Chile Glossary

Chiles or chile peppers are the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae. Even though they may be thought of as a vegetable, their culinary usage is generally as a spice. The part of the plant that is usually harvested is the fruit, and botany considers the plant itself a berry shrub. San Diego, California, and the Florida peninsula may be the only locales in the United States where tropical perennials such as chile peppers frequently survive from one growing season to the next.