Chili pepper

A basket of Chile peppers

Chili pepper (not to be confused with the country called Chile) is the fruit of a series of plants called Capsicum (nightshade family). Chilis are now grown all over the world, but originally, they came from Mexico. They are used as spices or as vegetables, and also have some use in medicine.

Chili peppers are completely unrelated to the Piperaceae genus, which Black pepper is from.

History

Pottery that tested positive for Capsicum sp. residues excavated at Chiapa de Corzo in southern Mexico dated from Middle to Late Preclassic periods (400 BCE to 300 CE)

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. Chili peppers were domesticated over 6000 years ago in Mexico. Since then, chili peppers could be farmed throughout all of Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America.

Spelling

The word "chili" is spelled differently in different countries. They can be spelled as chili, chilli, and chile.

• Chili is widely used in the United States and Canada.
• Chilli is widely used in other English-speaking countries.
• Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries.

Chili Pepper Media

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  Chili peppers of varied colours and sizes: green bird's eye, yellow Madame Jeanette, red cayenne

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  Illustration from the Japanese agricultural encyclopedia Seikei Zusetsu, 1804

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  Black pearl pepper, an ornamental variety

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  Chili plant

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  Buds and flowers of chili plants in daylight, in West Bengal, India. Photo taken in June 2022.

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  Immature chilies in the field

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  Ripe chilies in the field, Myanmar

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  Leaf damaged by aphids

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  Ripe chili pepper with seeds