight jalapeño skin cracking is actually a desirable quality and may even garner a higher price than its unmarked siblings.