I almost forgot what it’s like to be a Floridian. What it means to be a Floridian. How brutal our summers can get. When the heat turns on, coating the land and sticking to everything. A mild spring will do that to you. It will make you forget you’re a Floridian and that you live in a super-charged microwave. It will lull you into a Northern vibe. You know, the kind that makes you think pleasant weather and late-in-the-year cold fronts and light jackets are common. But they’re not. This is Florida. The land where citrus pasteurizes itself on the tree. It gets hot. Scald your hindquarters hot!
Oh, you spicy little datil pepper
Here’s what I know about the datil pepper … They can be nasty little buggers — the Tazmanian devil of the pepper family. They will singe your teeth and make hair grow on your ears like Spanish moss. As far as I can tell, they are mainly grown in St. Augustine and are a favorite of Minorcans — a daredevil group who switched to the spicy pepper when consuming food that was still on fire grew boring.