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Paprika (Capsicum annuum L.)

Synonyms

pharmaceuticalFructus Capsici
AlbanianSpecë, Speci
Amharicቃሪየ የፈረንጅ
Yafranj Karya
Arabicفلفل حلو, فليفلة حلوة
فُلْفُل حَلُو
Fulful halou, Fulaifilah halwa
ArmenianԿարմիր Պղպեղ
Garmir Bghbegh, Karmir Pghpegh
Azeriİstiot, Qırmızı bibər
Истиот, Гырмызы бибәр
BasquePiperrautsa
BretonPimant dous
BulgarianЧервен пипер, Пиперка
Cherven piper, Piperka
CatalanPebrotera
Chinese
(Cantonese)
甜椒 [tìhm jìu], 燈籠椒 [dàng lùhng jìu]
Tihm jiu, Dang luhng jiu
Chinese
(Mandarin)
甜椒 [tián jiāo]
Tian jiao
CroatianPaprika, Piperka
CzechPaprika, Sladká paprika, Prášková paprika, Paprika-koření
DanishRöd peber, Paprika
Dhivehiރިހަމިރުސް
Rihamirus
DutchPaprika
EnglishBell pepper, Pod pepper, Sweet pepper
EsperantoUnujara kapsiko, Papriko (refers mostly to vegetable bell pepper)
EstonianHarilik paprika
Farsiپاپریکا
Paprika
FinnishRuokapaprika, Paprika
FrenchPiment annuel, Piment doux, Paprika de Hongrie, Piment doux d’Espagne
GalicianPementón
Georgianბულგარული
Bulgaruli
GermanPaprika
GreekΠιπεριά, Πάπρικα
Piperia, Paprika
Gujaratiમોલર
Molar
HausaTattase
Hebrewפפריקה מתוקה, , פלפל מתוק
פַּפְּרִיקָה מֱתוּקָה, פִּלְפֵּל מָתוֹק
Paprika metuka, Papriqa metuqa, Pilpel matok, Pilpel matoq
Hindiदेगी मिर्च, देशी मिर्च, मीठी मिर्च
Degi mirch (?), Deshi mirch, Desi mirch, Mithi mirch
HungarianPaprika, Édes paprika, Piros paprika, Fűszerpaprika
IcelandicPaprikuduft
ItalianPeperone, Paprica
Japaneseバンショウ, パプリカ
Banshō, Bansho, Papurika
Kannadaಹಸಿಮೆಣಸಿನ ಕಾಯಿ
Hasimenasina kayi
KazakhҚызыл бұрыш, Бұрыш
Qızıl burış, Burış
Korean파프리카, 피망
Papurika, Pimang
Laoໝາກເຜັດໃຫຍ່, ໝາກເຜັດຫວານ
Mak pet nyai, Mak pet wan
LatvianDārzeņpipari, Paprika
LithuanianPaprika
MacedonianПипер, Пиперка
Piper, Piperka
MalteseBżar ikkulurit, Bżar ħelu
Nepaliभेंडे खुर्सानी
Bhede Khursani
PapiamentoPromenton, Promèntòn
PolishPapryka, Papryka roczna; Pieprzowiec roczny (plant)
PortuguesePimentão doce, Colorau
RomanianArdei, Ardei dulce, Ardei gras, Boia de ardei, Boia dulce
RussianПерец красный
Perets krasnyj
SerbianПаприка, Црвена паприка
Paprika, Crvena paprika
SlovakPaprika, Paprika ročná, Paprika sladká, Paprika štiplavá
SlovenianPaprika, Začimbna mleta paprika
SpanishPaprika, Pimiento dulce, Pimiento morrón, Pimentón
SwahiliPilipili hoho
SwedishPaprika
TagalogSiling pangsigang
TajikҚаламфур
Qalamfur
Thaiพริกหยวก, พริกเหลือง
Prik yuak, Prik lueang (meaning green chile and yellow chile, respectively; usually of medium pungency)
Tigrinyaጉዕ, ጒዕ, ፐፐሮኒ
Gue, Gwie, Peperoni
TurkishKırmızı biber, Pul biber
Urduدیگی مرچ
Degi mirch
UzbekQalampir
Қалампир
Yiddishפּאַפּריקע, זיס פֿעפֿערל
Paprike, Zis feferl
Mexican chile cultivars

A large number of names for different cultivars is used in Latin America, especially México. Fresh and dried chiles are often referred to by different names. The following table lists some of the most common types.

