Anaheim Chiles are about 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) long. They are generally sold and used unripe, when they are a deep, shiny, green. Some people just call the green ones “long green peppers.” When fully mature, they will turn red. They are mild and widely available in North America as green…
Chile Peppers
Birds Eye Chile Peppers
Birds Eye Chile Peppers © Paula Trites Birds Eye Chile Peppers are small, cone-shaped chiles, usually up to 1/2 inch (1 1/2 cm) long but some varieties can be longer. They will usually be bright scarlet red in colour, but there are also green ones. Handle with care: Birds Eye Chile Peppers have a healthy…
Chili Powder
Commercial Chili Powders are made from dried, ground chiles combined with other spices such as cayenne pepper and garlic powder, as well as oregano and a lot of cumin. The powder is an American invention as a shortcut to taste and some heat in making chilis; Mexicans don’t really use it. Despite its name, it…
Dorset Naga Chiles
Dorset Naga are a Scotch Bonnet/habanero type chile grown in polytunnels in Dorset, England. These chiles have an incredible heat to them. Your eyes can sting from just from cutting one open. The heat has been measured at 876,000 Scoville units. Further tests have pushed that number to 976,000 units, and beyond 1,000,000. The previous…
Green Chile Peppers
Green Chile Peppers © Denzil Green If a recipe calls for “Green Chile Pepper”, and it’s an American Southwestern-style recipe, chances are it means an Anaheim Chile Pepper. Otherwise, chances are that what is meant is a Jalapeno chile, but the writer is saying you can use less fiery ones such as Green Banana Peppers…
Guajillo Chile Peppers
Guajillo Chile Peppers © Denzil GreenGuajillo is the name for güero chiles that have been dried. Guajillo chile peppers are the second most used chiles in Mexican cooking; the first is ancho. Guajillo is often used as an ingredient of mole sauce. Guajillo chile peppers are around 10 to 12 cm (4 inches to 5…
Habanero Chile Peppers
Habanero Chile Peppers © Denzil Green Habanero are beautiful, small, lantern-shaped chiles about the size of a golf ball, though not quite succeeding at being as round, because they are quite wrinkled. They can be green, yellow, orange or red. They have the most flavour — not to mention heat — when they have fully…
Jalapeno Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers © Denzil Green Jalapeno plants grow up to about 1 metre (3 feet) tall. The chiles average 2.5 cm (1 inch) wide, and 7.5 cm (2 to 3 inches) long. Most Jalapenos are harvested when they are a rich green colour. Red Jalapenos are the more mature version of the green ones, that…
Lombok
Lombok is a generic name in Indonesia for chiles about the size of one’s finger.They can be dark green or bright red. The word will usually be accompanied by an adjective, giving more details about the exact kind of chile meant. Lombok Hijan: green peppers Lombok Merab: red peppers Lombok Merak: from Merak province Lombok…
New Mexico Chile Peppers
New Mexico Chile Peppers are grown, as the name would imply, in New Mexico, USA. They grow in fields irrigated by water diverted from the Rio Grande river. The plant grows 20 to 30 inches (50 to 75 cm) tall with leaves 3 inches (7.5 cm) long and 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Each plant…
Paprika
Spanish Paprika © Denzil Green Paprika is a bright red dried spice made from ground sweet red peppers, mostly of Hungarian-developed varieties. The pepper plants grow up to 60 cm (2 feet) tall and produce green or yellow pods as “fruit” which turn red as they ripen. After being harvested, they are left out in…
Peppadew Peppers
Peppadew™ is the trademarked brand name of peppers from a pepper plant called “Piquanté.” The trademark on the name is held by Peppadew International Ltd of South Africa. The Piquanté bush grows up to 1 1/2 metres tall (5 feet), bearing up to 50 to 60 chiles per bush. The peppers ripen over a four…
Poblano Chile Pepper
Poblano Chile Pepper © Denzil Green Poblano chiles have a relatively mild heat, about 2,000 Scoville units. They are never eaten raw; they are always cooked. Most of the poblanos grown in Mexico and the United States are roasted and peeled, and then canned or frozen. Their size and thick sides make them easy to…
Purira Chile Peppers
Purira Chile Pepper is an annual plant grows that 16 to 36 inches tall (40 cm to 90 cm.) The chiles grow pointing upwards. The peppers are about 2 inches long (5 cm) with medium thick walls. They ripen first to a yellowish-purple then to an orangey-red. They are very hot and have a fruity…
Red Chile
Red Chile is a generic term for a mildly hot pepper, usually small in size. When you see it in a recipe, the writer is usually calling for a red chile for the colour it will add to a dish, as well as for the general belief that red chiles have more zip to them…
Rocotillo Chiles
Rocotillo Chiles look like miniature bell peppers with black seeds inside. They are very small, only about 1 inch (2 1/2 cm) tall, and grow in clusters that ripen from green to orange to red. They have a fruity taste, but despite being related to habenero chiles, are not very hot. Estimates of their hotness…
Scotch Bonnet Chiles
Scotch Bonnet Chiles look like slightly-smaller versions of Habanero Chiles. Their flavour and heat are quite similar, but the Scotch Bonnet is mainly grown in the Caribbean, whereas the Habanero is grown more in Central and South America. Scotch Bonnets mature to red or yellow. Heat level: 100,000 Scoville Units. Cooking Tips Use gloves, or…
Scoville Units
The Scoville scale measures how hot a chile pepper is. It does this by measuring the amount of capsaicin in a chile. Capsaicin is what makes a chile pepper taste hot (actually, it’s a group of compounds called capsaicinoids.) A gene helps to determines whether a pepper will develop capsaicinoids and be hot, or not….
Serrano Chile Peppers
Serrano Peppers © Denzil Green Serrano Chile Peppers can be red or green. They are hotter than jalapeno, fresno or guero chiles. Serrano chile plants can grow up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall. The peppers can be between 2 to 10 cm (1 to 4 inches) long, and are about 1 cm (1/2 inch)…
Shishito Chiles
Shishito are sweet, mild, slender Japanese chiles about 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 inches) long and about 1 cm (1/2 inch) wide. The end opposite to the stem is squarish. The flesh walls are thin. The bumpy skin matures from light lime green to dark, wrinkled red. The chiles are harvested before they…
Thai Hot Ornamental Peppers
Thai Hot Ornamental Peppers © Paula Trites Thai Hot Ornamental Peppers are are edible, and hot, but really have no flavour worth bothering with: thus their name, Ornamental. The plants grow up to a foot (30 cm) tall. The peppers on them grow up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, point upwards from the plant….
Yellow Chiles
A generic term to describe different varieties of chiles that are yellow when they are ripe. They will vary in degrees of heat depending on the variety. Such chiles include Banana Chiles, Güero Chiles, Hungarian Wax Chiles, and Santa Fe Grande Chiles.