[Sca-cooks] peppers vs. chilies

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jul 24, 2005, at 3:27 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

>   Margaret Northwode declared:
>
>> > two varieties of peppers
>>
>> Whoops - chiles.
>>
>> Alton Brown would roast me with a side of cheese dip or something.
>>
>
> Okay, so what is the difference between "peppers" and "chilies"?

"peppers" is fairly generic, whereas "chiles" is is pretty specific.  
The genre (note that I'm not using the word "genus") includes both  
peppercorns and capsicums, while the specific subset of chiles is  
always a capsicum and usually at least somewhat hot in flavor.

> I've often heard "chili peppers" as well.

The aforementioned hottish capsicums, as distinguished from  
peppercorns or sweet peppers such as Bells (which are also capsicums  
but not remotely hot).

Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04