Name freshName driedPungency
Anaheim (California)chile pasadolow
Chilacapasilla (chile negro)low
Jalapeño, Cuaresmeñomora (morito)
chipotle (chile ahumudo, chile meco)
medium
New Mexicochile pasadolow
Poblanomulato
ancho
low
Serrano high

Capsicum annuum: Italian peperone peppers
Mildly pungent Italian peperoni
Capsicum annuum: European spicy paprika (Italy)
A European breed of paprika
Used plant part

Berry fruits. Removal of seeds and veins results in a less pungent and more brightly coloured product.

Plant family

Solanaceae (night­shade family).

Sensory quality

Sweet and aromatic. Some qualities show no pungency at all, others are fairly hot.

Main constituents

The pungent principle, capsaicin, is contained only in small amounts, as low as 0.001 to 0.005% in mild and 0.1% in hot cultivars (see chiles for details on capsaicin).

Apart from capsaicin, the taste of paprika is mostly due to essential oil (<1%; with long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons, fatty acids and their methyl esters); paprika scent is mostly due to a range of alkylmethoxypyrazines (e. g., 3-isobutyl 2-methoxy pyrazine, earthy flavour). Ripe paprika contains up to 6% sugar.

Furthermore, paprika contains sizable amounts (0.1%) of vitamin C; this substance was first isolated from ripe paprika pods by the Hungarian chemist Albert Szent-György, who later won the Nobel Prize for this work.

Paprikas derive their colour in the ripe state mainly from carotenoid pigments, which range from bright red (capsanthrine, capsorubin and more) to yellow (cucubitene); total carotenoid content in dried paprika is 0.1 to 0.5%.

Chile cultivars which produce yellow but no or little red pigments appear yellow to orange when ripe. A small number of cultivars does not produce significant amounts of carotenoids; when chlorophyll levels decrease in the last stages of ripening, these chiles develop a pale hue often referred to as white. Due to small amounts of chlorophyll and/or yellow carotenoids, the white is, however, more precisely described as a pale greenish–yellow.

Capsicum annuum: Black Prince chile pepper
Black Prince, an ornamental breed rich in anthocyanin pigments (tepín- or piquín type).

Some varie­ties of paprika contain pigments of antho­cyanin type and develop dark purple, auber­gine-coloured or almost black pods; in the last stage of ripening, however, the anthocyanins get decomposed, and the unusual darkness thus gives way to normal orange or red colours. The same anthocyanins cause the dark spots which are sometimes seen on unripe fruits or particularly the stems of paprika plants and which almost all paprika varieties can develop. In other Capsicum species, anthocyanin production is a rare phenomenon (e. g., scarlet lantern, an Andean cultivar of C. chinense).

Origin

Since different varieties of bell peppers have been cultivated in America long before the arrival of the Europeans, their native countries cannot be unambiguously determined; South American origin is, however, established for all species of genus Capsicum, which emerged probably in the area bordering Southern Brazil and Bolivia. Thence, the species moved to the North, being dispersed by birds.

Capsicum annuum: Bolivian Rainbow
Bolivian Rainbow chile (flowers and unripe fruits)

The three species C. annuum, C. frutescens and C. chinense evolved from a common ancestor located in the North of the Amazon basin (NW-Brazil, Columbia). Further evolution brought C. annuum and C. frutescens to Central America, where they were finally domesticated (in México and Panamá, respectively), whereas C. chinense moved to the West and was first put to cultivation in Perú; (although today it is not much cultivated in South America). Two other species were first cultivated in Western South America: C. baccatum in the Peruvian lowlands and C. pubescens at higher elevations, in the Andes (Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador). See chile for more information about these species.

As paprika plants tolerate nearly every climate, the fruits are produced all over the world. A fairly warm climate is, however, necessary for a strong aroma; therefore, in Europe, Hungarian paprika has best reputation; the best comes from the Kalocsa region. In the Unites States, California and Texas are the main producers.

