Chilli Peppers

Too many peppers and not enough time!

There are thousands of varieties of chillis with different flavours and vastly differing heat scales from 0 to 300,000 on the Scoville scale. This page will explain the difference between some of the varieties commonly found in the UK supermarkets. The chilli you pick for creating your dish will do more than determoine the heat, it can have a big impact on the final flavour and how authentic the result is. Capsaicin is the acid in chillies which give it it's heat. Capsaicin produces endorphins in the body which inhibit pain and induce a good feeling. So we are all high on chilli and curry! Too much chilli can really hurt and physically burn, the best remedy is not drinking water (which merely makes it worse) but to drink dairy products and eat bread or sugar.

Jalapeno

Jalapeno peppers are wonderful for mexican food and curries where you want large chunks of chilli but don't want to die. They are short, about 2 inches long, green and hit about 50,000 on the Scoville scale.

Cayenne

Cayenne chillies are about 2-3 inches long, green and quite hot. They hit about 150,000 on the Scoville scale. These are the chillies that you most often see in Indian restaurants in dishes like the jalfrezi. They have a good kick but also a great flavour.

Birds eye

Birds eye chillies are small red bullet shaped chillies with a tremendous kick. Use in Thai cooking predominantly, when used in Indian cooking the result never seems quite right. About 250,000 on the Scoville scale.

Habanero/Scotch Bonnet

This chilli kicks ass! It is a small pumpkin shaped chilli about 1 inch diameter usually red, yellow, brown and orange in colour. It has an extremely strong flavour which will pervade any dish and unless you want that flavour it may overpower any delicate flavours. 300,000 on the Scoville scale.