Chile Pepper World Domination

Chile Pepper World Domination- The Capsicum cultivars that we call chile peppers have radiated from Peru to conquer the world.

Chile peppers are members of the Solanaceae, or nightshade family, [also called the poison nightshade family] and are therefore also related to tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants as well as belladonna (Atropa belladonna aka deadly nightshade) and tobacco. In the tropics, Capsicums are perennial shrubs and quite hardy and sometimes as tall as small trees. In temperate zones chile peppers are grown commercially as annuals. Amateur gardeners, by using containers or greenhouses sometimes grow chile peppers as tender perennials.

Chile peppers which originated in the tropical regions of the New World, now, through the agency of man and bird, grow wild in all of the major tropical regions of the world. Shortly after the European discovery of the New World, chile peppers showed up on the west coast of Africa. Within 50 years, birds raiding African gardens had spread chile peppers throughout sub-saharan Africa. A similar progression occurred in Asia and Australia.

Chile Pepper - Capsaicinoids:

Capsaicinoids are found in blisterlike sacs at the junction of the fruits placenta and inner wall. Therefore you can tell how hot a ripe, red chile pepper will be by simple inspection. Cut open the chile pepper pod (fruit) and look at the walls. If the placenta (ribs) are bright orange and there are many large sacs, the fruit will be very hot. If there is only a hint of color, the chile pepper will be mild.

Most of the world-wide cultivars are derived from Capsicum annum. It contains the recessive 'mild' gene which has allowed for the development of bell, wax and pimento peppers and such. Whereas all wild chile peppers are hot.

These are the hottest chile peppers with Scoville heat ratings consistently above 100,000 Scoville heat units (SHU). It is not a world-wide cultivar like Capsicum annuum but is cultivated outside the tropics mostly by amateurs. The origin of this species and the center of its original cultivation is now believed to have been tropical Peru. But now its current center of cultivation is the Caribbean. Peru, on the other hand, depends on cultivars derived from Capsicum baccatum.

None of which you have ever heard of because they are only widely cultivated in tropical South America and at that mostly in Peru. In passing, Peru seems to have been a center, if not the center, for domestication of members of the nightshade family - chile peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Eggplant, however, arose in India. Outside of Peru Capsicum baccatum, like Capsicum chinense, is cultivated mostly by amateurs.

Not nearly as exploited as C.baccatum, C.annum or C.chinense. However, Tabasco chiles makes up for that as the principal ingredient in Tabasco® Sauce (wonderful ingredient list: aged Tabasco peppers, vinegar and salt).
*[Not accepted as a valid taxonomic designation by Interagency Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) but see above. And if C. frutescens is not a valid taxonomic designation to what species do the Tabasco and Malagueta Chiles belong? ITIS suggests: Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum - but on what basis? ITIS doesn't say.]

And that's about it. Not cultivated outside of tropical South America and there not nearly as exploited as Capsicum baccatum.

The amount and relative quantities of capsaicinoids give each type of chile pepper its individual heat signature. For instance, chile peppers that contain a relatively high percentage of homodihydrocapsaicin will often have no noticeable effect until you suddenly realize that the back of your throat is burning. Whereas those that contain a relatively high level of nordihydrocapsaicin will seem more flavorful for the amount heat.

Chile peppers are used both fresh and dried, raw and cooked (cru et cuit - eat your heart Claude Lévi-Strauss), pickled and stuffed. While the center of chile pepper cooking is the Caribbean and Central America, chile peppers are an important part of many of the world's cuisines - universally so in the tropics.