As far as peppers being noticably worse in the supermarket-doubt it. They are about the same as fresh grown. Maybe if you have some great original seed, because they tend not to make Jalepenos as hot as they used to, so they can sell more to your averedge mild mannered consumer. we get some rediculouse sales on fresh Anaheim peppers about this time of year( how about 50 cents a pound!)I just made a huge batch of Chile last night- I use a convection Microwave and Blender to expediate the process. I used 1 pound tomatillos, 1 pound Onion, 1 pound Chile Poblano, 3/4 pound cHILE jALAPENO- I roasted all ingredients in the Micro-convection (several batches), and then blended the ingredients in several batches into one large container.Added 6 tablespoons of Lemon Juice (bottled) as a preservative. Tonight I had a bowl of this salsa with fresh fried Tortilla chips --please people, do not buy those packaged horrid chips they sell for 500% mark-up-- buy some corn tortillas and fry your own! They are like fresh resteraunt chips, and pretty easy to do. One thing we have here in this brutal SO. Texas heat is a chile called " petin", or "pequin". They are tiny but have the very best flavor. They grow wild in places, but the stores sell them for about 6.00 a pound. They are extremely falvorfull (the pequins), and best eaten raw or perhaps pickled.They very very hot too. Many other peppers I use in bottled sauces from Mexico are Arbol, Ancho, Habenero( mainly South American I think, and hot!). Fresh peppers are most often eitherSerrano( a flavorful but more expensive jalapeno variant), and of course the mild store jalapenos.You Know, many people used to grow there own stuff here till the water rates went sky high. Now its cheaper to buy them at the market- probably even tomatoes. of course , we are in a produce rich area, and we get great deals on some delicious tomatos.