Chili Peppers
Every so often I have a customer ask me for a chili pepper. This is never a fun moment for me. I'll ask what kind and get a blank, confused look back 100% of the time. "Chili peppers," they'll finally say, as if maybe I didn't hear the question. So, I'll turn around and show them my entire pepper section: jalapeņos, pablanos, Italian peppers, Anaheim, and four colors of the sweet bell peppers. "Which ones are chili peppers?" The truth does not alleviate any confusion. "They're ALL chili peppers."
Confused too? A chili pepper is the fruit of a plant from the genus capsicum. Yes, I wrote FRUIT, as botanically speaking peppers are berries (but we call them vegetables when referring to them in a culinary sense). But the point isn't that they're berries. The point is that chili is the name for a wide family of different peppers; so there isn't just one kind.
So yes, those extra-large sweet bell peppers are indeed chili peppers. So are the ultra-hot and very tiny habaneros. If you have a recipe that simply calls for chili peppers with no other hint of what type, then you are forgiven. And your recipe is flawed. Instead, look for a recipe that properly names the pepper that it needs so you can get a better sense of what flavor, what heat index, what amount, etc., that is actually required for your dish.
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