Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of a series of plants called Capsicum (nightshade family). Chilis are now grown all over the world, but originally, they came from Mexico. They are used as spices or as vegetables, and also have some use in medicine.

A basket of Chile peppers

Chili peppers are completely unrelated to the Piperaceae genus, which Black pepper is from.

History

Pottery that tested positive for Capsicum sp. residues excavated at Chiapa de Corzo in southern Mexico dated from Middle to Late Preclassic periods (400 BCE to 300 CE)

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. Chili peppers were domesticated over 6000 years ago in Mexico.^[1] Since then, chili peppers could be farmed throughout all of Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America.^[2]

Spelling

The word "chili" is spelled differently in different countries. They can be spelled as chili, chilli, and chile. The spelling chile is not to be confused with the country called Chile.

The spelling chili is widely used in the United States^[3] and Canada.^[4] The spelling chilli is widely used in other English-speaking countries.^[5][6] The spelling chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries.^[7]