Try the next few peppers from the plant and see if they're any better. I've heard many times before that the first fruits from pepper and tomato plants tend to not be so good. If they are just as mild, it probably is too much water. Peppers do best in soil that dries between watering, so if you can replace some to give it better drainage, you should try that. Also if it is not getting the full, hot afternoon sun, that could be a factor in your lack of heat. I found this article for you, it provides a couple other possible scenarios: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/no-heat-in-jalapenos.htm

Only other explanation is the place where you bought the plant also sells a variety called "Fooled You!", and the tags got mixed up.

What Lizzy said. I have found this very much to be the case early on in the season in jalapeno varieties and cayenne hybrids. The first batch sucks for kick - it gets better! Don't be discouraged.

Burpee is notorious for mixing up seeds - I won't even buy tomato seeds from them any more. But I've grown Gigante and it was spicy enough for Yankees (OK, that's not saying much, but spicier than a bell). Growing it again this year (leftover seed). If it doesn't get better as the season goes on, likely you got a mislabeled package.

Did you start from seed or buy the plant?

Yankees ?

You know, native New Englanders. Like me - but I have Mexican relatives who used to bring peppers up when they came to visit, dated a South American for 8 years and married a Texan, so I've become accustomed to spicy food. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a chilehead, but I do like growing them.

Not the baseball team - 4th generation Red Sox fan here! I have no idea whether New Yorkers like spicy food or not ;-)

I bought the plant from Menards. The pepper certainly look like jalapenos, and I definatly hope they get better because there's about a million pods on it. It's my best producing pepper so far.

Let the next few pods ripen longer. Not necessarily all the way to red, but longer than the others. If you are in minnesota and picking peppers already, they likely are not fully ripe. Especially Jalapenos which will get to full size and stay green for many, many weeks before starting to turn red. The capsicum (heat) will increase as the pod matures and ripens.
Good luck.
Bruce.

Barbge, as a pepper newbie, I am also growing Gigantes for the first time. What I can observe of them is the following. They are a paler green, not deep green like the regular Jalapenos and the Mucho Nachos. The plants are big and healthy and loaded with pods. I had hoped these peppers (Gigantes) would be larger than the regular jalapenos, but so far, they are no more than 2 inches although somewhat wider. I find much bigger ones in the supermarkets. Mine grow infinitesimally slowly after reaching under 2 inches. I have cut a bunch off for stuffing (2 bites only!) and they also were not very hot if at all.
So, I am happy to learn they all will most likely be getting hotter. I am hoping they will also be getting larger!

All of these have been growing for different periods except the Gigante and the last regular jalapeno. This is a color comparison only.

To update this....just tried the second pepper. Still zero heat. I'm not sure what is up with this plant.

On the other hand, his friend the hot banana/Hungarian wax pepper is producing even more peppers and those suckers are crazy hot. Like a habanero or something....

Take anything I say with a grain of salt and a margarita, but I had good luck following the advice of people (I think the advice came from this site) last year and waited until I saw some corking on my Jalapenos before I harvested them. I don't know if all Jal's cork or not, but all of mine did, and they were all awesome.

If they're not very spicy and they are ripe, perhaps you're not doing anything wrong. You may be doing too much right. Stressed peppers are said to get spicier. If they're taking too long to ripen, I'm guessing they may not be very adapted to your climate or soil. Normally, I would suggest growing them a few generations from saved seed in your climate/soil. However, these might be a cross and future generations might be different kinds of peppers. You could try growing with extra compost or something. I've heard growing in pure compost can even be great.

It's also possible that you're fertilizing with nitrogen too close to harvest time. That can dull the flavor (I'm not sure about the spiciness). They may need more sun, too. UV rays increase spiciness, they say. More sun may or may not increase flavor, also.