Let’s know about Chili Pepper

The scientific name for chili pepper is Capsicum Annuum. It majorly resembles Cayenne Pepper however, people who prefer milder flavours might not be able to tell the difference. Therefore, to classify all the different types of chili peppers used in almost every cuisine in the world would take an entire series. Chili peppers can be used to give mild or intense spice to food. The most common ways to use chili peppers are fresh, flaked, dried, or ground. The Scoville Scale is typically used to determine how spicy chili is; the greater the Scoville rating, the spicier the chili pepper.

History

Chilies are native to Mexico and were widely dispersed throughout the colonial era; the Portuguese are credited with introducing them to Asia. However, several Korean historians disagree on the issue. But it’s widely acknowledged that the first uses of chilies and chili peppers were in Mexican cuisine. Aside from that, keep in mind that the seeds are the spiciest part of chilies, so be sure to start by scraping them off if you prefer a milder spicy flavor.

Fresh Chilies

Fresh chili peppers are typically used in South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Mexican cuisine. They give a delightful, clear flavour of spice to the food. These can be used in two ways: whole to add light spicy flavour or cut or slit to increase the spicy flavour. They can be kept in the refrigerator, lightly wrapped in paper towels, and come in a variety of colours and sizes.

Dried Chilies

Like with most spices, the customary method for using them in cooking is to dry toast them first to liberate the oils. Be careful not to burn dried chilies while toasting them because they can be extremely fragile. Following that, you may either ground them or use them as your recipe calls for.

While dried chilies are ground into a finer powder to make ground chili powder, dried chilies are crushed into flakes to make flakes of chili peppers. These can be hot, medium, or mild depending on the type of chili peppers used.

Chilies in India

Indian cuisine is renowned for using chilies frequently. Nearly all Indian spice mixes contain some type of chili pepper, with the mixes from Western and Southern India being the spiciest. Spicy varieties, like dried red bird’s eye chilies, are used to provide spiciness, while milder varieties, like Kashmiri chilies, are used to bring colour and a mild flavour.