Please clarify confusion between chillies and pepper? [duplicate]

Chili and pepper are not the same thing however people just refer to chilies as peppers interchangeably.

As far as I'm aware the difference is that peppers contain pipirine coming from the piper plant(such as black pepper, long pepper) whereas chillies contain capsaicin coming from capsicum plant and this is mutually exclusive.

This scoville chart https://www.pinterest.com/pin/148196643973566417/ shows bell peppers as containing no capsaicin so why is it in the list and is it considered a chili?

I'm confused Please clarify.

Best Answer

When people talk about "peppers" (plural), they are referring to the fruit of capsicum plants. This includes both hot and "bell" peppers.

The singular "pepper" is used to talk about "peppercorns", which are in no way related to capsicums. And although white, green and black pepper are different ways of processing the same spice (containing pipirine), the term "peppercorn" is also used to talk about botanically unrelated spices (red, pink, scichuan, etc.)

Here's the current text of the relevent section from Translating cooking terms between US / UK / AU / CA / NZ :

Capsicum (AU) / bell pepper (US) is a pepper (UK). Note that for people with a biology background 'capsicum' also includes hot peppers (aka chilies or chili peppers)

Peppers (US) (note the plural), is typically short for chili peppers unless qualified as sweet peppers or bell peppers, or specified as peppercorn.

Colored peppers (US), (eg, red peppers, green peppers), typically refers to bell peppers unless qualified (eg, 'hot red peppers', 'small red peppers')

Pepper (US) (note the singular) refers to black peppercorns unless otherwise qualified.

Red pepper (US, note the singular) refers to dried, red chilies (typically cayenne) that has been dried and ground or crushed.

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Please clarify confusion between chillies and pepper? [duplicate] - Assorted Spices on Black Cooking Pan

Please clarify confusion between chillies and pepper? [duplicate] - Photo of Chili Peppers

Please clarify confusion between chillies and pepper? [duplicate] - Selective Focus Photography of Bunch of Chilies

What is the difference between a chilli and a pepper?

A pepper is a member of the genus \u201cPiper\u201d while chilies are members of the genus \u201cCapsicum.\u201d The berries in plants of the Piper genus contain piperine, a chemical associated with a biting sensation. Although peppers are often referred as \u201chot\u201d or \u201cspicy\u201d chilies are even spicier.

How do you tell the difference between a chilli and a capsicum plant?

Capsicums (Capsicum annuum) and chillies (Capsicum frutescens) originate from South and Central America. The same fruit is called bell pepper or sweet pepper in the USA and Britain. The term chilli refers to fruit which is usually cone-shaped and smaller and the pungency may be mild to intensely hot.

How can you tell the difference between peppers?

As bell peppers ripen, they get sweeter. Green bell peppers are slightly bitter and the least sweet, while red bell peppers are the sweetest. These Slow Cooker Stuffed Bell Peppers will get dinner on the table quickly without heating up the kitchen.

What is the taste of chillies and pepper?

Flavor + Heat Describing the flavor of a chili pepper is challenging because there are over 200 varieties of chili peppers and each variety has its own unique flavor (ranging from sweet to smokey). Sweet \u2013 Typically the larger chili pepper varieties. These tend to be the most mild.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Live at Slane Castle 2003 Full Concert (High Quality)

More answers regarding please clarify confusion between chillies and pepper? [duplicate]

Answer 2

Despite the controversy above here is an answer.

In short, despite them being in the same family (but different genus), green peppers are included on a lot of scoville lists and lists about peppers/chilies because people use the term interchangeably; that and they are a good baseline for comparing spice (a lot of people have had a green pepper, while fewer have had a Thai Ghost Pepper, right?) This is no different than any other colloquial phrase we see in daily life when people use (sometimes incorrect) words to identify an object (e.g. North American "Buffalo" is a type of Bison, too "hot" in reference to something's level of spice instead of saying spicy).

People are inherently lazy so if it looks like something, and they don't know better, they will use the word they know. So what is a pepper becomes a chili and vice versa.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Engin Akyurt, Engin Akyurt, Engin Akyurt, Glaucio Guerra