Capsicum - The Chile Pepper Family!Capsicum, part of the nightshade family, comes from the Greek word kapto meaning "to bite". Gee I wonder where they came up with that? Although best know for the hotter varieties of chile peppers, there are actually hundreds with varying levels of heat.
In the Capsicum genus there are five major species of chile peppers: 1. annuum - this variety includes bell, and wax peppers, with no heat at all, and the mildly hot jalapeņo, NuMex, and serranos. 2. baccatum - this South American species of Capsicum is distinguished by it's berry like peppers, most notably the Aji. 3. chinense - originally thought, incorrectly, to be "from China", this species is know to be extremely pungent and aromatic. The most widely know varieties include the habanero grown commercially in Texas and California, the datil from St. Augustine, Florida, and the scotch bonnet from the Carribean. 4. frutescens - this species is known for its bushy plant, tabasco is the most common variety, along with the Brazilian malagueta. 5. pubescens - by far the least diverse of pepper species, the only domesticated form, distinguished by the hairy pods such as the fiery rocoto pepper.
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