Chillies (or chiles in Spanish) come in so many different varieties than red and green. Mexico, arguably the home of the chilli, grows over 200 different varieties. Adopted around the world and integral in many ASian and Indian cuisines. India is in fact the largest producer and exporter of chillies in the world.
Two important facts are that not all chillies are hot, and that they are very varied in flavour and texture, and can impart a fantastic array of nuances to many different types of dishes.
The heat in chillies comes from capsaicin, produced by glands in the seed-bearing part of the chilli. It is not just the seeds that should be removed from chillies to modify the heat, but also the seed sac that surrounds them.
Typically, the smaller the chilli, the hotter it is; the wider the top of the chilli, the milder it is; and red chillies are sweeter than green ones.
Here are a few varieties you might want to have an experiment with.
Padrón Pepper
Padrón peppers are a variety of peppers from the municipality of Padrón in northwestern Spain. Famous for their use in Spanish tapas (cooked in olive oil with sea salt) these are a very tasty chilli most of which are mild in heat with the odd one, about 1 out of every 6 – 8 chillies having some real heat to it.
Trinidad Scorpion pepper
Named so because the pointed end of the pepper resembles a scorpion stinger, or perhaps because the bite is pretty mean.
Indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago. For three years, ranked the most pungent (“hot”) pepper in the world according to Guinness World Records. A laboratory test conducted in March 2011 measured a specimen at 1,463,700 Scoville heat units, officially ranking it the hottest pepper in the world at that time.
Jalapeño
A medium sized chilli is a cultivar of the capsicum. A mature jalapeño chili is 5–10 cm. Compared to other chillies, the jalapeño heat level varies from mild to hot depending on cultivation and preparation and can have from a few thousand to over 10,000 Scoville heat units. The number of scars on the pepper, which appear as small brown lines, called ‘corking’, has a positive correlation with heat level, as growing conditions which increase heat level also cause the pepper to form scars.
Commonly picked and consumed while still green, it is occasionally allowed to fully ripen and turn red, orange, or yellow. Popular in Mexican cuisines, stuffed, fried and pickled.
Chipotle is a smoked Jalepeno.
Serano Chilli
The Serano chilli us he second most popular chilli in Mexico. Another relation of the capsicum the Serano chilli originated from the Sierras Mountain range where it also gets its name.
Unripe serrano peppers are green, but the colour varies at maturity; common colours for the ripe fruit are green, red, brown, orange, and yellow.
Typically eaten raw and have a bright and biting flavour that is notably hotter than the jalapeño pepper. Serrano peppers are also commonly used in making pico de gallo and salsa, as the chili is particularly fleshy compared to others, making it ideal for such dishes.
Habanero
Habanero chilis are very hot, rated 100,000–350,000 on the Scoville scale. Their heat, flavour and floral aroma make it a popular ingredient in hot sauces and other spicy foods.
Typically, a ripe habanero is 2–6 cm long, unripe they are green. When mature they can be orange or red although other colour variants include purple, brown, yellow and white.
Rocoto
Native to Bolivia and Peru the Rocoto Chillli dates back to pre-Incan times. Resembling a bell pepper in shape, inside it’s one chili that’s full of surprises. There’s juiciness and meatiness to this chili – more akin to a tomato than a pepper – that’s set ablaze with surprising heat.
Ghost Chilli
Also known as Bhut Jolokia this is the bad boy of the chili world, weighing in from 855,000 to an eye-popping 1,041,427 Scoville heat units, making it one of the hottest chillies in the world. Originating in Northern India and the peppers have been around for generations, though only cultivated in the western world since the turn of the century.
