Chili Peppers Dealers in Pappanaickenpalayam, Coimbatore (1 products available)

Chili peppers, despite their fiery “hotness”, are one of very popular spices known for their medicinal and health benefiting properties. The chili, actually, is a fruit pod from the plant belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae), within the genus, capsicum.   Scientific name: Capsicum annum. Some of other common members in the Solanaceae family are tomato, aubergine , potato , etc. The chili plant is native to Central American region where it was employed as one the chief spice ingredients in Mexican cuisine for centuries. It was later introduced to the rest of the world by Spanish and Portuguese explorers during 16th and 17th centuries, and today grown widely in many parts of the world as an important commercial crop. Several cultivars of chili peppers are grown all around the world. Chili plant is a small, perennial shrub with woody stem, growing up to a meter in height. It bears white flowers which subsequently develop into fruit pods of variable size, shape, color, and pungency. Depending on the cultivar type, their hotness ranges from mild, fleshy (Mexican bell peppers) to fiery, tiny, Nag Jalokiya chili peppers of Indian subcontinent. The hotness of chili is measured in “Scoville heat units” (SHU). On the Scoville scale, a sweet bell pepper scores 0, a jalapeño pepper around 2,500-4,000 units, and a Mexican habañeros may have 200,000 to 500,000 units. Inside, each fruit features numerous tiny, white, or cream colored, circular, flat seeds which clinging around the central white-placenta. To harvest, chilies can be picked up while they are green, or when they reach complete maturity and dry on the plant itself. In general, the fruits are ready for harvesting once they mature and turn red. They are then left to dry under sun and srink in size. Chilies have a strong spicy taste that comes to them from the active alkaloid compounds: capsaicin, capsanthin and capsorubin.Health benefits of chili peppers Chili pepper contains an impressive list of plant derived chemical compounds that are known to have disease preventing and health promoting properties. Chilies contain health benefiting an alkaloid compound in them, capsaicin, which gives them strong spicy pungent character. Fresh chili peppers, red and green, are rich source of vitamin-C. 100 g fresh chilies provide about 7 µg or about 240% of RDA. They are also good in other antioxidants such as vitamin-A, and flavonoids like ß-carotene, α-carotene, lutein, zea-xanthin, and cryptoxanthin. Chilies contain a good amount of minerals like potassium, manganese, iron, and magnesium. Chilies are also good in B-complex group of vitamins such as niacin, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that human body requires them from external sources to replenish.