Can a Hot Pepper X and become Sweet?

[bluelacedredhead]

I gave some Garden Salsa variety peppers to some of the girls at work last year. One of the girls saved the seed and grew them again this year. But she says that when she chopped some up to make salsa this past weekend, they seemed sweeter, not hot at all?

I know that the gene for heat is dominant. So a cross with a sweet pepper would affect the sweet more than the hot variety would it not?

What other factors could take the heat out of a pepper?

[Alan]

She could have gotten a plant with the recessive gene for sure. Another factor that effects how hot a pepper is is wether, generally the warmer the weather quite litterally the warmer the pepper.

[bluelacedredhead]

It was an unusually dry summer this year, and more so in the village where I work than out here on the farm, but it certainly wasn't a summer with many days over 80F. Thanks, maybe that's the answer.