Hot Pepper List

Hot peppers, a.k.a. chili peppers, are berry bush fruits that leave sweet, hot sensations in the mouth when eaten and as such are generally used as spices. Although most of the varieties are long and cylindrical, there are some that are bell-shaped and barrel-shaped. Christopher Columbus is said to be the first one to have dubbed these fruits as "peppers" due to their similarity in taste to the Old World black peppers.

Hot pepper plants are said to have originated in the Middle and South Americas, with archeological evidences in Southwestern Equador indicating that they were already domesticated as early as 7500 BC. They were then spread throughout the world by European voyagers who chanced upon them in the mid to late 1400's.

Although they gained popularity through their culinary benefits, some people recognized their medicinal properties as well. One of the earliest documentations on the medicinal benefits of this fruit were written by Diego Alvarez Chanca, a physician in Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies.

The stinging hot sensations released by hot peppers are due to a compound called capsaicin. Generally speaking, the smaller the fruit, the higher the concentration of capsaicin. It therefore follows that smaller ones are relatively hotter. The pungency or hotness of each variety is rated using the Scoville scale, a test rating developed by an American chemist named Wilbur Scoville. The varieties are then classified as mild, medium, hot, and extra hot.

On the following pages I've built lists of the more well-known varieties of hot peppers, mentioned their common usage, and classified them according to their Scoville rating and their 'general' category of hotness to the layperson. I'll add to this list periodically.