Guide to Chili Pepper

Habaneros Chili

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BC and perhaps earlier.

There is archaeological evidence at sites located in southwestern Ecuador that chili peppers were already well domesticated more than 6000 years ago, and is one of the first cultivated crops in the Americas.  Chili peppers are thought to have been domesticated at least five times by prehistoric  peoples in different parts of South and North America, from Peru in the south to Mexico in the north and parts of Colorado and New Mexico

 
  The habanero chile (Capsicum chinense 
  Jacquin) (originally Spanish "Javanero,"
  and sometimes incorrectly spelled "habañero"
  is one of the most intensely spicy chili
  peppers of the Capsicum genus.

Chili Pepper

The chili pepper, chilli pepper, or more simply just "chili", is the fruit of the plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Even though chilis may be thought of as a vegetable, their culinary usage is generally as a spice, the part of the plant that is usually harvested is the fruit, and botany considers the plant a berry shrub. The latter description seems counter-intuitive to North Americans and Europeans, most of whom never see the perennial shrubs in their natural habitats. San Diego, California and the Florida peninsula may be the only locales in the United States of America where tropical perennials, such as chilis, frequently survive from one growing season to the next.
The name, which is spelled differently in many regions (chili, chile or chilli), comes from Nahuatl via the Spanish word chile. The term chili in most of the world refers exclusively to the smaller, hot types of capsicum. The mild larger types are called bell pepper in the USA, simply pepper in Britain, Canada and Ireland, capsicum in India and Australasia and paprika in many European countries.

History

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BC and perhaps earlier. There is archaeological evidence at sites located in southwestern Ecuador that chili peppers were already well domesticated more than 6000 years ago, and is one of the first cultivated crops in the Americas.


Chili peppers are thought to have been domesticated at least five times by prehistoric peoples in different parts of South and North America, from Peru in the south to Mexico in the north and parts of Colorado and New Mexico (Ancient Pueblo Peoples).
Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because of their similarity in taste with the Old World peppers of the Piper genus.
Chilis were cultivated around the globe after Columbus' time. Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, brought the first chili peppers to Spain, and first wrote about their medicinal effects in 1494.
From Mexico, at the time the Spanish colony that controlled commerce with Asia, chili peppers spread rapidly into the Philippines and then to India, China, Korea and Japan with the aid of European sailors. The new spice was quickly incorporated into the local cuisines.
An alternate sequence for chili peppers' spread has the Portuguese picking up the pepper from Spain, and thence to India, as described by Lizzie Collingham in her book Curry. The evidence provided is that the chili pepper figures heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony. Collingham also describes the journey of chili peppers from India, through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where it became the national spice in the form of paprika.
Currently India is the largest producer of chilis with around one million tons per year.

Only the Name is changing,
the sharpness always remains.

