So here's the burning question, why eat fiery foods?
Well, here are some pepper information pertaining to each pepper that we have worked with.
As well, we have listed some of the health benefits of adding a little fire to your diet or to your daily health regiment. You will most certainly be surprised by some of this information.

African Bird's Eye Peppers

Most bird peppers are undomesticated varieties of four species: annuum, baccatum, chinense, and frutescens. The most familiar bird peppers are the Mexican chiltepin and the Texan chilipiquin. The African birdseye chile is both wild and domesticated and is also known in English as African devil chile, in Swahili as pili-pili and in Kamba as ndul. Some sources state that this chile is also prik kee nu, the Thai "mouse dropping pepper," but that is a different, much thinner chile. It should be pointed out that pili-pili simply means "pepper-pepper" and is a generic term for any African chile.

Pungency can vary according to precise variety of birdseye, where it is grown, and environmental conditions. The birdseye, particularly the Ugandan variety, is thought to be the most pungent chile that is not of the chinense species, measuring up to 175,000 Scoville Heat Units.

The ‘Malawi Birdseye’ variety from Africa was measured at 112,226 SHU.

Anaheim Chile
A type of chile pepper that is about a half-foot in length, is green in color, and has a mild to medium-hot flavor. It is sold fresh and is also available roasted, dried, or canned. When the chile is dried, it turns a dark burgundy color. It is sometimes referred to as the New Mexico chile, but New Mexico chiles are a bit hotter. Anaheim chiles are a good compliment to egg dishes, stews, and vegetable dishes.

Ancho Chile

A dried red chile that is under a foot in length with a mild, full flavor. When it is fresh it is green colored and is known as a poblano chile.
A small chile that is no more than 2 inches in length and has a color that ranges from light green when fresh to bright orange when dried. It is native to Caribbean regions, the Yucatan area of Mexico, and northern coastal areas of South America. The habanero has subtle fruit flavors and is many times hotter than the jalapeno.

Chipotle Pepper

Chipotles chilies [chee-POT-tleh] peppers are smoked jalapeno chili peppers and are also known as chili ahumado. These chilies are usually a dull tan to coffee color and measure approximately 2 to 4 inches in length and about an inch wide. As much as one fifth of the Mexican jalapeno crop is processed into chipotles.

Chipotles date back to region that is now northern Mexico City, prior to the Aztec civilization. It is conjectured that the Aztecs smoked the chilies because the thick, fleshy, jalapeno was difficult to dry and prone to rot. The Aztecs used the same "smoke drying" process for the chilies as they used for drying meats. This smoking allowed the chilies to be stored for a substantial period of time.

Today Chipotles are used widely throughout Mexico as well as in the United States. Quite popular in the South Western U.S. and California; Chipotles have found their way into the cuisine of many celebrity chefs from Hawaii to Manhattan.

Chipotle Morita

Morita, pictured below, means "little blackberry" in Spanish. The chili isdark reddish purple.
This is the variety most often found in the United States.

While it is quite flavorful it is not smoked as long as the ahumado and therefore not of the same high quality and cheaper to produce.

Many of the varieties sold as "tipico" in the U.S. are actually the inferior "morita".

It's important to note that although the Morita is considered "inferior" compared to the much less common ahumado, or tipico, it is still a delicious and useful product.

De Arbol Chile

The name is Spanish for small tree, which is exactly what these slender, tapered chiles resemble. In Mexico, you'll also hear them called "bird's beak" or "rat's tail." Small and plenty hot, they can also be dried and used to decorate wreaths. It will add a natural, grassy flavor to dishes. In pod form the de arbol is often used to flavor oils and vinegars. As a powder the de arbol is great in soups and chilis. Color Green maturing to bright red.

Average Size 2 – 3" long, 1/4 – 3/8" diameter. Shape Narrow, curved .Grows on a lush plant with thick, woody stems. Stays bright red when dried. Used with the seeds. Not very flavorful but often used for extra heat in dishes or sauces. Tannic, smoky, acidic flavor. ....... Scoville Heat Units 15,000 – 30,000

Fatalli Chile

Like the Habanero, Scotch Bonnet and Red Savina, Fatalii belongs to the Capsicum chinense family. Due to their high dehydrocapsacin capsaicinoid content, C. chinense peppers typically offer a somewhat delayed heat sensation that sneaks up on you. Fatalii also delivers an instant burn. Add an intense, fruity flavor, and you have an interesting habanero alternative.

The Fatalii pepper originates in Central Africa, evolving from peppers that returning slaves brought to their home continent.

