PrintWhat’s the difference between bell peppers and chili peppers?
July 3rd 2009
Answer:
Bell or sweet peppers and chili peppers are actually from the same family of plants (same as the tomato, in fact!). They were first discovered by the Western world when Columbus travelled to America. At that time, peppercorns were a very prized condiment, so he called these vegetables “peppers”.
The main difference between bell peppers and chili peppers is the spiciness. The spiciness of peppers is measured by using Scoville’s method. This involves extracting the pepper’s spiciness through heat and measuring it on a scale.
Bell peppers measure 0 on the Scolville scale. Chili peppers measure 100. The hottest pepper? The Habanero, which clocks in at 100,000 on the Scolville scale.
3/4 dried chili pepper(s), minced
So the above is not dried pepper flakes? Can I find dried chili peppers in metro?
I recommend to buy the dried chilli peppers, whole, in 50-75 g. bags, because they are inexpensive and keep for a very long time. If you do not find them, you can also use the flakes. To find out more about this subject, you may read About certain foods - Hot (chili) pepper.