Some plants we know engage in a wide range of passive chemical warfare – and some of us honestly seek the pleasure of battle.  The plant genus Capsicum is armed with an arsenal of warriors suited up in various shapes, sizes, and colors with “heat attitude” to take down the bravest among us.  The most common and extensively cultivated domesticated species of the plant genus Capsicum is native to southern North America and northern South America.  We know the species, Capsicum annuum in the form of the popular sweet bell pepper and hot chili pepper.  There are four other species of Capsicum, C. frutescens, C. chinense, Capsicum baccatum and Capsicum pubescens.  These species all evolved from a single ancestor located somewhere in the northwest Brazil – Colombia area.

My belief is that many of us use peppers belonging to each of these categories and do not know it.  A partial and popular list of examples in each species appears below.

Capsicum annuum

Anaheim – often used for chile relleno.

Bell – large rectangular fruit (red, yellow, green, orange, etc.) without noticeable heat.

Cayenne – often dried and ground into powder.

Cubanelle – often fried in Italian cooking.

Guajillo – used dried to make a red sauce for tamales.

Hungarian wax – when dried and ground presented as “Paprika.”

Jalapeno – when smoked referred to as a chipotle.

Pepperoncini – used in Italian and Greek cuisine.

Poblano – used to make chile relleno.  When dried referred to as ancho chili.

Serrano – green when unripe but turns red when mature.

Capsicum baccatum

Piquante – also referred to as Peppadew (recently published article)

Capsicum chinense (a misnomer since all capsica  originated in the New World)

Habanero – often referred to as the hottest.

Scotch bonnet – related to the habanero and used in Caribbean cuisine.

Capsicum frutescens

Tabasco – native to Mexico, this fruit is now grown in large amounts in Louisiana to make the sauce of the same name.

Thai – a thin fruit used in the cuisines of Southeast Asia.

The pungency of these peppers derives from the alkaloid capsaicin.  Remember alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that can be separated into simpler substances by a chemical reaction.  Capsaicin appears to accumulate in the fruit concurrently with the pigment during ripening and is found primarily in the white placental tissues to which the seeds are attached.  For every 100 parts of capsaicin in the placental tissue, there are 6 parts in the rest of the fruit tissue, and 4 parts in the seeds.  Therefore, you can moderate the heat of whole peppers with the removal of the insides.  Just take care to handle with caution because capsaicin is a general irritant and can “burn” the skin.

Investigators have isolated five “capsaicinoid” components that have different effects on the mouth.  Three give a rapid burn sensation in the back of the palate and throat and the other two a long, slow bite on the tongue and mid-palate.  It appears the variation in the proportions of these components may be responsible for the characteristic “burn” of different peppers.

The hotness of the fruit is indicated in the Scoville scale, which ranges from no heat at zero to pure capsaicin at 16,000,000.  Bell peppers clock in at “0” SR, Jalapeno at 8,000 SR, Tabasco at 50,000 SR and Habanero and 350,000 SR.  The hottest known cultivar, the Bhut Jolokia, an interspecies hybrid largely C. chinense with some C. frutescens genes, originated in Northeast India and has been confirmed by the Guinness World Record to be the hottest pepper available.

It is believed that as plants evolved they gradually developed a set of defense mechanisms with remarkable diversity in biochemical makeup.  These secondary compounds may have no apparent role to play in the metabolism of the plant, but in the defensive life cycle.  Examples of these secondary compounds can be poisonous (ivy) or bitter and toxic (nicotine).  Not always harmful, these secondary compounds can be useful chemicals.  Willow bark gave us the precursor to aspirin, and chili peppers gave us oleoresin capsicum or pepper spray used by law enforcement.  

We relish the pleasure of battle with the genus Capsicum.  At Cindy Lutini’s we love the Capsicum annuum species jalapeno.  In particular, we covet the ripe, smoked jalapeno referred to as a Chipotle.  We make Chipotle tagliatelle or angel hair and only disagree on the preference of heat.  When making our sauce, some of us prefer scallops, some shrimp and others fresh fish.  We all use garlic, wine, fresh herbs, sometimes tomatoes and for those of us who want more heat, a handful of chilis.  We also have served over 1,000 mascarpone and dill stuffed peppadews (Capsicum baccatum) at various events throughout the area.

Our latest battleground is in and around the flowerbeds and gardens of our private residences.  Armed with a liquid mixture that contains a species from Capsicum annuum – namely cayenne, we liberally bath our flowers and plants at bedtime and joyfully awake to continual verdant flower beds and gardens with a mosaic of beautiful colors, textures and shapes.  We don’t think the deer would enjoy our chipotle pasta either, but then we’re not sure how to use long strands of pasta to fend off wildlife.

— Cindy Shultz is the owner and chef at Cindy Lutini’s Pasta for Life. She holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. from John Carroll University.