Aztec Chili pharm Fructus Capsici acer pharmAmharic Berbere, Mitmita Arabic فلفل حار,فلفل الأحمر, شطة, فليفلة حر, فلفل الأحمر, شَطَّة< فُلْفُل أحْمَر, فُلْفُل حَار,شَطَّة Fulful alahmar, Fulful haar, Shatta, Fulaifilah har Armenian Կծու Պղպեղ Gdzoo Bghbegh, Kcu Pghpegh Assamese Jolokia
Basque Chili Bengali Lanka, Morich, Чили Bulgarian Chili Burmese Nga yut thee, Nil thee
Chinese Lup-Chew 辣椒 [laaht jìu] Laaht jiu 辣椒 [là jiāo] La jiao Croatian Čili, Feferon, Kajenska paprika Czech Pálivá paprika, Pepř cayenský
Dhivehi  މިރުސް Mirus Danish Chili Dutch Spaanse peper, Cayennepeper
English Cayenne pepper, Red pepper, Chilli, Chili Esperanto Duonligneca kapsiko, Kajena pipro Estonian Kibe paprika, Punapipar, Tšili, Cayenne'i pipar
Farsi فلفل, دار فلفل Felfel, Pilpil, Philphil; Dar felfel Finnish Chilipippuri French Poivre rouge, Piment enragé, Piment fort, Piment-oiseau, Poivre de Cayenne
Galician Guindilla Georgian წიწაკა Cicaka, Tsitsaka German Roter Pfeffer, Cayenne-Pfeffer, Chili-Pfeffer, Beißbeere Greek Πιπέρι καγιέν, Τσίλι, Καυτερές πιπεριές Piperi kagien, Tsili, Kafteres pipieres Gujarati  Lal marcha (red), Lila marcha (green)
Hebrew פלפל אדום, פלפל חריף, פפריקה חריפה, צילי, צ'ילי Paprika harifa, Papriqa charifa, Pilpel adom, Pilpel harif, Tsili Hindi Lal mirch (red), Hari mirch (green) Hungarian Csilipaprika, Igen erős apró, Cayenne bors, Cayenni bors, Macskakpöcs paprika, Aranybors, Ördögbors, Chilipaprika
Icelandic Chilipipar, Cayennepipar Indonesian Lombok, Cabé, Cabe Italian Peperone, Diavoletto, Peperoncino, Pepe di Caienne, Pepe rosso picante
Japanese 唐辛子 とうがらしトウガラシ, チリ, カイエンペッパー Tōgarashi, Togarashi, Chiri, Kaienpeppa
Kannada  ಮೆಣಸಿನ ಕಾಯಿ         Menasina kayi,  Molaku
Khmer  Ma-tek Korean 고추, 카이엔 고추 Kochu, Gochu, Kaien gochu
Latvian Čili pipari, Kajēnas pipari Lithuanian Kajeno pipirai Laotian Mak phet kunsi
Malay Lada merah, Cabai, Cili Malayalam Menasinakayi, Chuvanna mulagu (red), Pacha mulagu (green) Maltese Bżar aħmar, Felfel
Marathi हिरव्या मिरच्या, लाल मिरच्या Lal mirchya (red),
Hirvya mirchya (green)
Nepali रातो खुर्सानी Rato Khursani     
Oriya Lankamaricha
Pashto Murgh Polish Papryka owocowa Portuguese Pimentão, Piripíri, Pimenta de caiena Provençal Pebrino, Pebroun Punjabi ਲਾਲ ਮਿਰਚ Lal Mirch 
Romanian Ardei iute Russian Чили, Кайенский перец, Красный перец, Чилли Chili, Kajenskij perets, Chilli, Krasnij perets
Sanskrit Marichiphala Ujjvala Singhalese Rathu miris, Gasmiris Slovak Čili paprika, Kajenská paprika, Čili paprička, Feferónka, Dederón Slovenian Čili, Feferoni, Kajenski poper Spanish Chile, Guindilla, Cayena inglesa, Pimienta de Cayena, Pimienta picante, AjíSwahili Pilipili hoho Swedish Chilipeppar
Tagalog Siling labuyo, Sili
Tamil  சிகப்பு  மிளகாய்,  பச்சை மிளகாய் Pachai
milagai, Sigappu milagai (red) Telugu మిరపకాయలు Mirapakayalu   Thai พริกชี้ฟ้า, พริกขี้หนู, พริกแห้งผลเล็ก Prik chifa, Prik khee nu, Prik haeng pallek, Pisi hui Tibetan Sipen marpo, Si pan dmar po Turkish Acı kırmızı biber, Toz biber
Urdu Lalmarach
Vietnamese Ớt, Ot

Species and cultivars

The most common species of chili peppers are:

• Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, paprika, cayenne, jalapeños, and the chiltepin
• Capsicum frutescens, which includes the tabasco peppers
• Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero and Scotch bonnet
• Capsicum pubescens, which includes the South American rocoto peppers
• Capsicum baccatum, which includes the South American aji peppers

Though there are only a few commonly used species, there are many cultivars and methods of preparing chili peppers that have different common names for culinary use. Bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum; immature peppers being green and mature peppers being red. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (when dried is referred to as ancho).
Jamaicans, Scotch bonnets, and habaneros are common varieties of C. chinense.
The species C. frutescens appears as chiles de árbol, aji, pequin, tabasco, cherry peppers, malagueta and others.
Peppers are commonly broken down into three groupings: bell peppers, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Most popular pepper varieties are seen as falling into one of these categories or as a cross between them.

