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Green bird's eye, yellow madame Jeanette, and red cayenne peppers

Young chili plants

The chili pepper (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli^[1]) from Nahuatl chīlli Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʃiːli] ( listen)) is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae.^[2] Chili peppers are widely used in many cuisines to add spiciness to dishes. The substances that give chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids.

Chili peppers originated in Mexico.^[3] After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used for both food and traditional medicine.

Worldwide in 2014, 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced.^[4] China is the world's largest producer of green chillies, providing half of the global total.

History

Pottery that tested positive for Capsicum sp. residues excavated at Chiapa de Corzo in southern Mexico dated from Middle to Late Preclassic periods (400 BCE to 300 CE)

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. The most recent research shows that chili peppers were domesticated more than 6,000 years ago in Mexico, in the region that extends across southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz,^[5] and were one of the first self-pollinating crops cultivated in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America.^[6]

Peru is considered the country with the highest cultivated Capsicum diversity because it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times. Bolivia is considered to be the country where the largest diversity of wild Capsicum peppers is consumed. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ulupicas, species with small round fruits including C. eximium, C. cardenasii, C. eshbaughii, and C. caballeroi landraces; and arivivis with small elongated fruits including C. baccatum var. baccatum and C. chacoense varieties.^[7]

Christopher Columbus was one of the first Europeans to encounter them (in the Caribbean), and called them "peppers" because they, like black pepper of the genus Piper known in Europe, have a spicy, hot taste unlike other foodstuffs. Upon their introduction into Europe, chilies were grown as botanical curiosities in the gardens of Spanish and Portuguese monasteries. Christian monks experimented with the culinary potential of chili and discovered that their pungency offered a substitute for black peppercorns.^[8]

Red Cubanelle chili peppers

Chilies were cultivated around the globe after indigenous people shared them with travelers.^[9][10]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.

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders^{[verification needed]} (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders.^[11] It was introduced in India by the Portuguese towards the end of 15th century.^[12] Today chilies are an integral part of Indian and Southeast Asian cuisines.

The chili pepper features heavily in the cuisine of the Goan region of India, which was the site of a Portuguese colony (e.g., vindaloo, an Indian interpretation of a Portuguese dish). Chili peppers journeyed from India,^[13] through Central Asia and Turkey, to Hungary, where they became the national spice in the form of paprika.

An alternate, although not so plausible account (no obvious correlation between its dissemination in Asia and Spanish presence or trade routes), defended mostly by Spanish historians, was that from Mexico, at the time a Spanish colony, chili peppers spread into their other colony the Philippines and from there to India, China, Indonesia. To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.^{[citation needed]}

In 1995 archaeobotanist Hakon Hjelmqvist published an article in Svensk Botanisk Tidskrift claiming there was evidence for the presence of chili peppers in Europe in pre-Columbian times.^[14] According to Hjelmqvist, archaeologists at a dig in St Botulf in Lund found a Capsicum frutescens in a layer from the 13th century. Hjelmqvist thought it came from Asia. Hjelmqvist also said that Capsicum was described by the Greek Theophrastus (370–286 BCE) in his Historia Plantarum, and in other sources. Around the first century CE, the Roman poet Martial mentioned Piperve crudum (raw pepper) in Liber XI, XVIII, allegedly describing them as long and containing seeds (a description which seems to fit chili peppers - but could also fit the long pepper, which was well known to ancient Romans).

Contrary to the Columbian Exchange, evidence of the use of chili peppers in Southeast Asia can be found in stone inscriptions from the Bagan period of the thirteenth-century Myanmar. The Shwe-Kun-Cha Pagoda stone inscriptions (1223 CE) of King Nadoungmya (1234 – 1254 CE) included five baskets of chiles in the list of his donations to the pagoda and a slightly later stone inscription (1248 CE) of Princess A-Saw-Kyaum, alternative transliteration Asawgyun, included chiles alongside rice, betel nut, and salt in the cost of her merit makings.^[15][16]

Production

Green chili production – 2014
Country	(millions of tonnes)
China	16.1
Mexico	2.7
Turkey	2.1
Indonesia	1.9
India	1.5
Spain	1.1
United States	0.9
World	33.2
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations[4]

In 2014, world production of fresh green chili peppers was 33.2 million tonnes, led by China with 48% of the global total.^[4] Global production of dried chili peppers was about nine times less than for fresh production, led by India with 32% of the world total.^[4]

Species and cultivars

Thai pepper, similar in variety to the African birdseye, exhibits considerable strength for its size

The five domesticated species of chili peppers are as follows:

• 
  Capsicum annuum, which includes many common varieties such as bell peppers, wax, cayenne, jalapeños, chiltepin, and all forms of New Mexico chile.


