2016 Herb of Year: Capsicum
The International Herb Association has named Capsicum (Pepper) as the Herb of the Year for 2016. Capsicum is a genus of more than 30 species of flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae) which are harvested for their edible, often pungent fruits. The genus includes all the various forms of fleshy-fruited peppers including mild bell peppers that are used as vegetables and hot peppers, such as habanero and tabasco, that are used as relishes, pickled or ground into a fine powdered spice. Some peppers are also grown as ornamentals. Peppers are native to tropical America and are particularly important in the cuisines of tropical Asia and equatorial America.
Traces of peppers have been found in prehistoric remains in Peru and Mexico and the plants were widely grown in Central and South America by various pre-Columbian civilizations. The first pepper seeds were carried to Spain in 1493 and from there spread rapidly throughout the rest of the world.
January Herb of the Month: Chili Peppers
Peppers (Capsicum) are a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. They are native to tropical America and seeds were carried
to Spain in 1493 by European explorers and rapidly spread to the rest of the world from there. They are important in the cuisines around the world,
from Mexico to Thailand, the Congo to India and from Hungary to Tunisia. Capsicums include hot varieties known as chilies and sweet varieties such
as bell peppers. The heat of a pepper is measured in Scoville heat units (SHU). The scale was invented by a pharmacist, Wilbur Scoville, in 1912 and was an empirical measurement, based on human taste buds. Basically, a given amount of pepper was extracted with alcohol to remove the heatproducing
compounds. That extract was then diluted in sugar water until the majority of a panel of tasters could no longer taste the heat. So, since tabasco sauce has SHU of 2500-5000, that means that 1 cup of tabasco sauce would need to be diluted in up to 5000 cups of water until the tasters could no longer discern the heat. In more recent times, scientists no longer rely on humans to determine the heat of peppers. Nowadays, an instrument called a high performance liquid chromatograph is used to detect the heat-producing alkaloids (capsaicins) in peppers. The results are reported in parts per million and are multiplied by 15 to be converted into Scoville units.
Anaheims are long, green and relatively mild. They are versatile and used in salsas and dishes from the American southwest such as stuffed rellenos. When mature they turn deep red and are called chilies Colorado or California red chilies. SHU = 500 – 2500
Banana peppers are pale yellow-green to yellow but mature to bright red. They are about six inches long, tapering to a point. They are usually quite
mild. They are called Hungarian wax peppers when they are hot.
Bell peppers, with which we are all familiar, are the mildest peppers, with 0 SHU. Green peppers are actually immature bells and have a slightly bitter flavor. As they mature, they become red and sweeter. There are also yellow, orange, and even white, pink, purple and brown varieties as well.
Bhut Jolokia or Naga Jolokias, also called ghost peppers, are generally recognized as the hottest in the world, with SHU of 855,000 to 2,000,000.
Cayennes are slender and tapered and most familiar in their dried, ground form, as the powder known as cayenne pepper. They are used in chili
powder that flavors Tex-Mex dishes such as chili con carne. SHU = 30,000 – 50,000
Cherry Peppers can be sweet to hot. Also called pimentos or pimientos, they are roundish in shape and have a sweeter, more succulent and more
aromatic flavor than the red bell pepper.
Habaneros are small and bulbous and in the same family as the Scotch bonnet. They are commonly used in cooking in the Caribbean and Mexico’s
Yucatan Peninsula. Supposedly they have a fruity flavor, if you can get past the heat. They are one of hottest on the Scoville scale with SHU of 100,000 – 350,000.
Jalapenos are two to three inches long, bright green to black green. They mature to red and are common in Mexican cooking. SHU range from 1000 all the way up to 10,000.
Pepperoncinos are two to five inches long, a long, pointy tube that is wrinkled and thin-fleshed. They are most often found green, pickled and in
salads. They are mild, with low SHU.
Poblanos are also large, green and shaped like half a heart. They are common in Mexican dishes such as chiles rellenos. Ripe poblanos turn dark red-brown and can be dried. They are then called anchos or mulatos. If they are smoked and dried they are referred to as chipotles. SHU = 1,000 – 2,000
Serranos are only a couple of inches long, with a tapered end. The smaller the pepper, the hotter it is. When they are ripe they are red or yellowish orange. They can be cooked when either ripe or unripe and are common in Mexican and Thai cooking. SHU = 6,000 – 23,000
— Janet Buck