the library

Habanero

Savory & ferment· savory bridge

What it is

Habanero is a Capsicum chinense chile pepper that originated in the Amazon and is now closely associated with the Yucatán Peninsula.

What it tastes like

On the nose: hot, fruity, apple, orange-rose. Among its measured molecules: 2-Ethylhexanoic acid, 3,4,4-Trimethylcyclohex-2-en-1-one, 3-Ethyl-4-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione, Hexyl 3-methylbutanoate, 2-Methyl-3-octanone.

45 of 51 compounds on file carry a paper the library can cite.

• acetonearomaketonereads as fruity (PubChem)Measured in 18 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0158 in C. chinense (vs. 0.2485 in C. annuum), flagged 'down' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 10, column B (C. chinense))
• caprylic acidaromaacidMeasured in 21 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0049 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0209 in C. annuum), flagged 'down' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 30, column B (C. chinense))
• octanalaromaaldehydereads as fruity (PubChem)Measured in 40 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0109 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0017 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 5, column B (C. chinense))
• methyl salicylatearomaesterreads as liquid the wintergreen (PubChem)Measured in 11 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0414 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0038 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 27, column B (C. chinense))
• hexanalaromaaldehydereads as sharp, aldehyde (PubChem)Measured in 87 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 2.5828 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0761 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 2, column B (C. chinense))
• 1-pentanolaromaalcoholMeasured in 20 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.1110 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0152 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 20, column B (C. chinense))
• linaloolaromaalcoholreads as spicy, citrus taste (PubChem)Measured in 91 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.56 µg/mL in fresh, pre-fermentation habanero extract — López-Salas et al. 2022, Foods (Table 3, strain 'COM', row Time=0)
• 1-hexanolaromaalcoholreads as fatty, fruity (PubChem)Measured in 50 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 1.3680 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0156 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 21, column B (C. chinense))
• 2-Ethylhexanoic acidaromaacidMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0340 in C. chinense (vs. 0.1168 in C. annuum), flagged 'down' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 29, column B (C. chinense))
• mequinolaromaphenolreads as caramel and phenol (PubChem)Measured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0306 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0054 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 31, column B (C. chinense))
• 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-onearomaketonereads as fruity taste (PubChem)Measured in 16 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.1538 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0117 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 14, column B (C. chinense))
• β-cyclocitralaromaterpenoidMeasured in 10 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0309 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0011 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 36, column B (C. chinense))
• 3-methylbutanalaromaaldehydereads as apple (PubChem)Measured in 23 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0052 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0285 in C. annuum), flagged 'down' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 1, column B (C. chinense))
• 1-penten-3-olaromaalcoholMeasured in 13 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 1.0939 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0217 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 19, column B (C. chinense))
• 3-methylfuranaromafuranMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0028 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0139 in C. annuum), flagged 'down' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 32, column B (C. chinense))
• 2-ethylfuranaromafuranMeasured in 5 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0240 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0030 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 33, column B (C. chinense))
• 1-octen-3-olaromaalcoholMeasured in 38 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0223 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0019 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 23, column B (C. chinense))
• 2-amylfuranaromafuranMeasured in 24 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0578 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0117 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 34, column B (C. chinense))
• limonenearomaterpenoidreads as lemon (PubChem)Measured in 92 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.01 µg/mL in fresh, pre-fermentation habanero extract — López-Salas et al. 2022, Foods (Table 3, strain 'COM', row Time=0)
• 3,4,4-Trimethylcyclohex-2-en-1-onearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0418 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0028 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 15, column B (C. chinense))
• 3-Ethyl-4-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dionearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0029 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0007 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 18, column B (C. chinense))
• nonanalaromaaldehydereads as orange-rose (PubChem)Measured in 62 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0163 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0059 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 6, column B (C. chinense))
• Hexyl 3-methylbutanoatearomaesterMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.73 µg/mL in fresh, pre-fermentation habanero extract — López-Salas et al. 2022, Foods (Table 3, strain 'COM', row Time=0)
• 2-Methyl-3-octanonearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 1.1169 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0351 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 13, column B (C. chinense))
• Cyclohexene-1-carbonitrilearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0027 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0074 in C. annuum), flagged 'down' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 28, column B (C. chinense))
• dihydrocapsaicintastenitrogen compoundreads as hot, pungentMeasured in 6 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 0.56 mg/g across the C. chinense accession panel (range 0.00-10.09 mg/g) — Reddy et al. 2025, Horticulture Research (Table 1, Capsaicinoids block, row 'Dihydrocapsaicin', 'Mean' column)
• 3-octanonearomaketonereads as fruity (PubChem)Measured in 8 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0318 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0037 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 11, column B (C. chinense))
• Isoamyl isobutyratearomaesterMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.04 µg/mL in fresh, pre-fermentation habanero extract — López-Salas et al. 2022, Foods (Table 3, strain 'COM', row Time=0)
• 4,4,6-Trimethylcyclohex-2-en-1-olaromaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0032 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0009 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 24, column B (C. chinense))
• Methyl 2-ethyldecanoatearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0019 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0073 in C. annuum), flagged 'down' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 25, column B (C. chinense))
• capsaicintastenitrogen compoundreads as hot, burningMeasured in 6 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 2.11 mg/g across the C. chinense accession panel (range 0.01-28.04 mg/g) — Reddy et al. 2025, Horticulture Research (Table 1 (Concentrations of capsaicinoids, carotenoids and flavor compounds in accessions of C. chinense used in the study), Capsaicinoids block, row 'Capsaicin', 'Mean' column)
• geranylacetonearomaketoneMeasured in 9 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0399 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0031 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 16, column B (C. chinense))
• 2-HexenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 33 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 6.2553 in C. chinense (vs. 0.1170 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' in spicy vs. non-spicy fruit — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1 (The details of 37 VOCs' significant difference in two pepper fruits), row 4, column B (C. chinense))
• trans-2-dodecenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0179 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0012 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 8, column B (C. chinense))
• trans-2-hexenolaromaalcoholMeasured in 17 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.4177 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0055 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 22, column B (C. chinense))
• Beta-Ionone epoxidearomaterpenoidMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.1235 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0065 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 17, column B (C. chinense))
• cis-3-Hexenyl hexanoatearomaesterMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.34 µg/mL in fresh, pre-fermentation habanero extract — López-Salas et al. 2022, Foods (Table 3, strain 'COM', row Time=0)
• (E)-3-Hepten-2-onearomaketoneMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.0276 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0061 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 12, column B (C. chinense))
• (E)-2-pentenalaromaaldehydeMeasured in 4 of 341 ingredients.cite