Capsicum annuum: Bolivian Rainbow Hyb
Bolivian Rainbow Hybride with multicoloured fruits
Capsicum annuum: Penis Pepper
An ornamental named Peter Pepper
Capsicum annuum: Black Namaqualand from South Africa
Black Namaqualand, a South African ornamental containing anthocyanins
Capsicum annuum: Prairiefire chili pepper
Prairiefire, an ornamental of piquin type.

© Sabine Amtsberg

Etymology

In many European languages, the name of this spice is somehow derived from the name of pepper, owing to the many confusions of pepper with other spices (for another example, see allspice).

A rather common designation of paprika is sweet pepper: Spanish pimiento dulce, French piment doux, Kazakh qızıl burış [қызыл бұрыш] and Arabic fulful halu [فلفل حلو]. Note that in most of these languages, the word for pepper may also mean chile, so it would perhaps be more accurate to translate these names by sweet chile or sweet chile pepper. In the same spirit, Chinese tian jiao [甜椒] literally means sweet Sichuan pepper (not to be confused with gan jiao [甘椒], which has the same literal meaning but refers to allspice).

Yet other tongues have names for paprika that mean red pepper, e. g., Turkish kırmızı biber, Armenian garmir bghbegh [կարմիր պղպեղ], Bulgarian cherven piper [червен пипер] and Russian perets krasni [перец красный]. These may lead to confusion as in a plethora of other lan­guages, similar names are reserved for chiles.

Other English names are bell pepper and pod pepper because of the shape. Most confusingly, the English plural peppers always seem to imply some sort of paprika (also vegetable bell peppers or hot chile peppers), and never true black pepper! For reasons of clarity, the term pepper for Capsicum species will be totally avoided on this page. Instead, I will use paprika throughout for mild or medium-hot varieties and chile for hot varieties.

The word paprika was borrowed from Hungarian (paprika) or Serbian (paprika [паприка]); it entered a great number of languages, in many cases probably via German. In the end, also paprika is derived from a name of black pepper, in this case Serbian papar [папар]. In most languages, paprika denotes the dried spice only, though in some (e. g., German) it is commonly used for the vegetable bell pepper. The form paprika is valid in countless European languages, while examples with slightly deviating spelling include Italian paprica, Polish papryka, Bulgarian piperka [пиперка], Hebrew paprika [פפריקה] and Japanese papurika [パプリカ].

The botanical species name Capsicum is a neo-Latin derivation of Greek kapsa [κάψα] box, capsule and refers to the shape of the fruits. There is an alternative, though much less probable, derivation starting from a related verb, kaptein [κάπτειν], translated bite. The verb’s basic meaning, however, is seize, grasp; it may also mean grab using the teeth; bite, but even from this meaning it’s a wide semantic shift to biting in the sense of pungent. The old German name Beißbeere biting berry for hot chiles is probably a loan translation based on the false etymology.

The genus name annuum means annual (Latin annus year). This name was chosen most unfortunately, because in the absence of winter frosts, paprika and its relatives can survive several seasons. In its natural habitat, paprika grows into large perennial shrubs.