• 
  Capsicum frutescens, which includes malagueta, tabasco and Thai peppers, piri piri, and Malawian Kambuzi
  


• 
  Capsicum chinense, which includes the hottest peppers such as the naga, habanero, Datil 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 names for culinary use. Green and red bell peppers, for example, are the same cultivar of C. annuum, immature peppers being green. In the same species are the jalapeño, the poblano (which when dried is referred to as ancho), New Mexico, serrano, and other cultivars.

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.

Intensity

A display of hot peppers and a board explaining the Scoville scale at a Houston, Texas, grocery store

The substances that give chili peppers their pungency (spicy heat) when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids.^[17][18] The quantity of capsaicin varies by variety, and on growing conditions. Water stressed peppers usually produce stronger pods. When a habanero plant is stressed, for example low water, the concentration of capsaicin increases in some parts of the fruit.^[19]

When peppers are consumed by mammals such as humans, capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, potentially evoking pain via spinal relays to the brainstem and thalamus where heat and discomfort are perceived.^[20] The intensity of the "heat" of chili peppers is commonly reported in Scoville heat units (SHU). Historically, it was a measure of the dilution of an amount of chili extract added to sugar syrup before its heat becomes undetectable to a panel of tasters; the more it has to be diluted to be undetectable, the more powerful the variety, and therefore the higher the rating.^[21] The modern method is a quantitative analysis of SHU using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to directly measure the capsaicinoid content of a chili pepper variety. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, and crystalline-to-waxy solid at room temperature, and measures 16,000,000 SHU.

Capsaicin is produced by the plant as a defense against mammalian predators and microbes, in particular a fusarium fungus carried by hemipteran insects that attack certain species of chili peppers, according to one study.^[22] Peppers increased the quantity of capsaicin in proportion to the damage caused by fungal predation on the plant's seeds.^[22]

Common peppers

Red Bhut Jolokia and green bird's eye chilies

A wide range of intensity is found in commonly used peppers:

Bell pepper	0 SHU
New Mexico green chile	0–70,000 SHU
Fresno, jalapeño	3,500–10,000 SHU
Cayenne	30,000–50,000 SHU
Piri piri	50,000–100,000 SHU
Habanero, Scotch bonnet, bird's eye	100,000–350,000 SHU[23]

Notable hot chili peppers

Some of the world's hottest chili peppers are:

United States		Pepper X			3.18M SHU[24]
England		Dragon's Breath			2.4M SHU[25]
United States		Carolina Reaper			2.2M SHU[26]
Trinidad		Trinidad moruga scorpion			2.0M SHU[27]
India		Bhut jolokia (Ghost pepper)			1.58M SHU[28]
Trinidad		Trinidad Scorpion Butch T			1.463M SHU[29]
England		Naga Viper			1.4M SHU[30]
England		Infinity chili			1.2M SHU[31]

Uses

Culinary uses

Smoke-dried chipotle

Chilies at a market in India

Sambal is the name for chili pastes in Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine

Thai curry pastes contain large amounts of chilies

Chili pepper pods, which are berries, are used fresh or dried. Chilies are dried to preserve them for long periods of time, which may also be done by pickling.

Dried chilies are often ground into powders, although many Mexican dishes including variations on chiles rellenos use the entire chili. Dried whole chilies may be reconstituted before grinding to a paste. The chipotle is the smoked, dried, ripe jalapeño.

Many fresh chilies such as poblano have a tough outer skin that does not break down on cooking. Chilies are sometimes used whole or in large slices, by roasting, or other means of blistering or charring the skin, so as not to entirely cook the flesh beneath. When cooled, the skins will usually slip off easily.