  relative amount 0.1034 in C. chinense (vs. 0.0059 in C. annuum), flagged 'up' — Qiu et al. 2023, Plants (Table 1, row 3, column B (C. chinense))
• 3,3-Dimethyl-1-hexanolaromaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  1.45 µg/mL in fresh, pre-fermentation habanero extract — López-Salas et al. 2022, Foods (Table 3, strain 'COM', row Time=0)
• 4-Methylpentyl 3-methylbutanoatearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 1017.57 ng/g across the C. chinense accession panel (range 5.01-8518.39 ng/g) — Reddy et al. 2025, Horticulture Research (Table 1, Flavor block, row '4-methylpenthyl 3-methylbutanoate', 'Mean' column)
• 4-Methylpentyl 2-methylbutanoatearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 282.767 ng/g across the C. chinense accession panel (range 0.03-886.1 ng/g) — Reddy et al. 2025, Horticulture Research (Table 1, Flavor block, row '4-methylpenthyl 2-methylbutanoate', 'Mean' column)
• 4-Methylpentyl 4-methylpentanoatearomaMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 5.30 ng/g across the C. chinense accession panel (range 0-61.376 ng/g) — Reddy et al. 2025, Horticulture Research (Table 1, Flavor block, row '4-Methylpentyl 4-methylpentanoate', 'Mean' column)