Peppers are Hot

Peppers come in endless variety from fiery red to cool white to royal purple, from sweet and mild to incendiary. Experts say there are over 1,000 varieties. Latin American and Near Eastern cuisines have brought an explosion of peppers into our national cuisine—and confusion abounds. We adopted the name chile from Mexico, pimento from the Spanish, and kept the word “pepper” from the English. Add to that our inexperience and mislabeling of varieties, and we have a peck of peppers nearly impossible to sort out. But we are nothing if not intrepid. Follow along.