Selected Links

Ilkas und Ullis Kochecke: Paprika (rezkonv.de via archive.org) A Pinch of Paprika (www.apinchof.com) The Epicentre: Paprika Transport Information Service: Paprika World Merchants: Paprika & Pimenton World Merchants: Chiles Floridata.com: Chiles Peppers: History and Exploitation of a Serendipitous New Crop Discovery (purdue.edu) Capsicums: Innovative Uses of an Ancient Crop (purdue.edu) Sorting Capsicum names (www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au) The Chile Pepper Institute (Paul W. Bosland) Chile Pepper Variety Database Fiery Foods (Dave DeWitt) Chipotles Profile (fiery-foods.com) Birdseye Profile (fiery-foods.com) Cayenne Profile (fiery-foods.com) Paprika Profile (fiery-foods.com) New Mexico Profile (fiery-foods.com) Pimentón Profile (fiery-foods.com) Piment d’ Espelette: The Beloved Basque Chile Pepper (fiery-foods.com) Harvest Time in Kalocsa (fiery-foods.com) Chiles in Stockholm: Pepper Galleries (Mats Petterson) Inferno – Chile Gallery from Finland Cross Country Photo Gallery rocoto.com (Joe Carrasco) Reimer Seeds: Chiles Chilies (Michael Becker) Chili-Balkon (Hans-Georg Knauß) Hot Chili Peppers Homepage (chilipepper.de) Recipe: Baharat [بهارات] (www.geocities.com) Recipe: Baharat [بهارات] (www.ellenskitchen.com) Recipe: Levantine Baharat [بهارات] (www.cliffordawright.com) Rezept von goccus.com: Baharat [بهارات] Recipe: Çiğ köfte (raw meatballs) (turkishcookingclass.blogspot.com) Yemek tarifi: Çiğ köfte (yemek-tarifi.info) Recipe: Mole Poblano (The Mole Page, www.ramekins.com) Recipe: Mole Poblano (The Mole Page, www.ramekins.com) Recipe: Mole Amarillo con Puerco (The Mole Page, www.ramekins.com) Recipe: Mole Negro (The Mole Page, www.ramekins.com) Recipe: Mole Verde con Pollo (The Mole Page, www.ramekins.com) Recipe: Mole Verde de Oaxaca (The Mole Page, www.ramekins.com) Recipe: Mole Poblano de Guajolote (recipe-chicken.com) Recipe: Mole Rojo con Pollo (pepperfool.com) Recipe: Mole Verde (groups.yahoo.com) Recipe: Goulash (gulyás hús) (pilotguides.com) Poisonous Plants of North Carolina: Chili Pepper


Capsicum annuum: Ornamental chili with fruits and flowers
Ornamental chile with ripe fruits and flowers
Capsicum annuum: Chinese five-coloured chile pepper
Chinese five-coloured paprika cultivar.
The bright red colour of ground paprika is a re­maining im­pression for every­one who has had an oppor­tunity to visit market­places (Turkish çarşı, Arabic suq [سوق], Persian bazar [بازار]) somewhere in the area from Morocco to Turkey to Iraq to Northern India. In these regions, the spice is equally valued for taste as for colour. Its subtle, sweet flavour is compatible with hot and spicy dishes, but also mild stews profit greatly from it. Since paprika contains significant amounts of sugar, it must not be overheated, as the sugar will quickly turn bitter. Frying paprika powder in hot oil is therefore a critical procedure that must last no longer than a few seconds.

A spice mixture from Central Asia employing paprika is baharat, a fiery composition from the countries around the Gulf of Persia. The Arabic word baharat [بهارات] is an archaic plural to bahar [بهار] spice and thus means the spices so the baharat blend is just the (canonical) spice mixture. As many other mixtures from Arabic-influenced cuisines (see grains of paradise on Tunisian gâlat dagga, cubeb pepper on Moroccan ras el hanout and long pepper on Ethiopian berbere), baharat contains both pungent and aromatic spices: black pepper, chiles and paprika provide a pungent background and nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom contribute aromatic flavour; the mixture furthermore contains cumin and coriander fruits, all of which are ground to a fine powder. Baharat is mainly used for mutton dishes; most commonly, the mixture is shortly fried in oil or clarified butter to intensify the fragrance. In the Eastern Mediterranean, a simpler baharat mixture is used that consists mainly of black pepper and allspice.

Further East, paprika powder plays in increasingly smaller rôle; the eastern­most area with paprika usage is in North India. There, paprika powder is popular in Muslim cookery; for example, the signature food of Kashmir is rogan josh [روغن جش, रोगन जोश], mutton braised in a highly aromatic joghurt sauce, which owes its bright red colour and its mild heat to that special paprika powder. Also, sikh kabab [سیخ کباب, सीख कबाब] (minced meat on a spit grilled over charcoal fire) is flavoured and coloured with liberal amounts of paprika. The same type of paprika is also used in the Hindu cuisines of the Northwest, particularly in Rajasthan.

Capsicum annuum: Turkish charred peppers
Turkish grilled paprika
Capsicum annuum: Biber salçası, toz biber, pul biber and isot
Turkish paprika products: Front row paprika paste, behind ground dried paprika, in the back isot

Turkish cuisine dis­plays signi­ficant com­pentency in cooking with paprika; possibly, the Ottoman Turks en­countered paprika quite early in the 16.th century, when the fruit was intro­duced to Portu­guese settlings in Hormuz and India; sub­sequently, paprika was quickly adapted to Turkish cooking.

