What Chilli pepper is that? There is thousands of different chilli peppers to choose from when making a spicy dish for dinner. So what is the best chilli pepper to use? Below we have singled out some of the common varieties of chilli peppers available at most supermarkets and provided some information on each. The team at Exotic chillies hopes that this information will help you in selecting the perfect pepper for your spicy dish. If you have any questions relating to this article or just would like to ask something about chillies please don’t hesitate to contact us via our facebook page .
The Cayenne Chilli Pepper
No one seems to know the origin of the cayenne pepper. Although it was named after the Cayenne River in French Guiana. Some speculate that the Portuguese may have transferred it to Europe, then into Africa and India, where it appears today in many forms. The plants are almost treelike, with multiple steams and an erect habit, growing up to a meter tall and sixty centimetres wide. The leaves are smooth, and medium green, about seven centimetres wide and five centimetres long. For most cayennes, the pods are pendant, long and slender. Measuring up to twenty five centimetres long and two centimetres wide. A mature plant can easily produce forty pods. The cayenne is considered hot measuring between 30,000 and 50,000 SHUs. The cayenne pepper is grown commercially in New Mexico, Louisiana, Africa, India, Japan, and Mexico.
The Serrano Chilli Pepper
This pod type probably originated in the mountains of northern Puebla and Hildago, Mexico; serrano means “from the highland or mountain.” The plant varies in habit from compact to erect, with an intermediate number of stems, and grows from forty five centimetres to a meter tall. The leaves are hairy and range in colour from light to dark green. The pods are cylindrical, pendant, and bluntly pointes, measuring up to fifteen centimetres long. A single plant can produce around fifty pods. The immature pods range from light to dark green and when they are ripe they become red. The heat level is higher than a jalapeno, with the serrano measuring between 10,000 and 20,000 SHUs. The Serrano is the pepper of choice for making pico de gallo, a salsa-type relish.
The Jalapeno Chilli Pepper
The jalapeno pepper was named for the town of Jalapa, Mexico, were it was originally marketed. However, it was not originally grown there, but was imported from the surrounding regions. The pods are thick-walled, conical in shape, dark green when immature with most turning red at maturity, and can be fairly hot. The fruit skin may show a brown netting pattern called corking. The corking does not affect the flavour of the fruit.
Because jalapenos have been selected and bred for thousands of years, they have developed unique flavours. The majority of commercially grown jalapenos are preserved by canning or pickling, while some are dehydrated in either the green or red stage. For the home gardener jalapenos are used fresh in salsas, sliced into rings for use with nachos or our favourite stuffed which is known as a popper.
Orange Habanero
The Orange Habanero could be considered the gold standard for habaneros. Its pod is lantern-shaped, the standard shape of habaneros. The habanero is grown on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and in Belize, and commercial production has expanded to Costa Rica and the United States. It is probable the first “exotic” chilli pepper to gain fame and acceptance among the community of chilliheads. The pods begin green and change to a shiny, waxy orange when mature. The fruits are used fresh in salsas, cooked directly in dishes, or fermented to make a hot sauce.