Chillies and Peppers

Chilly harvest

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, ecen 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!

Click on any picture to enlarge.

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, What to do with chillies
	Buy seeds:  Chillies & Peppers

Medusa

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

Salsa Orange Salsa Orange Salsa Yellow Salsa Yellow

Black Knight Twilight

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

Immature fruit Orange Red Red

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 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 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

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 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 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

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

Orange Habanero

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.

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

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