Some Like It Hot! A Guide to the Pepper Aisle

Frittata with bell pepper (The Simple Veganista)

Peppers come in all shapes, sizes and heat levels. If you are shopping for peppers at the farmers’ market, farm shop or grocery, here’s a guide on which type is which, and how to use them in your vegan dishes!

Never rub your eyes after chopping chilli peppers, without first washing your hands. Ouch!

Keep peppers away from young children and pets (many spicy recipes also contain ingredients unsafe to pets like garlic, onion and shallots). 

Unless you have a food waste bin (made into biogas), just bin acidic or spicy produce scraps like peppers, onion/garlic/shallot/leeks/chives, to avoid harm to earthworms and other compost creatures.

For tinned peppers, rinse/remove lids (or pop ring-pulls over holes) then step on the can to pinch the inner rims together, to avoid wildlife getting trapped at recycling points.

A quick guide to different types of peppers

Peppers are classed on the Scoville Heat Unit guide, which shows the amount of capsaicin (which causes the burning sensation), ranging from 0 (sweet bell peppers) to blow your head off heat!

If you eat food that’s too spicy, don’t drink water, as this will just swish the capsaicin around your mouth. Instead, drink a glass of lemonade or eat a bit of bread, more effective.

Mild and sweet peppers

• Bell peppers (0) are sold in different colours, the green is less sweet, while red peppers are sweetest. They are popular in Mediterrean stir-fries or stuff with rice or quinoa with beans and cheesy nutritional yeast.
• Pimento peppers (100 to 500) are tangy and sweet, often added to salads and sandwiches). It’s also often used to make vegan pimento cheese.
• Pepperoncini – little peppers (900) are mild tangy peppers with a vinegar bite, often pickled.
• Poblano peppers (above, 1000 to 2000)  are rich and earthy, and good when roasted to intensify their smoky flavour.

Medium heat peppers 

Black bean chipotle chilli (Cupful of Kale)

• Jalapeño (2500 to 10,000) is the most popular global hot pepper, the heat is mostly in the white membranes, so removing these and the pith produces a much milder flavour.
• Chipotle (8000) is actually a smoke-dried jalapeño, with a woody-sweet flavour.
• Serrano (10,000 to 23,000) is a step-up (9 times hotter!) It’s often used in salsa.

Hot heat peppers (getting spicy!)

Mango Habanero Cauliflower Wings (Jessica in the Kitchen)

• Cayenne (25,000 to 50,000) is often used in powder form in recipes.
• Tabasco (50,000) is added to tomato sauce to make it spicy. Sometimes with vegan Worcestershire sauce.
• Thai chilli (50,000 to 100,000) is used for curries, stir-fries and dipping sauces in Southeast Asian food.
• Habanero (100,000 to 350,000) is the beginning of wheere peppers cross to searing heat. This is often used in Latin dishes and Caribbean food (including jerk seasoning).

Extremely hot (for the brave!)

Ghost pepper (1 million) is also known as ‘Bhut Jolokia’). Hailing from northeast India, this has a slow-burn and smoky fruit flavour.  But don’t be fooled – it’s 100 times hotter that most spicy peppers. Eating just one can cause hiccups and tears! It’s said that the Indian military used it in the past in ‘ghost pepper grenades’ to immobilse suspects.

Also in India, locals bake the pepper with elephant dung, and shape into ‘ghost pepper bricks’. Elephants have a very keen sense of smell, so this is being used as a humane deterrent to elephants raiding crops. Read more tips and inventions to help save endangered elephants.