Fresno Chile

A variety of pepper grown commonly in the U.S. that is picked when green or red. The immature green colored pepper is mild to medium hot in flavor, unlike the red, which has a deeper fiery flavor that exceeds the Jalapeno in intensity. When harvested, this waxy-skinned pepper has a thick flesh and is typically 2 to 3 inches in length with a pod width of an inch or less. The Fresno pepper is very similar in appearance and taste to a Jalapeno or Serrano. The green variety is often added to main dishes, side dishes, salads, and salsas, while the red variety may be too hot for some dishes, but is often used with rice, in dips or chopped into fine bits and added to salsas.

Habanero Chile

A small chile that is no more than 2 inches in length and has a color that ranges from light green when fresh to bright orange when dried. It is native to Caribbean regions, the Yucatan area of Mexico, and northern coastal areas of South America.

The habanero has subtle fruit flavors and is many times hotter than the jalapeno.

Naga Jolokia pepper

The Naga Jolokia pepper is a habanero chili pepper found naturally in NE India, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur as well as the adjacent Bangladesh. It is a naturally occurring chili and is reputed to be the hottest in the world. There is some disagreement on whether it is a Capsicum frutescens or a Capsicum chinense.

It is also called Bih Jolokia in some places of Assam (Bih = Poison, Jolokia = chili pepper; in Assamese). Other names are Bhut jolokia (probably due to its ghostly bite or introduction by the Bhutias from Bhutan poison chili), Borbih jolokia, Nagahari, Nagajolokia, Naga Morich, Naga Moresh and Raja mirchi (the king of chilis). These are all the same chili but named differently at different places. The Naga name may be due to extreme hotness represented by the aggressive temperament of the warriors of neighbouring Naga community. Chili is known as morich in Bangla.

When ripe it measures 60mm - 85mm long and 25mm - 30mm wide with an orange or red color, similar in appearance to the Habanero pepper, but with a characteristically rough or knobbly skin.

In 2000, scientists at India's Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) reported a rating of 855,000 units on the Scoville scale, and in 2004 an Indian export company called Frontal Agritech obtained a rating of 1,041,427 units, which would mean it is almost twice as hot as the Red Savina pepper and roughly equal to the similar-looking Dorset Naga, which is derived from the Naga Jolokia. For comparison, pure capsaicin rates at 15,000,000–16,000,000 Scoville units.

In 2005 at New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute near Las Cruces, New Mexico, Regents Professor Paul Bosland found Naga jolokia grown from seed in southern New Mexico to have a Scoville rating of 1,001,304 SHU by HPLC.

In February 2007, Guinness World Records certified the bhut jolokia (Prof. Bosland's preferred name for the pepper) as the world's hottest chili pepper.

Jalapeno Chile

One of the most popular chiles because of its hot and spicy flavor and because of the ease in which the seeds are removed. Jalapenos are green when harvested and will turn red if left for a longer period to ripen. They can be purchased fresh or canned and are also popular when pickled. Jalapeno chile peppers that are smoked and dried are known as chipotle chiles.

New Mexico Chile

A type of chile pepper that is about a half-foot in length, is green in color, and has a mild to medium-hot flavor. It is similar to an Anaheim chile, but it is a bit hotter. It is sold fresh and is also available roasted, dried, or canned. When the chile is dried, it turns a dark burgundy color. It is sometimes referred to as a dried Anaheim Chile. New Mexico chiles are a good complement to egg dishes, stews, and vegetable dishes.

Pasilla Chile

In Spanish, pasilla means "little raisin," an allusion to the dark brown pods of this type. In California the ancho is sometimes called pasilla, causing much confusion. In western Mexico it is sometimes called chile negro, a term that also refers to the darker anchos. In the fresh form, the pod is known as chilaca.

Pasillas are pod types of the annuum species. The plant has an intermediate number of stems, an erect habit, and grows 2 to 3 feet high or more. The primary branches begin over 5 inches from the lowest stem portion so the pods will not touch the ground. The leaves are ovate, smooth, medium green in color, and measure 3 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The flowers have white corollas with no spots. The pods are extremely elongate, cylindrical, furrowed, and measure 6 inches long (or more) by 1 inch wide. Immature fruits are dark green, maturing to dark brown. The growing period is 90 to 100 days, and the yield is 20 pods or more to the plant. This type is not particularly pungent; measuring between 1,000 and 1,500 Scoville Units.

Poblano Chile

A dark blackish green, triangle shaped pepper, which is an average of 4 inches long and wide at the top, tapering to a blunt end. When fully mature it turns a reddish brown. It is mild to medium hot and has a rich bell pepper flavor. The Poblano is used as a stuffing pepper, and is added to soups and sauces. The wrinkled and flattened Ancho and Mulato are dried forms of the Poblano. The Ancho and Mulato have a mild sweet flavor.

