There is a small hispanic specialty market nearby that always offers items not normally found in the typical supermarket. Like spending time in a foreign country, specialty markets hold some of the best options when you want to broaden your culinary palate. Each visit always a journey of discovery. Fresh salsas of varying degrees of heat. Ceviche from locally caught fish. The meat counter with several chorizos and marinated beef tips for the BBQ. Today my interest was the assortment of chilies in the produce aisle. Varying in sizes and colors – the temperature scale of each never a certainty.

My goal today: to simply cut each open and discover what single photograph might be hiding inside.

I have always been fascinated by what is reviled once you cut into a chili. The source of the chili’s heat is in the seeds of course, but the design and texture of the interior have always caught my eye. From the delicate and spicy Habanero to the large relatively mild Poblano, each slice down the middle revealing a different story inside.

The hardest part was deciding where to focus. As is always the case, deciding what to include and which to leave behind. In the end, I settled on the simple cluster of seeds in the Jalapeño. A clean cut revealing the intricate pattern of kernels hanging delicately from the central core. Just as I had envisioned when I was standing an hour before surveying the choices- my visual reward now confirmed

Time to fire up the grill and eat the fruits of my discovery and see just how much heat I can take.