The leaves of every species of Capsicum are edible. Though almost all other Solanaceous crops have toxins in their leaves, chili peppers do not.^{[citation needed]} The leaves, which are mildly bitter and nowhere near as hot as the fruit, are cooked as greens in Filipino cuisine, where they are called dahon ng sili (literally "chili leaves"). They are used in the chicken soup tinola.^[32] In Korean cuisine, the leaves may be used in kimchi.^[33] In Japanese cuisine, the leaves are cooked as greens, and also cooked in tsukudani style for preservation.

Chili is a staple fruit in Bhutan. Bhutanese call this crop ema (in Dzongkha) or solo (in Sharchop). The ema datsi recipe is entirely made of chili mixed with local cheese.

In India, most households always keep a stock of fresh hot green chilies at hand, and use them to flavor most curries and dry dishes. It is typically lightly fried with oil in the initial stages of preparation of the dish. Some states in India, such as Rajasthan, make entire dishes only by using spices and chilies.^{[citation needed]}

Chilies are present in many cuisines. Some notable dishes other than the ones mentioned elsewhere in this article include:

• 
  Arrabbiata sauce from Italy is a tomato-based sauce for pasta always including dried hot chilies.


• 
  Puttanesca sauce is tomato-based with olives, capers, anchovy and, sometimes, chilies.


• 
  Paprikash from Hungary uses significant amounts of mild, ground, dried chilies, known as paprika, in a braised chicken dish.


• 
  Chiles en nogada from the Puebla region of Mexico uses fresh mild chilies stuffed with meat and covered with a creamy nut-thickened sauce.


• 
  Curry dishes usually contain fresh or dried chiles.


• 
  Kung pao chicken (Mandarin Chinese: 宫保鸡丁 gōng bǎo jī dīng) from the Sichuan region of China uses small hot dried chilies briefly fried in oil to add spice to the oil then used for frying.


• 
  Mole poblano from the city of Puebla in Mexico uses several varieties of dried chilies, nuts, spices, and fruits to produce a thick, dark sauce for poultry or other meats.


• 
  Nam phrik are traditional Thai chili pastes and sauces, prepared with chopped fresh or dry chilies, and additional ingredients such as fish sauce, lime juice, and herbs, but also fruit, meat or seafood.


• 
  'Nduja, a more typical example of Italian spicy specialty, from the region of Calabria, is a soft pork sausage made "hot" by the addition of the locally grown variety of jalapeño chili.


• 
  Paprykarz szczeciński is a Polish fish paste with rice, onion, tomato concentrate, vegetable oil, chili pepper powder and other spices.


• 
  Sambal terasi or sambal belacan is a traditional Indonesian and Malay hot condiment made by frying a mixture of mainly pounded dried chili s, with garlic, shallots, and fermented shrimp paste. It is customarily served with rice dishes and is especially popular when mixed with crunchy pan-roasted ikan teri or ikan bilis (sun-dried anchovies), when it is known as sambal teri or sambal ikan bilis. Various sambal variants existed in Indonesian archipelago, among others are sambal badjak, sambal oelek, sambal pete (prepared with green stinky beans) and sambal pencit (prepared with unripe green mango).


• 
  Som tam, a green papaya salad from Thai and Lao cuisine, traditionally has, as a key ingredient, a fistful of chopped fresh hot Thai chili, pounded in a mortar.

Fresh or dried chilies are often used to make hot sauce, a liquid condiment—usually bottled when commercially available—that adds spice to other dishes. Hot sauces are found in many cuisines including harissa from North Africa, chili oil from China (known as rāyu in Japan), and sriracha from Thailand. Dried chilies are also used to infuse cooking oil.

Ornamental plants

The contrast in color and appearance makes chili plants interesting to some as a purely decorative garden plant.

