Don't sweat it

October 27, 1999

"chili heads" vie to see who can consume the fieriest peppers and salsas.

But some people don't like their food spicy. For those folks, New Mexico State University's Chile Pepper Institute has spent the past 10 years developing a chili pepper without the wallop.

The new Primavera pepper is only one-tenth as hot as a regular jalapeo pepper, so diners won't have to break into a sweat to enjoy Mexican food.

Not everyone thinks this is progress. Harvard University recently awarded the pepper an Ig Nobel, which acknowledges research "which cannot or should not be reproduced."

Source: Associated Press

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society