Understanding Types of Peppers

When you want to add a little spice to your meal, peppers are often a great way to do so. Peppers come in all shapes and sizes, and not all of them are spicy. It can sometimes be a challenge to tell all the different types of peppers apart because there are so many options that you can choose from. If you want to have the right kind of pepper, you have come to the right place.

The biggest problems with understanding peppers is first that there are so many different types, and second because some peppers have a number of different common names, which makes it difficult when multiple people are talking about the same pepper but using different names for it.

Peppers have actually been classified into six different classes, but to simplify things, we are going to classify them into just two: spicy and mild. While there are certainly different types and levels in both of these categories, it will do well enough for our purposes.

If you want to plant peppers in your own yard, the basic guide is the same. If you want instructions on how to plant peppers, see our guide on growing bell peppers. Here, we discuss the different types of peppers to use. The most common pepper in the United States is the bell pepper. This comes in a variety of colors depending on the ripeness, and is generally very mild. Other mild peppers include paprika, Cherrytime, and Robustinni.

If you want something hotter in your garden, you have plenty of options. A very popular option is the jalapeno, something very common in Mexican food, and still on the milder side. You can get hotter with the red chili or a cayenne pepper. The hottest of the hot is Habanera, which is really only for those who which to have no taste buds left. It is fifty times hotter than a jalapeno.

Something else you might want to consider with peppers is that they can be used as decorations as well as in food. You can dry some out and place it around your house, or you can even use the plant with the pepper still on it as decoration in your yard. Look up pictures of peppers if you want to use this fun option.