The chili pepper, chilli pepper, or more simply just “chili”, is the fruit of the plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Even though chilis may be thought of as a vegetable, their culinary usage is generally as a spice, the part of the plant that is usually harvested is the fruit, and botany considers the plant a berry shrub. The name, which is spelled differently in many regions (chili, chile, or chilli), comes from Nahuatl via the Spanish word chile. The term chili in most of the world refers exclusively to the smaller, hot types of capsicum.

Chilli peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BC and perhaps earlier. There is archaeological evidence at sites located in southwestern Ecuador that chilli peppers were already well domesticated more than 6000 years ago, and is one of the first cultivated crops in the Americas.

The substances that gives chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically are capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) and several related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids. Capsaicin is the primary ingredient in pepper spray.

When consumed, capsaicinoids bind with pain receptors in the mouth and throat that are normally responsible for sensing heat. Once activated by the capsaicinoids, these receptors send a message to the brain that the person has consumed something hot. The brain responds to the burning sensation by raising the heart rate, increasing perspiration and releasing the body’s natural painkilling chemical, endorphin.

The “heat” of chili peppers is measured in Scoville units (SHU). Bell peppers rank at 0 (SHU), New Mexico green chilis at about 1,500 SHU, jalapeños at 3,000–6,000 SHU, and habaneros at 300,000 SHU. The record for the hottest chili pepper was assigned by the Guinness Book of Records to the Naga Jolokia, measuring over 1,000,000 SHU. Pure capsaicin, which is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, crystalline to waxy solid at room temperature, measures 16,000,000 SHU.

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