Defined by its pungency, coming in many shapes and varieties, the chili pepper holds its secrets close to its heart. For example, how to categorize it? Are chilies fruits or vegetables?
It is not on the food pyramid, but looking at what is, it seems, at first, clear where the chili pepper lies. It definitely is nothing like a sweet, pulpy banana, or a juicy, tart orange, nor as easy to eat as a plump pear.
For one thing, chili peppers aren’t sweet! Sure, sometime a bell pepper can have a tiny bit of sweetness, but that’s the exception, not the rule. The other well-known chilies – jalapenos, serranos, poblanos – are known for another characteristic.
Fire.
Vegetable seems a better fit. Spinach and broccoli are (mostly) the same color, while garlic and onions also add flavor to food. At least in appearance, chili peppers = vegetable. But something doesn’t seem quite right.
In fact, its quite easy to determine the truth. Chilies, with their internal, edible seeds, are most definitely a fruit. Along with tomatoes, zucchini, okra, and eggplant, they are the most common fruits-eaten-like vegetables. Other veggie-like fruits include, basically, anything not sweet, with seeds, that needs to be consumed to be propagated. Vegetables, on the other hand, are the edible parts of plants, often (but not always) lacking seeds.
Chilies straddle the border, a fruit technically, a vegetable in our salads and curries. Perhaps some of the confusion comes from the fact that, well, chili peppers don’t want to be eaten by us. That’s why they produce capaicum, the chemical substance that is felt by our tongues as pungent spiciness. Their intended targets are birds, who cannot taste capaicum and thus transported chili peppers seeds far and wide in South America (but not as far and wide as us)
All mammals, in fact, stay away from chilies, with once important exception.
US.
Another definite fruit characteristic is that, despite the presence of capaicum, chilies are in fact incredibly healthy. They have more Vitamin C than oranges, more Vitamin A than tomatoes, and are significant sources of Magnesium, Iron, and Thiamine.
There’s only one problem. We rarely consume enough chili pepper, especially the healthier, spicier varieties to get much benefit, though I am sure there are some of you there who could contest that fact.
So pile on that chili powder, hot sauce, or gochujang. While it may not be as sweet as the other fruits we’ve come to love, that doesn’t mean the chili pepper is any less delicious.
is it or not?
Yes, chilies are fruits!
so, the chillies are fruits?
True! high on vitamin c and a, but the magnesium that human body will not produce…..Its been in my foods since I was 5 yrs old, I heal fast and digestive systems is great
Yes you are right
Guys, chillies are fruits.
I knew that already
Chile is a fruit. Chili is a recipe.
Dear David,
I hope you realize that you’re the only person on this thread that knows what they’re talking about. Hats off to you, David.
Chile is a country, chili is a recipe, chilli is a fruit.
It depends on what your location is. Chili is the most common spelling, chile is how it’s spelled in Spanish. I live in Thailand, they spell it พริก. They’re all correct, so there’s no need to be pseudo “orthodox”. 😉
I love chili and curry and samosas and curry puffs
Chili is not a fruit. It is a life style.
Don’t forget Voodoo Chile by Jimi
Conflicts between farmers and elephants have long been widespread in African and Asian countries, where elephants nightly destroy crops, raid grain houses, and sometimes kill people. Farmers have found the use of chilies effective in crop defense against elephants. Elephants do not like capsaicin, the chemical in capsicum chilies that makes them hot. Because the elephants have a large and sensitive olfactory and nasal system, the smell of the chili causes them discomfort and deters them from feeding on the crops. By planting a few rows of the pungent fruit around valuable crops, farmers create a buffer zone through which the elephants are reluctant to pass. Chili dung bombs are also used for this purpose. They are bricks made of mixing dung and chili, and are burned, creating a noxious smoke that keeps hungry elephants out of farmers’ fields. This can lessen dangerous physical confrontation between people and elephants. Birds do not have the same sensitivity to capsaicin, because it targets a specific pain receptor in mammals. Chili peppers are eaten by birds living in the chili peppers’ natural range, possibly contributing to seed dispersal and evolution of the protective capsaicin in chili peppers.