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  Black pearl pepper: small cherry-shaped fruits and dark brown to black leaves
  
  

  
  

  Black pearl pepper

  
  
  
  


• Black Hungarian pepper: green foliage, highlighted by purple veins and purple flowers, jalapeño-shaped fruits ^[34]
  


• 
  Bishop's crown pepper, Christmas bell pepper: named for its distinct three-sided shape resembling a red bishop’s crown or a red Christmas bell^[35]
  

Psychology

Psychologist Paul Rozin suggests that eating chilies is an example of a "constrained risk" like riding a roller coaster, in which extreme sensations like pain and fear can be enjoyed because individuals know that these sensations are not actually harmful. This method lets people experience extreme feelings without any risk of bodily harm.^[36]

Medicinal

Capsaicin, the chemical in chili peppers that makes them hot, is used as an analgesic in topical ointments, nasal sprays, and dermal patches to relieve pain.^[37]

Chemical irritants

Capsaicin extracted from chilies is used in manufacturing pepper spray and tear gas as chemical irritants, forms of less-lethal weapons for control of unruly individuals or crowds.^[38] Such products have considerable potential for misuse, and may cause injury or death.^[38]

Crop defense

Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chilly dung bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers' fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants.^[39]

Food defense

Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers' natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.^[40]

Nutritional value

While red chilies contain large amounts of vitamin C (table), other species contain significant amounts of provitamin A beta-carotene.^[41] In addition, peppers are a rich source of vitamin B₆ (see table).

Spelling and usage

The three primary spellings are chili, chile and chilli, all of which are recognized by dictionaries.

• 
  Chili is widely used in historically Anglophone regions of the United States^[42] and Canada.^[43] However, it is also commonly used as a short name for chili con carne (literally "chili with meat"). Most versions are seasoned with chili powder, which can refer to pure dried, ground chili peppers, or to a mixture containing other spices.


• 
  Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries,^[44] as well as some parts of the United States and Canada, which refers specifically to this plant and its fruit. In the Southwest United States (particularly New Mexico), chile also denotes a thick, spicy, un-vinegared sauce made from this fruit, available in red and green varieties, and served over the local food, while chili denotes the meat dish. The plural is chile or chiles.


• 
  Chilli was the original Romanization of the Náhuatl language word for the fruit (chīlli) and is the preferred British spelling according to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it also lists chile and chili as variants.^[45]Chilli (and its plural chillies) is the most common spelling in Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa.^[46][47]
  

The name of the plant is almost certainly unrelated to that of Chile, the country, which has an uncertain etymology perhaps relating to local place names.^[48] Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico are some of the Spanish-speaking countries where chilies are known as ají, a word of Taíno origin.
Though pepper originally referred to the genus Piper, not Capsicum, the latter usage is included in English dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary (sense 2b of pepper) and Merriam-Webster.^[49] The word pepper is also commonly used in the botanical and culinary fields in the names of different types of chili plants and their fruits.

Gallery

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  The habanero pepper
  

  
  

  
  


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  Immature chilies in the field
  

  
  

  
  


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  The Black Pearl cultivar
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cubanelle peppers
  

  
  

  
  


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  Scotch bonnet chili peppers in a Caribbean market
  

  
  

  
  


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  Chili peppers drying in Kathmandu, Nepal
  

  
  

  
  


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  Removing veins and seeds from dried chilies in San Pedro Atocpan
  

  
  

  
  


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  Dried chili pepper flakes and fresh chilies
  

  
  

  
  


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  Chili pepper dip in a traditional restaurant in Amman, Jordan
  

  
  

  
  


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  Dried Thai bird's eye chilies
  

  
  

  
  


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  Green chilies
  

  
  

  
  


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  Guntur chilli drying in the sun, Andhra Pradesh, India
  

  
  

  
  


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  Sundried chilli at Imogiri, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  

  
  

  
  


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  New Mexico chiles dried on the plant in Mesilla, New Mexico
  

  
  

  
  


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  Chili pepper wine from Virginia
  

  
  

  
  


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  Ristras of chili peppers drying in Arizona.
  

  
  

  
  

See also

References

External links

Look up chili in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Chilli Pepper

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Capsicum.

• WildChilli.EU All about Wild Chili's / Capsicums / Peppers


• Plant Cultures: Chilli pepper botany, history and uses


• The Chile Pepper Institute of New Mexico State University


• Capsicums: Innovative Uses of an Ancient Crop


• 
  Chilli: La especia del Nuevo Mundo (Article from Germán Octavio López Riquelme about biology, nutrition, culture and medical topics. In Spanish)


• 
  The Hot Pepper List List of chilli pepper varieties ordered by heat rating in Scoville Heat Units (SHU)