What is "tabasco pepper"

n. A variety of chili pepper having a conical shape and a bitter and burning taste, ''Capsicum frutescens'' variety ''tabasco#Translingual''.

n. plant bearing very hot medium-sized oblong red peppers; grown principally in the Gulf Coast states for production of hot sauce [syn: hot pepper, tabasco plant, Capsicum frutescens]

The tabasco pepper is a variety of chili pepper spices Capsicum frutescens with its origins in Mexico. It is best known through its use in Tabasco sauce, followed by peppered vinegar.

Like all C. frutescens cultivars, the tabasco plant has a typical bushy growth, which commercial cultivation makes stronger by trimming the plants. The tapered fruits, around 4 cm long, are initially pale yellowish-green and turn yellow and orange before ripening to bright red. Tabascos rate from 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale of heat levels, and are the only variety of chili pepper whose fruits are "juicy"; i.e., they are not dry on the inside. Tabasco fruits, like all other members of the C. frutescens species remain upright when mature, rather than hanging down from their stems.

A large part of the tabasco pepper stock fell victim to the tobacco mosaic virus in the 1960s; the first resistant variety (Greenleaf tabasco) was not cultivated until around 1970.