Jalapeno

The Jalapeno is a high-damage explosive that can clear an entire lane of zombies, melt Zomboni's Ice Trail and melt Dr. Zomboss' Iceballs all at once. Its shape and name are based on the real-life Jalapeño, valued for its spicy flavor.

Suburban Almanac Entry
Jalapeno

Jalapenos destroy an entire lane of zombies.

Damage: massive

Range: all zombies in a lane

Usage: single use, instant

"NNNNNGGGGG!!!!!!!!" Jalapeno says. He's not going to explode, not this time. But soon. Oh, so soon. It's close. He knows it, he can feel it, his whole life's been leading up to this moment.

Cost: 125

Recharge: very slow

Strategy
Jalapenos can be good last-minute saves, since they can be planted behind an incoming wave, clearing the entire lane. Also, since a Jalapeno will melt ice as well as destroy a Zomboni and ladders, it makes a great addition to any levels with them; this is why Jalapenos are of great help in the Mini-game Bobsled Bonanza. It takes two Jalapenos to kill a Gargantuar, so keep that in mind. The best way to deal with a Gargantuar is to Squash him first (to remove the Imp) then Jalapeno them to kill them both quickly.

When dealing with Dr. Zomboss in the boss battle, the Jalapeno will destroy incoming Iceballs he sends, as well as do some damage to his Zombot. Like the usage of the Jalapeno, plant them in rows with incoming Iceballs to save the row from being destroyed.

Note, however, that Jalapenos also unfreeze any zombies that can survive it (Gargantuars, Giga-gargantuars and Dr. Zomboss) in the same manner as peas lit by Torchwood. They are a good canidate for Imitation as they have a very slow recharge.

Column Like You See 'Em Mini-game
In the Mini-game Column Like You See 'Em, the Jalapeno can be planted in a column of pots to clear the entire roof of zombies, except relatively healthy Gargantuars. These are usually obtained once or twice, so they should be saved for either when huge waves 2 and 3 when Gargantuars appear, or when Ladder Zombies have placed ladders on your defensive plants. The Jalapenos will also melt the ladders placed on the defensive plants, if any. However, do not use if you are going to aim for the Chili Free achievment.

Trivia

 * The Jalapeno's name is misspelled in the game; the correct spelling is Jalapeño, and because of this, the Jalapeno should be pronounced Hal-A-Peen-O as opposed to the correct Hal-A-Peen-Yo. The accent above the n is a Spanish accent that shows it should be pronounced "ny-".
 * If a Jalapeno is crushed before it explodes, then it will detonate early. Any Flower Pots or Lily Pads Jalapeno was on will be crushed.
 * Jalapeno's right eye twitches.
 * And never stops twitching.
 * It seems that the Jalapeno is actually sweating. This may be due to that it is hot as it is a chili, or it may just be reflections from the sun. It may also be since he is nervous about the explosion and trying not to detonate at the same time.
 * The Jalapeno plant in real life is not actually the hottest chili pepper. In fact, the hottest pepper, the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T Pepper is the hottest, which is 1,463,700 on the Scoville scale.
 * The flaming effect is, assumably, due to the spiciness of a chili when eaten.
 * The row of flames seems to extinguish from the left.
 * If you look very closely, Jalapeno has green pupils.
 * The Jalapeno, Imitater, and Ice-shroom are the only plants whose names were spelled uncapitalized in one entry of the Suburban Almanac.
 * On the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch version, there is an achievement called Chilli Free, where the player is not permitted to use Jalapenos in Column Like You See 'Em.
 * A Jalapeno can clear a lane of daisies made by killed zombies (if 'daisies' was typed).
 * In the Suburban Almanac, the Jalapeno is shaking fast while in the Zen Garden it shakes slow.
 * However, in the iPhone Version in Zen Garden, it shakes faster.
 * It will also shake fast if you give it a Chocolate (only when it is happy).
 * If a Jalapeno or other explosive plant is used to destroy a zombie in ZomBotany, it will turn the zombie black, but it won't fall into ashes.
 * The Chili Pepper T-Shirt was available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. It costs 80 Microsoft Points. It was a white T-Shirt with a picture of the Jalapeno on it.
 * Jalapenos can also be extremely useful in Survival: Endless to destroy Giga-gargantuar and Gargantuar.
 * Jalapeno seems to have the most stress on handling the power setting off of all exploding plants.
 * Jalapeno's eyes are different from it's eyes in the Almanac when detonating.
 * Jalapeno acts as an extra Lawn Mower, except on the Giga-gargantuar and Gargantuar (if it appeared in stages where Jalapeno could be chosen).
 * However, the Lawn Mower is better, as Jalapeno kills all zombies the moment it detonates, while Lawn Mower moves at a certain speed when activated, being able to kill zombies that just came on-screen.
 * The Jalapeno will close one eye while exploding.
 * On Column Like You See 'Em it is possible for the Jalapeno to not appear at all, in which case you can get the Chilli Free achievement.
 * Jalapeno, Peashooter, Wall-nut and Puff-shroom are the only plants mentioned in another plant's Suburban Almanac entry.