It seems the latest craze, especially in fast food, is jalapeno. How many things are recently doing this?
So far I’ve seen-
McDonalds - Jalapeno burger
Jack in the Box - Jalapeno burger and ‘hell-a-peno’ burger.
Carls Jr/Hardees - Texas BBQ burger with fried jalapeno straws.
Heinz ketchup - Jalapeno pieces mixed in.
Whataburger - Jalapeno cheddar biscuit.
Any other new ones using jalapeno?
Arby’s recently started selling jalapeno poppers. Which is a good thing.
I haven’t noticed it being more popular than usual (meaning it’s been pretty popular for awhile. White Castle jalapeño cheeseburgers, for instance.) I have noticed sriracha starting to break into the commercial mainstream, though, with White Castle and Subway offerings.
Well yeah but…have you HAD jalapenos on a burger?!?
It’s fantastic! 5 guys with jalapenos on it? Best burger I’ve ever had
The Five Guys in my area uses fresh jalapenos on their burgers, which naturally have a considerably sharper taste than the pickled jalapenos one usually gets as a garnish. I don’t know if that’s the way it’s done nationwide, but it definitely stands out.
That being said, I couldn’t be happier if “jalapenos” is the current trend in fast food.
My sister and her friend started a sweet and spicy jalapeno company several years ago and it’s done well, both sales off the shelf and area restaurants using them in their recipes. Burgers are the number one combo but they’re also in omletes, biscuits, quiche, pizza, chili, cornbread, cheese balls, baked potatos, nachos, BBQ, etc. I keep a case of them on hand at home and use them often. I didn’t like jalapenos growing up but now I can’t get enough of them.
A local diner has, for a few months now, had a burger with ghost pepper. Which is really weird, since this isn’t the sort of place that usually goes for the taste-buds-endurance-trial type of thing-- I think their next-hottest offering is just paprika.
It’s been years, since there’s only one Carl’s Jr. up here, but the Carl’s Jr. Jalapeño Burger is very tasty.
Dominos recently (ok, not that recently. Within the last year or so, I think), started offering stuffed cheese bread with bacon and jalapenos.
I’m waiting for Kraft jalapeno macaroni & cheese.
The Arby’s franchises I’m familiar with have been serving them for a decade or more, accompanied by some horrid, sweet, quasi-berry sauce to dip them in. I prefer mine straight, thanks.
Say… 
Mac’n’cheese with jalapeños and SPAM! Too bad I don’t have any jalapeños.
That’s pretty amusing, that kind of “all-or-nothingness” to heat. Around here, you will find a number of places with ghost peppers (or possibly even Trinidad scorpions), but there are the usual hot peppers in between.
Actually, now that I see it, there does seem to be some kind of mild renaissance, as I don’t remember the jalapeño ketchup around before recently. Weird thing is, I remember chipotle ketchup (which is a smoked jalapeño), which was a trend that started around a decade or slightly more before (and I think of it as being after the initial jalapeño trend.)
The ice cream shop my girlfriend works at (Iscream Cakes on Cherokee if you’re in St. Louis) recently came out with pineapple jalapeno ice cream. She’s also got a chocolate habanero. She makes her own ice cream and comes up with all sorts of new flavors. Not sure if those flavors will sell well though.
Jalapenos belong in everything, with the possible exception of hemorrhoid cream and personal lubricant.
Done. Three Cheese Jalapeno Mac and Cheese
It’s actually got a bit of a kick. The Chipotle version tasted like mac and cheese with crappy “taco” seasoning mixed in.
The ones I mentioned are all fairly new. They are pushing them with their ‘all new’ stuff. Like how sweet potato fries were big not long ago, and of course sriracha recently.
I’m just saying that, at least around here, I’ve been seeing the jalapeno burger stuff at Wendy’s, BK (like the Angry Whopper) and wherever for quite a while now (as in years to a decade or so.) It might vary by region. Chicago is probably more a hot pepper market than most. What I’ve noticed is a slight trend towards the ultra-hots, like habanero and stuff or the sriracha thing, which appears to be shaping up to be the chipotle of the 2010s.
Actually, for some applications (like ice cream flavors), habanero is a better choice than jalapeno. It’s all about the dilution: With habanero, you can dilute it to the point that the pepper flavor is undetectable, but the heat remains. This is good when paired with chocolate, which really wouldn’t work right with pepper flavor.
…Bubba Gump shrimp with jalapenos…