What Puts The Heat Into Chile Peppers?
Chile peppers are used in a wide variety of hot and spicy foods, especially curries.
Chile peppers originally came from South and Central America and they are used worldwide today in different cooking styles.
India produces the largest amount of chiles with production currently running at around 100 million tons each year.
The “heat” in chile peppers is caused by an active compound, called capsaicin. Capsaicin is an irritant to mammals, including people and it is believed that capsaicin developed as a natural defense mechanism for the chile peppers.
Capsaicin is found in the membrane of a chile pepper and this is where the seeds are also found. The seeds themselves do not produce any capsaicin, although the membrane capsaicin can leak out of the membrane and into the seeds. If you want to reduce the “heat” from a chile pepper then slice the pepper open, cut away the membrane, and seeds, and then discard them. This cuts the “heat” of a chile pepper to about 50% of what it would be if the whole chile were used.
You must take great care when handling chile peppers. I recommend that you wear kitchen gloves. You should certainly be wary of handling chile peppers if you have any cuts or abrasions on your hands, even if they are protected with sticking plasters, as the capsaicin can really make the cuts sting, sometimes extremely painfully. You should never, never, ever rub your eyes after handling chile peppers because the pain can be excruciating.
The “heat” of chile peppers has been measured on the Scoville Scale. Read here for a Curry Focus article on the Scoville Scale. The Scoville Scale is not an exact science so the numbers for a particular chile pepper can vary from publication to publication. However, the relative “heat” of the chile peppers can be understood by looking at the numbers.
There is a wide range of chile peppers, with the main ones being described below. The Scoville Rating is shown with the letters SR (the bigger the number, the hotter the chile pepper).
Bell (SR 0). This is a squarish pepper that has no heat with sides averaging about 4 inches. Comes in lots of colours with the main ones being green, red and yellow.
Paprika (SR 0 – 500). There are really two types of paprika chile pepper. The sweet kind is used in the United States and has a 0 Scoville Rating. The hot kind is linked with Hungary and has a Scoville Rating of 100 – 500).
Anaheim (SR 500 – 2,500). This is a red narrow chile that can be up to 6 inches long. Also known as the Colorado.
Poblano (SR 1,000 – 5,000). This is a large, flat, green chile pepper that can be up to 5 inches long. It is very popular in Mexico. The Poblano is called an Ancho when it has been dried.
Jalapeno (SR 2,500 – 16000). This is a thin green chile peppers that can be about 3 inches long. This chile pepper is widely used in the United States.
Cayenne (SR 5,000 – 60,000). This a long, thin, chile pepper that can be up to 5 inches long. This chile pepper s usually green, but can be yellow or purple, and is often bought in powder form.
Serrano (SR 5,000 – 60,000). This is a small chile (around 2 inches) that turns red (from green) when ripe. This chile pepper is widely used in Mexico.
Tabasco (SR 30,000 – 50,000). This is a small, thin, chile pepper of about 1.5 inches. It is a main component of Tabasco sauce.
Aji (SR 30,000 – 50,000). This is a roundish chile pepper of about 3 inches. It is popular and widely used in Peru.
Habanero (SR 100,000 – 300,000). This is a small, lantern-shaped, chile of around 2 inches. It may be small but it packs a big punch – check out its SR rating.
Scotch Bonnet (SR 150,000 – 325,000). This is also a small, roundish, chile of about 2 inches. Like the Habanero, it packs a big punch. The Scotch Bonnet is a favourite in Caribbean cooking.
Chile peppers are one of the most well known cooking additives.
There are numerous books written about chile peppers if you want to read up more.
And the New Mexico State University even has a Chile Pepper Institute. You can find their website here.
