Search thechileman.org chilli pepper database

thechileman.org database lists everything from the sweet Aconcagua from Argentina to the hot Yung Ko from Taiwan. The chileman database is the largest of its kind in the world and includes information on 3716 varieties and at least one photograph for 2002 varieties.

Our pepper database covers the capsicum genus to the best of our knowledge. Since we first put the database together the number of varieties we know about has risen by more than two hundred. There are still gaps in our knowledge, but the diagrams below give a visual representation of the current database.

The image above shows the heat distribution of the five main domesticated species: Ann. = Annuum. Bac. = Baccatum. Chi. = Chinense. Fru. = Futescens. Pub. = Pubescens. Obviously peppers do not fall into clear groups as their heat level, measured in SHU or Scoville Units, range from zero to perhaps a million. However, our database does categorise by heat and the nine groups we have chosen (clockwise from the top) are: Very Sweet, Sweet, Mild, Medium, Hot, Very Hot, Extremely Hot, Outrageously Hot and Nuclear. The size of the circle represents the number of varieties by species. So from the diagram you can see that the majority of capsicum varieties fall into the sweet and medium categories and are of the Annuum species. You can also say that while mild and even sweet varieties of Chinense peppers do exist, it does tend to be a species dominated by very hot peppers. Please note that although we do not currently have heat data for about almost half of the varieties in our database, we believe the general pattern will remain roughly the same. We will keep the diagram updated as we expand our knowledge.

The image above shows the distribution of pepper species in the database. There are thirty three species in total, with the five domestic species making up the majority of varieties. Some liberties have been taken with the visual representation, as many of the rarer species (such as Anomalum) only represent a single variety, where Annuum accounts for more than one thousand five hundred varieties - almost half our the entire database. We do not currently know the species for roughly a fifth of the varieties in the database.

You can now tranlate the database into Simplified Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portugese, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romainan, Russian and Swedish by clicking on the flags on the results page.


- The database recognises partial names. This is useful if the variety your looking for has either a long name or is difficult to spell. For example Choc or hab can be used if searching for Chocolate habanero. The more accurate you are of course, the more refined your search will be.

- You can use more than one drop down to refine your search. Did you come across a very hot fruity flavoured pepper on a recent holiday to Jamaica? Try selecting very hot, chinense species and Jamaica from the three drop downs.

- Reading the 'Chile Species Guide' and 'Pod Types Guide' will also help improve your chances of finding what your looking for in the database.

Feedback
Have we missed a chile variety? Have we classed a chile as originating in Botswana when in fact it is native to neighbouring Zimbabwe? The chileman welcomes feedback as well as image contributions that help to make the database more complete. All images used are credited to the photographer. We thank you for your continued support with this project.