Post by drbanks on Sept 14, 2017 5:42:29 GMT -5
Capsicum Annum
Of the five major species of peppers that are cultivated for human consumption, Capsicum Annuum is the most common. It is the dog of the chile world in that the species has been subject to so much selective breeding that you can pick two different cultivars that are completely different from each other, yet are technically the same species.
Jalapenos, Bell Peppers, Thai Peppers, Cayenne Pepper ("red pepper"), Anaheim, Fresnos, Poblanos, Serrano, Italian, Paprika, Sweet, Hot or Ornamental, most peppers that you run into (unless insanely hot) are probably going to be Capsicum Annuum. Which is a wildly misleading name: "Annuum" would seem to imply that it's an annual plant. It isn't. Like all Capsicums, it's a perennial. Keep it from freezing, and you can probably get a couple good years out of it. Maybe more.
Like all of genus Capsicum, this plant is a descendant from the original "bird pepper" that was unique to the Western Hemisphere. Even though you can find variants cultivated all over the world, it wasn't until Christopher Columbus bumped into the "new world" and thinking it was India, named these nightshades "Peppers" since the whole point of his journey to was to come up with a cheaper way to procure black pepper for Spain (yes, black pepper really used to be that valuable). Of course, Capsicum is in no way related to the plant that produces black pepper corns, nor do the harvests look even remotely similar.
If you run into a new variety of pepper, and it's not liable to kill you with heat, it's probably a Capsicum Annuum. Which itself is worth celebrating.
Of the five major species of peppers that are cultivated for human consumption, Capsicum Annuum is the most common. It is the dog of the chile world in that the species has been subject to so much selective breeding that you can pick two different cultivars that are completely different from each other, yet are technically the same species.
Jalapenos, Bell Peppers, Thai Peppers, Cayenne Pepper ("red pepper"), Anaheim, Fresnos, Poblanos, Serrano, Italian, Paprika, Sweet, Hot or Ornamental, most peppers that you run into (unless insanely hot) are probably going to be Capsicum Annuum. Which is a wildly misleading name: "Annuum" would seem to imply that it's an annual plant. It isn't. Like all Capsicums, it's a perennial. Keep it from freezing, and you can probably get a couple good years out of it. Maybe more.
Like all of genus Capsicum, this plant is a descendant from the original "bird pepper" that was unique to the Western Hemisphere. Even though you can find variants cultivated all over the world, it wasn't until Christopher Columbus bumped into the "new world" and thinking it was India, named these nightshades "Peppers" since the whole point of his journey to was to come up with a cheaper way to procure black pepper for Spain (yes, black pepper really used to be that valuable). Of course, Capsicum is in no way related to the plant that produces black pepper corns, nor do the harvests look even remotely similar.
If you run into a new variety of pepper, and it's not liable to kill you with heat, it's probably a Capsicum Annuum. Which itself is worth celebrating.