You can try soaking the soft pepper in ice water for awhile and it might help some. But basically once they soften they are past prime and will only get worse.

As to the jalapenos, it depends on the variety to a degree. With some varieties color makes no difference in Scoville rating, in others the heat may increase somewhat but numerically on the scale it is a marginal increase.

In general jalapenos get hotter as they age but they also get sweeter as the brix develops and the color changes so it becomes a more complex flavor and a personal taste bud thing. In other words some will swear the reds and blacks are hotter, others won't notice any difference.

Dave

For freezing, limp peppers are fine. That's what I do with the "Uh,oh - lost in the vegetable keeper for too long" ones. They will get limp in the freezing process anyway, but they still taste great for cooking.

I've had mixed results with hot peppers. 90% of the time, the red ones (I've grown lots of different varieties of jalapenos, poblanos, anaheims, salsa type hybrids, etc - no super-hots like habaneros) are not hotter. More of a mellow heat with a gentle sweetness, and we actually like them better.

But, boy, I get one from that 10% that does get hotter and wow - what a surprise!

I can't pin it to growing conditions - less rain, more rain, more heat, corking, no corking, whatever...I can't predict a hot one until I taste it. And one on the same plant can be mellow and another on the same branch can send steam out my ears.

Thanks Malna, I get it about the hot; and I thought I was ok about the limp peppers. Thanks!