Chili pepper

Piment

What it is

Columbus, hunting black pepper, found this instead and stubbornly called it “pepper”. Within a single century, Portuguese ships had planted it from West Africa to India to Thailand — the fastest conquest in food history, by a fruit pretending to burn you.

In the kitchen

The heat lives in the white pith, not the seeds. Milk and yogurt douse the fire; water only spreads it.

Goes with

Dark chocolate Mango Garlic Corn Coconut milk Cilantro / Coriander Peanut

Same species

Ají amarillo Ají panca Ajvar Aleppo pepper Ancho chilli Bell pepper

Also used with

Agave syrup Agretti Ajwain Amchur Anardana Anchovy paste

In season alongside

Black trumpet Chile piquín Piquillo pepper

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