A lot would depend on the recipe and how big a role the jalepeños play in that particular dish. I would describe them as sweet and mildly hot. However, jalepeños can vary in heat - I've had some that were extremely mild and some that were too hot to eat.

I recently discovered Penzey's Crushed jalepeño peppers. Great sub for the real thing if you don't have any on hand, and I think more consistent in heat than fresh jalepeños. They can supply a hint of the heat/flavor of jalepeños in a recipe if you sprinkle some in, maybe using less than the recipe calls for.

OTOH, if you don't like any heat at all, then either skip the recipe if it seems to call for a lot of jalepeños, or just leave them out altogether if it just calls for a small amount.

Here is a link that might be useful: Penzey's jalepeños

Like what recipes?

I personally like them..but not the pickled sliced ones..YUCK..

You could sub yellow, orange or red peppers for "crunch" in certain recipes..but not the green (to strong a flavor)..
It would skew the taste profile.

I don't find that jalapenos have a lot of flavor, I seem to get mostly mild heat without any additional flavor. That's whether I buy them or grow them, and I don't like the pickled ones at all.

Habaneros, which are intensely hot but have a fruity flavor.

I don't like much heat at all, so like Terri, I sub sweet peppers for the texture and crunch and a bit of flavor.

Elery loves the heat and will eat things like "poppers" and chilies rellenos. That's never happening in my world, I break out in a sweat when I eat chili!

Annie

Ohhhh ... love poppers and chili rellenos, just have to take my reflux medication before I eat!

I'm trying to eat milder foods due to medical issues, but a friend sent me 8 cups of orange habaneros which means ..... HABANERO GOLD!! I'm going to be busy this weekend!

I substitute some green bell pepper if I don't want the heat. At the farmer's market, the pepper farmer sliced off the end of a jalapeño for me without including any of the membrane that holds the heat. I tasted it and it was very bell pepper like and had no heat.

I like hot and spicy foods, so I'm probably not the best person to advise anyone about substitutions, but Anaheim peppers aren't as hot, and Hungarian peppers (the long light green ones) are milder still.

Not to force anyone into anything he or she doesn't want to do, but why not try a few samples of different peppers? There's nothing to be scared of--you can spit it out, and have a drink of milk if you really hate the taste.

I've linked to a list of Scoville units and peppers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heat Scale

At the farmer's market, the pepper farmer sliced off the end of a jalapeño for me without including any of the membrane that holds the heat. I tasted it and it was very bell pepper like and had no heat.

Yes, if you seed and peel the inner membrane out the pepper becomes a shadow of its former self. By peel, I mean slice it off with a paring knife. Remove all white, all seeds and use only the inner green flesh. (Green if jalapeno).

I love heat but only if accompanied by flavour. Heat for the sake of heat is pointless to me. Also, spiking a salsa with pepper flakes and calling it hot salsa is a no no in my books.

The heat in any hot pepper can be greatly reduced by slicing the pepper in half and carefully removing all the membrane & seeds.

Greatly reduced is the operative phrase here. Not completely negated, just reduced.

I once ate the end of a jalapeno like that and my tongue burned for several minutes, in spite of a glass of milk, so if you really don't care for heat, I wouldn't suggest that. Elery keeps saying "this isn't hot at all" and it's still too hot for me to comfortably eat, so it's strictly a subjective taste, not an objective one.

I like a tiny bit of heat in some things, but as has been mentioned by metaxa, I don't like heat when it overwhelms the flavor of the food and just becomes so hot you can't taste anything. I want to break out in a sweat, but I don't want the enamel on my teeth to bubble!

Annie

Obviously there is a big difference between people who don't like spicy or hot or can't tolerate it and those who do. This isn't a question of heat without flavor (which makes no sense to me either). However, if the cook doesn't like spicy peppers, it might be wise to simply look for a different recipe. Many recipes that require hot peppers would be basically unidentifiable without them. An exception probably would be salsa. Using no hot peppers, but simply using the wonderful tastes from summer's bounty, would result in a tomato relish type of dish that is delicious with chips, but it wouldn't be salsa. Not bad, just different. I think a lot of today's recipes use jalapenos because it's summertime and there are a lot of fresh hot peppers on the market. Wait a couple of months, the nature of the recipes will change and so will their list of ingredients.

If the amount of hot pepper in a recipe is minor, just leave it out.

beachlily, now that you say that about Habanero Gold, I realize that although I don't like things extremely hot, I like that, on a bagel with cream cheese. The sweet and the cream cheese and the dough-y bagel all cut the heat.

So, I think it depends entirely on the recipe whether you can leave it out. You're right about salsa too, it's not salsa without some hot peppers.

Annie

Texas A&M developed a jalapeno years ago with almost zero heat. They were called TAM jalapenos and they didn't sell well in this area because we like heat down here. Google it if you like and it may be something you'd like to try.
James

Oh, I love hot and spicy foods! I want my lips to be on fire, baby! LOL

I do agree with others that maybe it is best to pass on recipes that call for more than just a hint of jalapeno. Personally, I find them very flavorful and subbing a green pepper just ain't the same. But, again...this is coming from a spicy lovin' person.

Linda

I'm a wimp. I like a hint of heat. A wimpy hint.

Thanks for your input - I've learned a lot!

For you gardeners, a couple of other hybrids with half the heat is 'Fooled You' and 'Delcias' at TotallyTomato.com. Seeds are available. I'm not a big heat fan and I liked 'Fooled You' a lot.

A problem with peppers is that they will differ in levels of heat even in the same variety. I have purchased tasteless, mild jalapenos and the burn-the-roof-of-your-mouth hot ones. That makes buying (or growing) them tricky.

I love Jalapenos but I can't cut open/handle fresh ones :( I have to use pickled ones in my Mexican dishes, the capsaicin in fresh ones makes my throat close up. It kinda scares me since I had an incident in college with chlorine gas in chemistry and was sick and had diminished lung capacity for almost a week. But Dh love peppers so use lots of red, yellow, and orange peppers in many recipes and cherry peppers in a Chicken utica recipe I found here (it was when I first got here so I forget who was the lovely benefactor but Day-uhm it's goooood thank you!)

I love hot....but not peel the enamel from your teeth hot.
To me, most jalapenos are not really hot. I can chop a couple into my pico de gallo and love the results.
But I find annie's habenero gold bordering on *choke* too hot...I am very careful not to get a piece of habanero in my mouth without a goodly amount of bagel or cheese.
When I make habanera jelly, I buzz the habaneras with the vinegar before I put it all together.
The enjoyment of heat in peppers is a "learned behavior" I believe. I remember the days when a can of green chilis would give an almost unbearable heat to a dish, and jalapeno poppers were just too hot to consider....and chili rellenos made with poblanos...not for me.
But a nibble at a time....and I am hooked!! I love it all!
Linda C

I remember the first Hab Gold jelly I made. Like "hot" so I put more habs than called for. I asked DH to try it out of the pan; he promptly grabbed his throat and gasped for air for what seemed like 5 minutes. I got out the kitchen tweezers and picked seeds out of the mixture.

I remember the first Hab Gold jelly I made. Like "hot" so I put more habs than called for. I asked DH to try it out of the pan; he promptly grabbed his throat and gasped for air for what seemed like 5 minutes. I got out the kitchen tweezers and picked seeds out of the mixture.