Chilli Anatomy - Understanding Sri Lankan Chilli
Chilli anatomy Description of chillies tend to use terms that are strange to us. To explain them, here is a picture of a chilli, cut and annotated so you can see what is what. What makes chilli hot? The heat in chillies is produced by chemical components called capsaicinoids. These are alkaloid compounds that are produced by glands in the placenta of the fruit. Capsaicinoids are only found only in the fruit and are not present in the stems or leaves of the plant. These are the number of different capsaicinoids, the best known of which is capsaicin, also the most pungent – in its pure form it is rated at 16,000,000 SHU. Oleoresin Capsicum If you look at the ingredient lists of some chilli sauces, you may come across oleoresin capsicum. This is not a type of a plant, but a concentrated form of capsaicinoids extracted from the fruits. Mixing the chilli peppers with an organic solvent produces oleoresin capsicum. The resulting liquid is then...
