Chili Peppers

 

Perhaps the chief misconception about chili peppers is their red-hot reputation.  Many are fiery hot, but many others are sweet, mild, or richly flavored.  Their hotness is concentrated in the interior veins or ribs near the seed heart, not in the seeds as is commonly believed (the seeds taste extra hot because they are in close contact with the hot veins).  If, when the pepper is cut open, the veins have a yellowish orange color in that area, it usually indicates the pepper will be a potent one.

 

That the burning sensation that makes chile peppers so appealing to culinary thrill-seekers comes from capsaicin or more accurately a collection of compounds called capsaicinoids.  These develop in the placenta or cross-ribs of the fruit, which is why that part of the chili pepper is the hottest.  A single dominant gene transmits capsaicinoids.  Bell peppers are just like jalapeno peppers and Serrano peppers but bell peppers taste bland instead of pungent because they lack that gene.

 

In 1912, a pharmacist named Scoville came up with a heat index for measuring the “heat” in a chili product, or scoring capsaicinoid content.  This index was called the Scoville Units and is still used today.  A more modern version used by many chile writers is called “the Official Chile Pepper Heat Scale” with a rating of zero to ten.  Bell peppers rate a zero because they contain no capsaicinoid.  At a 5 rating: jalapeno peppers…at a 6 rating serrano peppers… at a 8 rating cayenne peppers and tabasco peppers… and at a 9 rating chalet pin peppers and Thai hot peppers.

 

The spelling of the word "chili" is used here as it is used in Mexico.   Because American spice companies label their ground chili blends "chili" you will encounter that spelling in recipes using the purchased ground spice.

 

More than 140 varieties of chilies peppers are grown in Mexico alone.  Those that follow are most popular in the United States and used in most Mexican cooking recipes.