In Turkey, pul biber is coarsely ground red paprika (also known as paprika flakes) with intensive colour and flavour, and a varying (but not extraordinary) degree of heat; it is used for cooking and par­ti­cular­ly as a table condi­ment, in a rather uni­versal manner. Slowly braised foods like güvec (meat stewed with veg­etables, par­ti­cular­ly auber­gines) owe both flavour and hue to this type of paprika powder. It is also sprinkled liberally on the famous döner kebap, meat grilled on a rotating spit and served with bread.

Turkey has an inter­esting and quite unique variant of dried paprika powder called isot, which is made from slowly oven-dried paprika fruits with a dash of salt; it is very dark brown, almost black, and shows a somewhat mature, almost fermented taste. The best isot allegedly comes from the Şanlıurfa region, and it is most used in the Eastern part of the country. It is used for çiğ köfte, a salad or snack prepared from cracked wheat (bulgur) and, rather uniquely, fatless raw beef or mutton. Depending on the recipe, it is either rather dry and shaped to small balls, or it is almost fluid and stuffed into rolls made from raw lettuce leaves. Apart from the beef and the rather fiery seasoning, çiğköfte is comparable to other Near Eastern salads employing cracked wheat, like tabbouleh and kısır (see parsley).

In addition to the dried paprika, Turkish cuisine also uses a bright red, aromatic paprika paste (biber salçası or simply salça), which is available either mild (tatlı sweet) or hot (acı). This type of paprika paste is needed for the kısır salad (see parsley). Tiny, quite pungent pods are harvested unripe and pickled in vinegar, which makes them into a table condiment (acı biber turşusu). A rather large-fruited (15 cm), slim, pointed paprika type commonly known as sivri biber (pointed pepper) or just biber is often toasted, almost charred, over open fire to yield a perfect companion for grilled meats (kebap); it has strong paprika flavour with smokey overtones, and may be surprisingly hot.

Capsicum annuum: Hungarian cherry pepper (Hungary)
Hungarian cherry paprika (cseresznyepaprika)
Capsicum annuum: Cherry paprika
Ripening cherry paprika

In Europe, paprika con­sumption is highest in Hungary and the Balkan countries, less so in the Medi­terranean, although some Spanish cultivars are famed (e. g., romesco and the smoked Pimentón de la Vera). Even in those European countries where hot chiles are disliked, mild paprika types are valued as spice and especially popular for stewed or barbecued meat and sausages. Paprika appears very frequently in commercial spice mixtures.

It is not fully clear how the paprika arrived in Hungary, but there is no doubt that the fruits were brought by the Turks in the 17.th century, although the details are covered in various legends. Anyway, paprika became quickly naturalized and has since proved an important flavour in Hungarian cuisine. Still, some of the best paprika cultivars of Europe are found in Hungary. An example is the cherry paprika (cherry pepper, cseresznye­paprika), which has medium pungency (well, enough for most Europeans) but an excellent flavour. This is one of the few non-American paprika cultivars that can rival with Meso­american, particularly Mexican, varieties. Cherry paprika can be dried and ground to a rather piquant paprika powder, but in Hungary it is also eaten fresh and served as a kind of table condiment. Lastly, it is very good pickled.

In Hungarian cuisine, different grades of paprika of varying pungency are used. There are four basic grades: különleges (special paprika), csemege (delicatesse paprika), édesnemes (sweet and noble paprika) and rózsa (rose paprika). Other than in México, these grades do not stem from distinct paprika cultivars. The differences entirely come from the degree of ripeness at harvest time and selection of pods by size; a chief point accounting for the differences in pungency, colour and flavour is the proportion of mesocarp (fruit wall), placenta and seeds which are ground together. Különleges consists only of selected mesocarps of fully ripe harvested, flawless paprika fruits; it has a mild, delicate flavour, no pungency and a bright red colour. In the more common grade csemege, the paprika flavour is stronger, but it is still almost non-pungent. Édes–nemes has a subtle pungency, and rózsa is a piquant product with still good paprika flavour, but markedly reduced colour; for its production, the fruits may be plucked in a partially ripened state and be subject to an artificial ripening process. Rózsa is the grade most often available in other countries.