Serrano Chile

Serrano is a Spanish word meaning "mountain" which may signify the origin and growing area of these chiles. The chile is green in color, long and narrow in shape, and grows into a medium thick wall. This chile is often used in salsas and as a flavoring for stews, casseroles and egg dishes.

Chili Tepin

These tiny peppers are about 3/8 of an inch, round to slightly oval, and are found in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Northern Mexico. The word “Tepin” comes from the Nahuatl Mexican word meaning “flea”. In 1995, Texans named the Jalapeno pepper the official pepper of Texas, but two years later, the Tepin was named the official native pepper of Texas.

Tepins are extremely hot, measuring between 50,000 and 100,000 Scoville Units. In Mexico, the heat of the Chiltepin is called arrebatado (”rapid” or “violent”), which implies that although the heat is great, it diminishes quickly.

Chili Piquin

One of the smallest chili peppers but also one of the hottest. The chili is very small and has an elongated shape. It is very similar in taste and hotness to the Chiltepin. The Chiltepin is just a little smaller than the Chili Piquin and has a more rounded shape. They are often mistaken for each other. They are both very popular and eaten fresh or dried. Their heat is slow to take affect but stays with you for a long time. Younger chilies are green in color and as the mature they turn red. When dried they turn a brownish-red. The hottest parts of the chili are the ribs and seeds. Removing some or all of these parts will reduce the degree of hotness. Chili Piquin and Chiltepin chilies are used in chili, stews, and sauces. They are available fresh, dried, and in powder form. They can be stored in the refrigerator, unwrapped, for up to a week. Do not store in plastic because this will allow them to retain moisture and cause them to rot.

The Who, What, When and Where, and How Come?
The truth about Chile Peppers, our fiery little friends

Chile Peppers are the fruits of the of a plant that puts fire on your tongue and maybe even a tear in your eye when you eat spicy Mexican, simmering Szechuan, smoldering Indian, or torrid Thai food. Chili peppers belong to the family of foods bearing the Latin name Capsicum.

There are hundreds of different types of chili peppers that vary in size, shape, color, flavor and "hotness." This fleshy berry features many seeds inside a potent package that can range from less than one inch to six inches in length, and approximately one-half to one inch in diameter. Chili peppers are usually red or green in color.

Cayenne, habañero, chipotle, jalapeño, anaheim and ancho are just some of the popular varieties available. Ground chili peppers are used to make chili powder, cayenne powder and paprika. Chili peppers are used as a food and seasoning and revered for their medicinal qualities.

History

It's not surprising that chili peppers can trace their history to Central and South America, regions whose cuisines are renowned for their hot and spicy flavors. Chili peppers have been cultivated in these regions for more than seven thousand years, first as a decorative item and later as a foodstuff and medicine.

It was not until the 15th and 16th centuries that chili peppers were introduced to the rest of the world. Christopher Columbus encountered them on his explorations of the Caribbean Islands and brought them back to Europe. There, they were used as a substitute for black pepper, which was very expensive since it had to be imported from Asia.

Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is credited with introducing chili peppers into Africa and Asia, continents that have since incorporated them into their cuisines and pharmacopeias. Chili peppers are now grown on all continents, however, China, Turkey, Nigeria, Spain and Mexico are among the largest commercial producers.

How to Select and Store

Choose fresh chili peppers that have vivid, deep colors and glossy, firm and taut skins. Their stems should seem hardy and fresh. With the exception of jalapeños, peppers should not have any cracks near the stem end. Avoid those that are wrinkled or have soft areas or black spots.

When purchasing dried chili peppers look for ones that are still vivid in color. If they've lost their color, they've probably lost their flavor as well. Both fresh and dried chili peppers are available throughout the year in most areas.

Place unwashed fresh peppers in paper bags or wrap in paper towels and store in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, where they should keep for at least one week. Avoid storing peppers in plastic bags as this may result in moisture accumulation, which will cause them to spoil more quickly.

Fresh peppers can also be hung in the sunlight to dry. Once dried, they can be used to make freshly ground chili powder. Dried peppers and chili powders should be kept in a tightly sealed jar, away from sunlight.

How to Enjoy
Tips for Cooking with Chili Peppers

Be very careful when you are handling and cooking fresh chili peppers. One of the peppers' most pungent compounds, capsaicin, can cause a severe burning sensation if it touches your skin or lips, or comes in contact with your eyes.

