Chillies and Peppers

Chillies and Peppers
Chilly harvest
Family	Solanaceae
Name	Capsicum Spp.
Common Names	Aji, Chilli, Chili, Chilly, Chille, Chile, Capsicum, Pepper, Pimento
Pictures: Ornamental chillies Bell Pepper (Capsicum) Bull's Horn Banana chilly Jalapeno Aji Norteno (Red) Cayenne Brazillian Cambuci Thai Hot Habanero Rocoto   See also:  Food plants, Culture / Germination   Buy seeds:  Seeds - Chillies and Peppers

Chillies have been cultivated since ancient times in South America, and was brought to Europe by Columbus. Before long, it had spread to the Middle East, Africa, India and Asia. The popularity of chillies has meant that they are now extensively cultivated outside of their natural range, even to the extent that peoples in those regions think that chilly is indigenous.

Today, there are thousands of varieties of different shapes, sizes, colour and heat. The heat level of Chillies (termed as piquant) is graded using the Scoville Heat Unit (SHU), originally designed as taste test using different dilutions of chilly extracts. The SHU is the number of times a solution has to be diluted before it no longer taste piquant. Bell peppers are sweet and are rated at 0 SHU, and on the other end of the scale, Habanero rates over 350000 SHU!

Culture:

 Ornamental chillies

Medusa
Name	Capsicum annuum

A selection of chillies that are grown as ornamental pot plants.

Salsa Orange	Salsa Orange	Salsa Yellow	Salsa Yellow
Black Knight	Twilight

 Bell Pepper (Capsicum)

Bell pepper or capsicum is a sweet chilly, basically lacking the capsaicin that makes chilly piquant.

Immature fruit	Orange	Red	Red

 Bull's Horn

Corno Di Toro, or Bull's horn is a large sweet pepper. The tapered fruits have thick walls and large interior space, making them suitable for stuffing. There are two types, yellow and red. The yellow variety ripens yellow but will turn red if left on the plant.

Yellow and red

 Banana chilly

Banana chilly is normally picked and eaten when it is at the yellow-green and is excellent for stuffing. This warm chilly is rated at around 100 SHU. If left on the plant to ripen, it will turn red and taste sweeter.

Green Yellow-green stage.	Red Ripe

 Jalapeno

Jalapeno is perhaps the most popular of the Mexican chillies, but the variety commonly grown for the North American market Early Jalapeno.

Immature fruit	Fruit	Fruit

 Aji Norteno (Red)

This chilly (aji) is one of the commonly grown varieties in South America, though it is not common elsewhere. Norteno (which means North) comes from to its popularity in the valleys of nothern Peru. It is mildly hot, with a fruity flavour, and has thick walls, suitable for stuffing. The skin is bumpy, which gives this chilly an unusual look.

Fruit

 Cayenne

Cayenne is a hot chilly with a long tapered body. There are numerous cultivars, most distinguishing themselves only in the thickness of the fruit walls and colour of chilly. This chilly is most commonly used in Asian cooking. Red cayenne pepper is rated at around 30000 to 50000 SHU. Yellow cayenne is hotter than the red variety, and is rated at around 50000 to 80000 SHU.

Bud Flower buds and shoots arise from leaf axils.	Flower The flowers have 5 petals.	Immature fruit	Mature green fruit The fruit can be picked at this stage, just before it turns red.
Cayenne Pepper Plant Cayenne plants are very prolific.	Red Cayenne	Red Cayenne	Yellow Cayenne
Yellow Cayenne

 Brazillian Cambuci

Brazillian Cambuci has most unusual shape. It is three sided, and has a ring that flares out (wings) on the three sides, resembling a monk's hat or UFO. C. baccatum is the most commonly grown species in South America.

Hotness: If the chilly is ground whole, the resulting paste is quite hot. The 'wings' are actually quite mild, and if the chilly is cut open and the seed and surounding placental tissues removed, the result is a pretty mild chilly. A very versatile fruit indeed!

Immature fruit	Ripening fruit	Ripe fruit

 Thai Hot

This Asian heirloom variety produces small very hot peppers on compact plants. The peppers grow facing upwards, and can be used either green or red.

Ripening fruit	Ripening fruit	Ripe fruit

 Habanero

Orange Habanero
Name	Capsicum chinense

Habanero (or Havana Chilly) has the world record in the hottest chilly, rating at 350000 SHU! C. chinense is named after China, seeming unlikely as capsicums originate from South America! The truth of the matter is the French botanist who gave this species its name got the seeds via China.

A closely related cultivar is Scotch Bonnet. This cultivar is almost as hot, but differs from habanero by having larger, more robust fruits, and a different flavour. Scotch Bonnet is used to spice many world cuisines, in particular, it gives Caribbean dishes their unique taste.

This species is very similar to C. frutescens and some botanists regard them to be the same.

Warning: Habanero is a very hot chilly. Handle with care. Use gloves where possible as it can burn sensitive skin. Even metal knives that have been used to cut the chillies, then washed, still carry traces of the capsaicin. The seeds are also extremely hot, and care should taken when sowing them.

Scarlet Habanero	Scarlet Habanero	Scarlet Habanero	Scarlet Habanero
Scotch Bonnet

 Rocoto

Rocoto (C. pubescens) is perhaps one of the earliest domesticated chillies, first cultivated around 6000 years ago. It differs from other chillies in that the leaves are hairy, and is much more cold tolerant. This species does not cross with the other capsicum species. The seeds are black.

Originally from the high Equatorial Andes in Bolivia, there is no record of C. pubescens existing in the wild, and botanists think that it may be related to other wild species such as Capsicum eximium. Other names used in South America for this chilly are Caballo and Manzano.

Flower of Red Rocoto The red Rocoto chilly's flower is purple in colour.	Flower of Red Rocoto	Immature red Rocoto Notice the hairy stems.	Red Rocoto
Red Rocoto	Yellow Rocoto