Capsicum annuum: Ancho Flower
Flower of C. annuum (Poblano)
Capsicum annuum: Paprika flower
Flower of C. annuum (Serrano)

To produce the mil­der grades, one needs much mesocarp, but only little veins, placenta and seeds. The excess material is then ground to yield a hot paprika powder (csípős) of orange–brown colour and poor flavour; it is almost as pungent as common chile powders, e. g., cayenne pepper. In some litera­ture, addi­tional grades be­tween rózsa and csípős are men­tioned (gulyás, erős).

The Hungar­ian national dish is gulyás, which basically means cattleman, and is also used to name the cattleman’s favourite food: a thick and spicy soup made from beef, varying vegetables (potatoes, carrots) and a particular type of pasta. To get the right flavour and colour, chopped onions are lightly fried in pig’s lard; when the onions take a pale yellow colour, paprika powder is stirred in and fried for a few more seconds before the remaining ingredients are added. It is the art of goulash making to fry the paprika powder as long as possible (to bring out its flavour), but stop the frying before it turns bitter (which may happen very quickly).

This food has been much copied but also bastardized in the cooking of other Euro­pean countries; the inter­nationalized versions (goulash) are often stews, not soups, made of beef or pork in a thick sauce made from onions and paprika powder. In Austria, often caraway is used for the seasoning. In Hungary, such a dish would not be called a gulyás but a pörkölt; a pörkölt with sour cream added is a paprikás (pronounced paprikash). Another well-known Hungarian food is lecsó, a tasty stew from nonpungent capsicum vegetable, tomatoes, garlic (which has no place in gulyás!) and sometimes smoked bacon. Lecsó is flavoured with hot paprika. A similar vegetable stew in Serbia and Croatia is called đuveč [ђувеч].

Capsicum annuum: European pointed chile variety
Eastern European paprika

Nonpungent paprika types grown as a vegetable (often called bell pepper in English, although they aren’t peppery at all) are an Eastern European invention, probably from Bulgaria. They arose quite lately, at the end of the 19.th century, and have become a popular food all over the world since then.

Capsicum annuum: Chiltepin (Tepin) pods (chillis from Northern Mexico, Sonora)
Chiltepín fruits

Although chile and paprika do not stem from Central America, the art of their cultivation has reached its highest peak in México. In México, the species Capsicum annuum is grown almost exclusively; it is unique among all Capsicum species because there are both pungent and mild cultivars. See chile for a discussion of the other species.

It is often speculated that the variety called tepín or chiltepín (chilctepín, flea chile, C. annuum var. aviculare or C. annuum var. glabrisculum), which grows wild in the North Mexican desert (Sonora) and also in parts of the USA (Texas), might have been put to cultivation by an ancient Mexican people and has, thus, become the actual ancestor of all cultivated C. annuum varieties. By this line of reasoning, the chiltepín would be the ancestor of most of today’s chile and paprika cultivars grown on all continents with the sole exception of Southern America, where still today botanically different species dominate (see chile for details).

Capsicum annuum: Chiltecpin, flower and fruit (chilli from Mexico)
Chile tepín, flower and ripe fruit

Yet, follow­ing that thought, it would be difficult to explain (i) how the chiltepín could have travelled from its diversi­fication locus (Amazon basin) that far into the North without human help, and (ii) why all early records of chile cultivation point to Central and Southern México, never to the North. So the chiltepín is more probably a cultivar that has escaped back into the wild, not an original wild form.

The chiltepín is quite hot and can be fiercely hot; it is much used for North Mexican cuisine and has quite recently established itself on the US market, fueled by the large number of Mexican immigrants and the general interest in Mexican and other spicy food. It should be noticed that the tepín is still a wild plant, and the entire crop is collected from the wild. So far, all attempts for cultivation in commercial scale have failed.