Because of this, some people prefer to wear thin rubber gloves when working with chili peppers. If you choose not to do this, make sure to thoroughly wash your hands after handling them. Additionally, you should wash your knife and cutting board after cutting these peppers.

Capsaicin primarily resides in the seeds and fleshy white inner membranes. If you want to enjoy the pungency of peppers but minimize their heat, you can remove these parts, although capsaicin is responsible for much of chili pepper's healing properties. The pepper bearing it's soul to your immediate left is the newly crowned World's Hottest Pepper, the deadly Naga Morich, which seared it's way to the shop of the Scoville Charts with a whopping 1 million plus heat rating. Not at all to be taken lightly. There is a range of "hotness" between pepper varieties and sometimes also within the same varieties. Therefore, each time you cook with them you may need to adjust the amount you use. Before adding chili peppers to a recipe, taste a little piece to determine the spice level, so you will know how much to add.

A Few Quick Serving Ideas:

The next time you make healthy sautéed vegetables, add some chili peppers to turn up the spice volume. You can check out a couple of our own culinary forays on our Recipes Page.

Add chili peppers to your favorite corn bread recipe to give it an extra spark.

Add minced chili peppers to yogurt and use as a condiment or dip.

Add jalapeños to your favorite tuna salad recipe.

If your curry dishes need a little extra zip, try adding some chili peppers.

Purée fresh chili peppers together with olive oil, garlic, coriander, peppermint, and caraway.
If you would like, add your own favorite herbs and spices to this mixture to make your own version of Harissa, a condiment popular in the some Middle Eastern and North African countries.

Safety

Capsaicin can irritate or burn your eyes or hands. Chili oil can stick to the skin, so wash hands thoroughly after handling the peppers and becautious about touching your hands to your eyes, or God forbid, your gentials because it burns like the Devil!!
Be aware that pepper dust from grinding dried peppers can irritate throat and eyes. You can protect yourself by wearing a dust mask and goggles.

If you find you can't take the heat, cool off with a glass of milk. A protein in milk called casein can help douse capsaicin's fire.

Nutritional Profile

Red chili peppers are a very good source of vitamin A, vitamin C and dietary fiber. They are also a good source of iron and potassium.

Fight Inflammation

Chili peppers contain a substance called capsaicin, which gives pepperstheir characteristic pungence, producing mild to intense spice when eaten. Capsaicin is a potent inhibitor of substance P, a neuropeptide associated with inflammatory processes. The hotter the chili pepper, the more capsaicin it contains. The hottest varieties include habañero and Scotch bonnet peppers. Jalapeños are next in their heat and capsaicin content, followed by the milder varieties, including Spanish pimentos, and Anaheim and Hungarian cherry peppers.

Capsaicin is being studied as an effective treatment for sensory nerve fiber disorders, including pain associated with arthritis, psoriasis, and diabetic neuropathy. When animals injected with a substance that causes inflammatory arthritis were fed a diet that contained capsaicin, they had delayed onset of arthritis, and also significantly reduced paw inflammation.

Natural Pain Relief

Topical capsaicin is now a recognized treatment option for osteoarthritis pain. Several review studies of pain management for diabetic neuropathy have listed the benefits of topical capsaicin to alleviate disabling pain associated with this condition.

In a double-blind placebo controlled trial, nearly 200 patients with psoriasis were given topical preparations containing either capsaicin or placebo. Patients who were given capsaicin reported significant improvement based on a severity score which traced symptoms associated with psoriasis. The side effect reported with topical capsaicin cream is a burning sensation at the area of application.

Cardiovascular Benefits
Red chili peppers, such as cayenne, have been shown to reduce blood cholesterol, triglyceride levels, and platelet aggregation, while increasing the body's ability to dissolve fibrin, a substance integral to the formation of blood clots. Cultures where hot pepper is used liberally have a much lower rate of heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism.

Spicing your meals with chili peppers may also protect the fats in your blood from damage by free radicals—a first step in the development of atherosclerosis. In a randomized, crossover study involving 27 healthy subjects (14 women, 13 men), eating freshly chopped chili was found to increase the resistance of blood fats, such as cholesterol and triglycerides, to oxidation (free radical injury).

Subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups. For 4 weeks, half the subjects ate a freshly chopped chili blend (30 grams/day, about 1 ounce), consisting of 55% cayenne, while the other half consumed a bland diet (no chili). After 4 weeks, the groups were crossed over for another 4 weeks. During the intervention periods, consumption of other spices such as cinnamon, ginger, garlic, and mustard was restricted. Blood samples were obtained at the beginning of the study and after each dietary period.

After eating the chili-containing diet, the rate of oxidation (free radical damage to cholesterol and triglycerides) was significantly lower in both men and women than that seen after eating the bland diet.

