Chili Pepper Identification

March 11, 2011 5:57 PM

Help me identify the variety of some chili peppers.

Images are here

I'm trying to identify some chilies that I bought at the Lower Hutt, New Zealand markets, the varieties weren't labeled on the bins they were in.

I think some of them might be asian varieties since the markets are mostly run by Chinese people.

Thanks!

posted by dohmer to food & drink (11 answers total)

6= Thai dragon
7= Serrano
8= Not sure of their name but they pack a heat for their size. I like to eat them straight because they have a great sweetness to them.
posted by zombieApoc at 6:02 PM on March 11, 2011

I suspect 2 = a habanero, but I'm only about 85% on that
posted by zombieApoc at 6:03 PM on March 11, 2011

#8 looks like what's sold here in the States as "Thai chili." Agree with zombieApoc: pretty hot!

Here's a great Wikipedia article that I've used for chili ID before. You definitely want to be careful... some of those chilis are super mild, and others will, like, melt your face off!
posted by ErikaB at 6:06 PM on March 11, 2011

1 - Jalepeno 2 - Habenero (Very hot!) 3 - Not sure 4. - Mild Green chili (Chili Verde) 5- not sure 6 - Thai chili (pretty hot) 7. not sure but looks like a New Mexico variety 8. We call these 'Hawaiian chilis' here and they are very hot too. Those are my guesses. Good luck!
posted by Muirwylde at 6:07 PM on March 11, 2011

2 habanero, 8 i've seen these guys on chicago style hotdogs, 1 ancho or poblano?

not sure though...

2 could be a "Ghost pepper"

Good luck though. its kind of hard to identify peppers because they are soo promiscuous with their genes. I read an article a while ago in smithsonian magazine about peppers, and the scientist was looking for peppers of the same species that varied in their capcasian levels. He postulated that the heat from capcasian helps to keep fungi away. Fungi that may be transmitted by sucking bugs.
posted by djpuddings at 6:10 PM on March 11, 2011

I'm pretty sure that 7 are serrano peppers. I really say for the rest--I'm not really a pepper person.

However, I do want to give you a word of caution: taste a small bit of whatever you use before you do something like toss a whole pepper into a sauce. I got a ridiculous amount of hot peppers last summer from my CSA, and even boring ones like the Jalepenos varied a lot in heat from one harvest to another. Some of them weren't very impressive and some of them burned a hole through the bottom of the box. I don't know if they get hotter the longer they're left on the vine or what, but since yours aren't from huge store/crop either, watch out.
posted by phunniemee at 6:12 PM on March 11, 2011

(4) looks like an Anaheim to me, and (1) like a (ripe) ancho/poblano type. (6) could be a cayanne type, and (8) could be a tabasco type
posted by drlith at 6:29 PM on March 11, 2011

Peppers are hard to identify by sight, for the reasons phunniememee describes.

From the land of the Chile Pepper Institute, here are my guesses:

1 - poblano
2 - tomato pepper, rocoto, or cherry pepper (usually somewhat hot but not crazy hot)
3 & 4 both look like child verde varieties (Anaheim if they're mild, NM chiles like Big Jim and Hatch if they're hot)
5 - maybe red jalapenos (though they seem fat)
6 - Thai dragon or cayenne
7 - might be Serranos
8 - Thai chiles (djpuddings I bet you had giardinara which uses waxy-type small peppers nohere near that hot)
posted by answergrape at 6:51 PM on March 11, 2011

I am 85 percent sure that 2 is not a habanero. (I suspect it does have some heat, though.) The walls look too thick and the "cap" where the stem attaches looks too large and fleshy.

Since you are in NZ, I wouldn't trust the chile-identification prowess of anyone from the US; you're likely dealing with different varieties than we get here.
posted by purpleclover at 7:31 PM on March 11, 2011

Thanks everyone, I have seen poblano, serrano and habanero peppers in shops before so they probably are those varieties.

I've been trying to get into cooking Mexican food and it's been a challenge to find the right chilies at non-ridiculous prices.
posted by dohmer at 7:38 PM on March 11, 2011

8 is known as birdseye chilli in NZ.
posted by goo at 8:28 PM on March 11, 2011