Capsicum annuum: Ripening pequin chillis
Chile pequín plant with ripening fruits
Capsicum annuum: Piquin chilli pepper fruits
Dried chile piquin

In México, there exists a continuous spectrum of paprika pods, from the very mild to the very hot. Confusingly, all of them are usually referred to as chiles, and indeed they are all one botanical species (with the exception of habanero-type chiles in Yucatán, which belong to species Capsicum chinense). This situation contrasts with what is found in other countries, where only hot (chile) and mild (paprika) types are known, but no intermediates. To keep the terminology consistent, I will deviate from established literature and not use the term chile for mild varieties, but stick to the name paprika for all mild to medium hot Mexican chiles. The border between those two terms is somewhat arbitrary: I will fix it just above jalapeño level.

Mexican chiles and paprika are known and identified by their local names. The smallest of these are just one or two centimeters long: Besides the above-mentioned tepín, there is a whole class of cultivars called pequín or piquin with small, elongated and quite hot fruits. Then, there are types with long, pointed fruit which are of biting heat, e. g., the chile de arbol. On the other side of the spectrum, there are large-fruited varieties with pods larger than 15 centimeters: Anaheim, chilaca, poblano, and New Mexico.

Capsicum annuum: Dried chile de arbol (Mexico)
Dried Mexican de arbol chiles
Capsicum annuum: Dearbol chili (Mexico)
Ripening Mexican de arbol chiles

Mexican cooks often use several varieties of fresh and/or dried chiles/paprikas for one recipe, because their chief goal in chile usage is not so much heat but flavour, which varies strongly between the dif­ferent varieties. The resulting flavours are very charac­teristic and cannot be found in any other cooking style.

Some of the Mexi­can capsicum culti­vars are rather large, thick-fleshed and show only low heat. One of the most popular varieties is the poblano, whose large size (up to 12 cm long and 7 cm broad) and mod­erate heat allow for usig them as a veg­etable: The famous recipe chiles rellenos consists of red or green poblanos stuffed with cheese, which are dipped in batter, deep-fried and served with a tomato sauce. Poblanos and other thick-fleshed varieties cannot simply be dried, but must be roasted and peeled or smoked before using. Ac­cording to the exact drying procedure, the same capsicum cultivar may be sold under different names; e. g., a dried poblano may be an ancho or a mulato. Dried capsicum mostly stems from ripe fruits, whereas fresh ripe capsicum is often hard to obtain because of short shelf life.


Capsicum annuum: Ripe poblano chiles
Poblanos are large-fruited paprikas with a fruity flavour and a mild, pleasant pungency.
Capsicum annuum: Chile Ancho (Mexico)
The ancho is a dried poblano; it plays an eminent rôle in the cuisines of México.
Capsicum annuum: Chilhuacle negro
Fresh Chilhuacles negros

Much of the secrets of Mexican cookery lies in the properties of dried capsicum. Roasting enhances the natural aroma of paprika, smoking may add new accents and given the multitude of different cultivars, a Mexican cook has almost unlimited possibilities to make his choice from. Salsas (see long coriander) may be made from either fresh or dried capsicum, or both. For sauces whose preparation involves long simmering periods, dried capsicums are unanimously preferred.

Often, the dried capsicums are roasted again and rehydrated in hot (but not boiling) water before usage. After soaking, the chiles are then ground and fried in oil or lard till they form a thick, dark brown paste with intensive flavour. Though somewhat time- and labour-intensive, this procedure alone brings out the best flavour from the dried paprikas/chiles. In such recipes, mild varieties (like ancho, mulato and pasilla, which are often referred to as the holy trinity) are commonly combined with less aromatic, but more pungent cultivars like the de arbol or the smoky chipotle. The results are often phantastic.

