A Guide to Hot Peppers

The end of summer means it’s hot pepper season! This is the perfect time of year to add some hot peppers to your cooking or preserve them for the winter months! Unfamiliar with hot peppers? We created this guide to help you learn more about each type and how to use them!

Cayenne

The primary flavor of cayenne is defined by a hot, fiery effect on the taste buds. Despite the heat contained in these red peppers, cayenne has a fairly mild aroma. Given its high heat levels, cayenne is best used in small amounts while cooking to guarantee this concentrated spice doesn’t overtake a dish.

Jalapeños

Jalapeños are typically picked (and eaten) while they are still green in color and not totally ripe. In their green form, jalapeños tend to have a bright, grassy flavor. They can even have a slight bitterness to their taste. When red they lose the bright, bitter flavor and gain in sweetness and often overall median heat.

Serrano

Serranos are similar to jalapeños, but are smaller in size and have more heat. They have a similar bright and fresh flavor.

Capperino

These are a hot cherry pepper with a moderate heat level. Their shape makes them great for stuffing and pickling!

Fish

These hot peppers start out white, turn stripy green, and then red as they mature. They are great for making hot sauce. Learn more about their history in this region here!

Habanero

Habaneros are scorching hot! If you can taste past the heat, they are also fruity, smoky, tropical and even sweet. They are excellent for hot sauces and rubs.

Fresno

The Fresno pepper looks and tastes much like a jalapeño, but slightly hotter. Fresno peppers mature from green to red as they grow, and increase in heat.

Aji Crystal 

Aji Crystal chile peppers have a subtle citrus flavor and are often harvested young when they are light green-yellow and when the heat is less intense. When bright orange-red and fully ripe, the peppers develop a much hotter level of spice and the citrus flavors deepen into a smokier, fruity taste.

Scotch Bonnet

Scotch bonnets are extremely hot! However, they can have an almost sweet, vaguely fruity taste underlying the spice

Paper Lantern

Hot Paper Lantern chili peppers have a subtly sweet, fruity flavor followed by an intense, very hot level of spice that is centered in the back of the throat.

Sugar Rush Peach

The flavor of Sugar Rush Peach peppers is, of course, sweet. It also has a very fresh, slightly vegetal flavor. There are also muted undertones of tropical fruit when eaten raw. This means that the Sugar Rush Peach is a perfect ingredient for fruity salsa, or to spice up a bean chili dish.

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