Habanero Pepper Sauche

Mostly your own sauce is the best. I mine I’m using, habaneros pepper, vinegar, garlic, lime juice, nutmeg and some secret ingredients.  
If you don't have the time and the resources, in my opinion the commercial pepper sauce comes from Belize. I say Marie Sharp's Habanero from Belize wins hands down. It comes in a variety of heat levels, but all have the same incredible flavour.  Marie Sharps
If you were to go into your garden, and pick all your favorites: habanero, garlic and carrots, and somehow put the right combination into your mouth all at once, this hot sauce is what you'd taste.

Marie Sharp family-owned business takes great pride and honor in producing products with highest quality of standards, living up to its slogan, "Proud Products of Belize."

How Hot Is it?

The most common way to evaluate chile pungency is a simple taste test. What we call “heat” or ”fire” of the chile is known in the industry as the pungency level. There are two other ways of testing pungency as well, the Scoville organoleptic test and high performance liquid chromatography.

The Scoville Scale

The chart in Scoviille Heat Units (SHU) below rates chiles, with 0 being mildest and 10 highest heat.

• Mild: 0 to 5,000 SHUs
• Medium: 5,000 to 20,000 SHUs
• Hot: 20,000  to 70,000 SHUs
• Extreme: 70,000 to 30,000 SHUs

Chile Type	Category	Scoville Heat Units
Bell, Pimento, U.S. Paprika, Sweet Banana	Mild	0
Pickled Pepperoncini	Mild	10
Anaheim, Canned Green Chiles, Cherry, Hungarian Hot Paprika Mexi-Bell, New Mexican R-Naky, Pepperoncini Pepper (500)	Mild	100-500
Chili Powder, New Mexican Big Jim, New Mexican 6-4, Tabasco Sauce/Green Pepper (600-800)	Mild	500-1000
Coronado (1,000), Pasilla	Mild	1,000-1,500
Ancho (2,000), Cascabel, Poblano (2,000) Sandia	Mild	1,500-2,500
Cayenne Large Red Thick, Louisiana Hot Sauce, Mirasol, Rocotillo (2,500), TAM Mild Jalapeño	Mild	2,500-5,000
Aji Amarillo, Chipotle (10,000), Early Jalapeño (8,000), Serrano, Tabasco Sauce/Original Pepper (5,000), Wax Pepper, Tabasco Sauce/Habañero (8,000)	Medium	5,000-15,000
Crushed Red Pepper, De Arbol, Habañero Hot Sauce, Manzano (30,000), Serrano (23,000)	Medium-Hot	15,000-30,000
Cayenne Long (50,000), Pakistan Dundicut, Piquin, Thai Prik Khee Nu	Hot	30,000-50,000
Chiltepin, Chinese Kwangsi, Rocoto, Santaka, Thai (100,000)	Hot-Extreme	50,000-100,000
African Birdseye, Habañero (350,000), Jamaican Hot (200,000), Scotch Bonnet (325,000), South American Chinenses	Extreme	100,000-500,000
Red Savina Habañero	Extreme	570,000
Dorset Naga, Francisca, Naga Jolokia or Tezpur	Extreme	855,000
Bhut Jolokia	Extreme	1,001,304
Common Pepper Spray	—	2,000,000
Police-Grade Pepper Spray	—	5,300,000
Pure Capsaicin	—	16,000,000