All About the Chili Pepper

Chili Pepper Roots

The original chili pepper plant, classified as a fruit, not a vegetable, hails from either Peru or Bolivia, depending on which anthropologist you ask, circa 7000 B.C. The tiny, pungent red fruit was most widely cultivated in Mexico, where it was deemed important enough to serve as currency as well as food. Seeds were carried by birds throughout Central, South, and southern North America. Modern Mexico still produces the greatest variety of chile peppers, about 140 types at last count.

More About the Jalapeno Pepper

• What is a Jalapeno Pepper?
• How the Chili Pepper Got Its Name
• America’s Favorite Chile Pepper
• What makes Peppers Hot?
• Trying to Beat the Heat
• How Do You Measure Jalapeno Heat?
• Taking Advantage of that Chili Pepper Heat
• Jalapeno Pepper Nutritional Information
• A List of Peppers from Mildest to Hottest
• The Pepper We All Know and Love
• Hot Peppers and Nobel Prizes - An Interesting Combination
• How to Roast Dried Peppers
• How to Roast Fresh Jalapeno Peppers
• The Roots of the Chili Peppers
• The Health Benefits of Jalapeno Peppers and other Chili Peppers
• Anatomy of a Jalapeno Pepper