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Hungarian Wax Pepper

Add color and fire to your salad, soup or salsa by adding thinly sliced Hungarian wax peppers.

These beautiful yellow peppers are often used in Hungarian stews and go well with bean dishes. They have a thin skin, medium heat, and a pleasant, waxy flavor.

Varieties

The Hungarian wax pepper is a pastel yellow chile pepper also known as the hot yellow pepper or hot wax pepper. The Hungarian wax is closely related to the mild banana pepper. These peppers appear so much alike they cannot usually be distinguished except by taste. The Hungarian wax pepper tapers to a rounded point and averages about 6 inches (15cm) in length and is about 1 1/2 inches (3.8cm) wide.

Hungarian wax peppers are medium hot, with heat scores that range between 5,000 and 15,000 Scoville heat units. How high a chile scores on the heat scale is determined by high-performance liquid chromatography measurement of how many parts per million of capsaicin it contains. This figure is then converted into the historic Scoville heat units that signify how much dilution is necessary to drown out the chile’s heat. The heat level of a chile is given as a range because it can vary depending on how and where the pepper was cultivated.

Buying and Storing Tips

Hungarian wax peppers are available in grocery stores and specialty stores in the produce section. Store in a paper bag in the refrigerator for about a week.

Availability

Fresh Hungarian wax peppers are available all year but are more readily found in summer months. These peppers are also available pickled.

Preparation, uses, and tips

Hungarian wax peppers have a thin, edible skin so it is unnecessary to peel them before adding to stews and salads as a colorful and spicy element. The seeds and membranes in chile peppers contain most of the capsaicin, the compound that lends them their mouth-searing qualities. Even though Hungarian wax peppers are not very hot, you can reduce the heat further by removing their seeds and veins. Hungarian wax peppers are often used in Hungarian soups and stews but are not usually found in Hungarian goulash, where paprika is the major spice. These peppers are also often pickled.

Nutritional Highlights

Hungarian wax pepper,, 1 pepper (27g)
Calories: 7.8
Protein: 0.2g
Carbohydrate: 1.8g
Total Fat: 0.1g
Fiber: 0.6g

*Foods that are an “excellent source” of a particular nutrient provide 20% or more of the Recommended Daily Value, based upon United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines. Foods that are a “good source” of a particular nutrient provide between 10 and 20% of the USDA Recommended Daily Value. Nutritional information and daily nutritional guidelines may vary in different countries. Please consult the appropriate organization in your country for specific nutritional values and the recommended daily guidelines.

Health benefits and concerns

Health benefits and concerns for vegetables
Many health benefits and concerns associated with this food are applicable to other vegetables. Read about health benefits and concerns for vegetables for a full description.