CULTIVATION & VARIETIES
India is now the biggest producer, consumer, and exporter of dried chilly in the world, and many different varieties are grown, let’s look at some of the most important:
- Kashmiri chili, sold usually as a powder and used mostly for its great brilliant red color and pleasant aroma. It is very mild, barely spicy at all (2000 SHU), like Hungarian Paprika, but more aromatic and capable of lending its brilliant color to dishes. It is native of Kashimir, the northern mountain state, but most of what is sold as Kashmiri Chilli is almost never the real deal and often some other mild, deep-red-colored variety (like Byadagi)
- Bhut jolokia pepper, also known as the Ghost Pepper, grown in Assam in the north-east of the country, is one of the spiciest chili peppers on the world. This variety is absurdly hot, and when grown in the special climatic condition in Assam it is even hotter, reaching values of over 1 Million SHU (SHU, Scoville Hotness Units, is the standard unit used to measure hotness )
- Jwala pepper is one of the most consumed chillis in India, both fresh (green) and dried (red); its called finger chilli for its long and slender shape. Hotness rated at 20-30k
- Guntur; Guntur is the district in Andhra Pradesh in which most of the chilli production in India is concentrated, and it gives the name to a variety (Guntur Sannam) that is very popular and hot. Improved hybrids of Guntur are Teja, 334 and Wonder Hot.
- Dhani, or bird’s eye chilli is another favorite in India for its hotness, it also has a nice red color. The curious name has no clear origin, someone suggest it is because they are spread by birds (that do not perceive hotness and so eat even the spiciest of chillis) or because they are very small and resemble a bird’s eye.
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