In addition, after eating the chili-spiced diet, women had a longer lag time before any damage to cholesterol was seen compared to the lag time seen after eating the bland diet. In men, the chili-diet also lowered resting heart rate and increased the amount of blood reaching the heart.

Clear Congestion

Capsaicin not only reduces pain, but its peppery heat also stimulates secretions that help clear mucus from your stuffed up nose or congested lungs.

Boost Immunity

Chili peppers' bright red color signals its high content of beta-carotene or pro-vitamin A. Just two teaspoons of red chili peppers provide about 6% of the daily value for vitamin C coupled with more than 10% of the daily value for vitamin A. Often called the anti-infection vitamin, vitamin A is essential for healthy mucous membranes, which line the nasal passages, lungs, intestinal tract and urinary tract and serve as the body's first line of defense against invading pathogens.

Help Stop the Spread of Prostate Cancer

Red chili peppers' capsaicin, the compound responsible for their pungent heat, stops the spread of prostate cancer cells through a variety of mechanisms, indicates a study published in the March 15, 2006 issue of Cancer Research . Capsaicin triggers suicide in both primary types of prostate cancer cell lines, those whose growth is stimulated by male hormones and those not affected by them. In addition, capsaicin lessens the expression of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), inhibits the ability of the most potent form of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, to activate PSA, and directly inhibits PSA transcription, causing PSA levels to plummet.

The dose effective for test animals was equivalent to 400 milligrams of capsaicin, three times a week, for a man weighing about 200 pounds. After four weeks of receiving capsaicin, prostate cancer tumor growth and size decreased significantly in the animals.

Prevent Stomach Ulcers

Chili peppers have a bad--and mistaken--reputation for contributing to stomach ulcers. Not only do they not cause ulcers, they can help prevent them by killing bacteria you may have ingested, while stimulating the cells lining the stomach to secrete protective buffering juices.

Lose Weight

All that heat you feel after eating hot chili peppers takes energy--and calories to produce. Even sweet red peppers have been found to contain substances that significantly increase thermogenesis (heat production) and oxygen consumption for more than 20 minutes after they are eaten.

Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Making chili pepper a frequently enjoyed spice in your Healthiest Way of Eating could help reduce your risk of hyperinsulinemia (high blood levels of insulin)-a disorder associated with type 2 diabetes.

In a study published in the July 2006 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Australian researchers show that the amount of insulin required to lower blood sugar after a meal is reduced if the meal contains chili pepper. When chili-containing meals are a regular part of the diet, insulin requirements drop even lower.

Plus, chili's beneficial effects on insulin needs get even better as body mass index (BMI, a measure of obesity) increases. In overweight people, not only do chili-containing meals significantly lower the amount of insulin required to lower blood sugar levels after a meal, but chili-containing meals also result in a lower ratio of C-peptide/ insulin, an indication that the rate at which the liver is clearing insulin has increased.

The amount of C-peptide in the blood also shows how much insulin is being produced by the pancreas. The pancreas produces proinsulin, which splits into insulin and C-peptide when secreted into the bloodstream. Each molecule of proinsulin breaks into one molecule of C-peptide and one molecule of insulin, so less C-peptide means less insulin has been secreted into the bloodstream.

In this study, which involved 36 subjects aged 22-70 years, the effects of three interventions were evaluated. Subjects were given a bland meal after a bland diet containing no spices, a chili-containing meal after a bland diet, and finally, a chili-containing meal after a chili-containing diet. A palatable chili flavoring, not pure capsaicin (the active component in chili), was used.
Blood sugar rose similarly after all three interventions, but insulin rose the most after the bland meal after a bland diet and the least after the chili-containing meal after a chili-rich diet.

The maximum increases in insulin after the bland diet followed by a chili-containing meal were 15% lower than after the bland meal following a bland diet, and 24% lower after the chili-containing meal after a chili-rich diet compared to the chili-containing meal after the bland diet.

C-peptide blood levels also increased the most after the bland meal after a bland diet and the least after the chili-containing meal after a chili-rich diet, showing the least insulin was secreted after the chili-rich diet and meal.

In addition, the C-peptide/insulin ratio was highest after the chili-containing meal after a chili-rich diet, indicating an increase in the liver's ability to clear insulin.

Besides capsaicin, chilies contain antioxidants, including vitamin C and carotenoids, which might also help improve insulin regulation.

A little chili pepper can really perk up an omelet, add heat to a black bean/sweet potato soup, or transform an ordinary salad dressing. So, spice up your meals with chili peppers. Your body will need to make less insulin and will use it more effectively.

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