Capsicum annuum: Pasilla chilli  (Mexico)
The chile pasilla (also called chile negro) is one of the most common Mexican chiles.
Capsicum annuum: Chile Chilaca (Mexico)
Its fresh form, called chilaca, is dark green, almost black; it is used much more rarely.
Capsicum annuum: Pasilla de Oaxaca chilli (Mexico)
The Mexican pasilla de Oaxaca chile, dried and smoked
Capsicum annuum: Serrano chile
Ripe serrano chile
Capsicum annuum: Jalapenos (Mexiko)
Fresh jalapeño-chiles
Capsicum annuum: Jalapeno chilli pepper
Ripe jalapeño chiles

One of the best known Mexican varieties is the jalapeño, named after Jalapa (or Xalapa), the capital of the union state of Veracruz in South Eastern México. Jalapeños don’t have a parti­cularly charac­ter­istic taste, but are more pungent than the former-men­tioned varieties with large fruits (though still much milder than typical South Ameri­can or Asian chiles). Jala­peños are usually eaten still unripe (green), and in the fresh state; very often, they are coarsely chopped (optionally deseeded) and used to pep up salsas (see also long coriander) or just sprinkled over foods on the table. They derive their attraction not so much from the taste, which is somehow green and immature, or their medium pungency, but rather from their crispy texture which sets interesting accents especially in salsa or guacamole.

The serrano chile is in both shape and flavour similar to the jalapeño, yet it is much smaller and also more pungent, reaching almost the heat level of a green Thai chile. Serranos (the name means mountain chile) are typical for rural Mexican cooking where they often replace the milder jalapeños.

Capsicum annuum: chipotle chiles (chilpotl)
Mexican chipotle chiles

Drying ripe and per­ishable fruits is difficult, espe­cially fleshy ones like jala­peños which rot quicker than they dry. To pre­serve ripe chiles, Mexican Indians have devel­oped a smok­ing pro­cedure that yields pro­ducts of unique culi­nary value. Dried and smoked chiles are a very special flavour­ing, typical for Central Amer­ica, and impart an in­com­par­able, warm–spicy–smoky flavour to the foods.

The term chipotle in principle may denote any smoked chile, as Náhuatl poctli just means smoke. Yet this name has now come to mean smoked jalapeños almost ex­clusively. To produce chipotles, one starts with ripe red jalapeños and smokes them slowly for up to two days; commonly, pecan or hickory wood are used, though some believe that the best chipotles are made with mesquite smoke. The final smoked chiles combine good paprika aroma, significant heat and intense smoke flavour, all of which make them an indispensable ingredient for the indigenous cuisines of México, especially Central México. Moreover, chipotles have become very popular in the USA and are a key factor for the cooking style of the South West states (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona), as they provide a delicious balance of heat and smoky flavour.

Chipotles may be used in the same way as anchos or mulatos, i. e., rehydrated, puréed and fried, which yields very spicy products. More commonly, they are just steeped in sauces or used in the powdered form. Ground chipotles are an excellent last-minute seasoning. Chipotles en adobo are whole chipotles stewed in a thin, well-seasoned tomato sauce; they may be used as a snack or garnish for those who can stand them, or used as a flavouring for other foods. Together with the adobo liquid, they can be processed into a puree to yield a very flavourful dip.

Capsicum annuum: Chile pulla (Mexico)
Dried chile pulla from México
Capsicum annuum: Chile guajillo
Dried chile guajillo from México
 
Capsicum annuum: Dried New Mexico (pasado) chili
Dried New Mexico chile (chile pasado)

Mexican mole sauces are very complex mixtures of several different capsicum cultivars plus a large variety of other ingredients; preparation takes quite a time, in some cases even days. Most moles call for dried chiles. Oaxaca, a province in Central México, is regarded the home of these sauces: In Oaxaca, seven classical recipes (los siete moles) are traded from generation to generation.

Most moles contain different kinds of nuts and seeds, which add body, furthermore spices like cinnamon and allspice, dried fruits and aromatic vegetables (tomatoes, tomatillos). Corn flour (masa harina) or dried tortillas are used to thicken. It is essential to select the proper chiles: For example, mole negro (black mole) needs the costly and rare chilhuacle negro, but mole amarillo (yellow mole) is prepared with fresh güero chiles, a pale green and less aromatic variety. The most famous recipe is mole rojo (red mole, also known as mole Poblano) which is flavoured using the holy trinity, i. e., ancho, mulato and pasilla; see sesame for details. Another concoction, green mole (mole verde), owes its particular flavour to Mexican pepper-leaves and fresh green jalapeño chiles.

Capsicum annuum: Costeno amarillo chili (Mexico)
The Mexican costeño amarillo chile, dried
Capsicum annuum: Chile cascabel
Dried chile cascabel



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