Part 3: Different classes of chili peppers

In general chili peppers are classified in common parlance as sweet peppers (bell peppers), mild peppers (Bermuda, Paprika), medium hot peppers (jalapenos, hot banana peppers), hot peppers (Tabasco, Serrano, Cayenne), and very hot peppers (habanero, rocoto, Thai, etc.). No other group of plants exhibits as much variety in their fruits as pepper plants. The largest and sweetest peppers are the bell peppers (up to 4 or 5 inches width and height) and some of the hottest peppers are habaneros and piquins measuring less than one inch in length. There are baby bell peppers as also ‘Jingle Bell’ peppers which measure less than 1 inch long. Pimento is the Spanish word for ‘pepper’. These are sweet peppers which are juicy, aromatic and heart-shaped miniature peppers. When unripe, the colors of the pepper fruits can be white, yellow, light green, or purple. Mature peppers are yellow, orange, red, purple, deep green and nearly black. Some peppers are long and slender, others long and thick, and some others round or heart-shaped. Some of the hottest varieties are small cones while the mildest are large. The texture varies from smooth to crinkly appearance.

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Botanical classification: All chili peppers share the common name Capsicum, derived from the Greek word kapto meaning “to bite”. Botanically speaking, Capsicum is the pepper genus (the so-called primary name). All chili peppers are referred to with a genus and a species name. In addition there are various sub-species known as cultivars. The five major species (so-called secondary name) are:
Capsicum annuum — includes most of the common varieties like jalapeno, paprika, and bell peppers.
Capsicum baccatum — includes the wax pepper and the berry-like South American chili peppers, aji.
Capsicum chinense — includes the fiery habanero, and the scotch bonnet.
Capsicum frutescens - includes the bushy plants like Tabasco, Cayenne and Thai.
Capsicum pubescens — includes the South American rocoto peppers (The skin of the pepper has hairy appearance).

Many varieties are specific to the geographical regions such as tropical and temperate. It is rare to see them grow in very cold climates. Soil conditions also dictate the growth of specific varieties in a given region. Most pepper plants take 70-90 days to mature and yield fruits. All are bushy and grow from 1 to 4 feet tall. As for the cultivars, there are many in each species. The names of the varieties that are available span the entire alphabet from Achar and Afghan to Yellow Sun and Zimbabwe Bird. .The genes of various species have all been characterized. Any new variety grown can be easily identified through DNA mapping and matching.

Pungency or heat of the peppers: The substance(s) that affords chilies their ‘heat’ or pungency are called a capsaicinoids which include capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin and a few other minor components. Capsaicinoids have no flavor or odor but act directly on the pain receptors in the mouth and throat. They are found mainly in the pepper’s placenta — the white ‘ribs’ that run down the middle and along the sides of the pepper. The seeds, since they are often associated with the placenta, also acquire some heat. They cause pain and inflammation if consumed in excess. The flavor is due to the essential oils. The heat of chili peppers is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). We thus have a quantitative classification of chili peppers based on the rating of heat of the peppers. The following table classifies the different peppers based on the heat index, SHU.

Classification based on heat index rating

Until the recent certification of bhut jolokia (widely grown in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur in northeast India and Bangladesh) as the hottest pepper around with more than 1 million SHU, the red savina habanero ruled the chili family as the hottest pepper. We will discuss bhut jolokia in a separate article. Pure capsaicin rates at 16 million SHU.

General references for all kinds of chili pepper:
http://users.visi.net/~mandy/pepguide.html
http://www.chileplants.com/
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Caps_ann.html

Part 1 | Part 2

Sethuraman Subramanian

More Articles	Published on Nov 14th, 2007
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