Getting to Know Your Peppers: A Guide to Choosing the Right Pepper for You

Peppers are a wonderfully diverse food. They range from delightfully sweet to insanely hot, and they can be used for all sorts of fun in the kitchen, everything from main dishes to seasoning to spreads. We roast them, pickled them, stuff them, blend them, and imagine them in every which we can.

For some of us, though, the whole pepper game can feel a little daunting. There are so many to choose from. Dozens upon dozens of pepper varieties are out there to try. Some are great for stuffing. Some make awesome hot sauce. Others can be used for jellies. But, which ones do we choose for which task?

If you don’t know, you don’t know. And, we have come to help with the situation. It’s time to get to know your peppers and learn some of the go-to varieties for different tasks. Then, you’ll be off and running.

Source: Nature Fresh Farms/YouTube

For Stuffing

One of the most popular things to do with peppers is to stuff them. When stuffing a pepper, it’s good to have a skin thick enough to hold up and a cavity large enough to get plenty of stuffing in it.

For larger, main dish stuff peppers, the basic bell pepper is a long-standing winner. Another great choice, especially for Mexican and Southwestern stuffed peppers, is the poblano pepper.

Jalapeños and Anaheim peppers are also good for stuffing. Jalapeño poppers are always a crowd-pleaser. Stuffed Anaheim peppers also make a great appetizer.

For Hot Sauce

The art of making a good hot sauce is different for different taste buds. Some people like a hot sauce with a touch of spice and a lot of flavor. Others simply like to play a game of fiery Risk. So, the spectrum of peppers we can use for hot sauce is huge.

For those looking for less spice and more flavor, jalapeño and serrano peppers are a great milder choice. They can be made even milder by roasting them first.

No surprise, Tabasco peppers are an ideal hot sauce. After all, their namesake hot sauce is beloved the world over. Habanero peppers are another awesome choice for middling—that’s right, middling—spiciness.

Hot sauces made for high-level heat might India’s ghost pepper or the Carolina reaper, known to top the Scoville scale.

Source: Pepper Geek/YouTube

For Pickling

Peppers are well-suited for homespun pickling. They stand up to the vinegar without getting soft and mushy, as cucumbers are prone to do. And, few things kick up a sandwich experience quite the way nibbling on a pickled pepper between bites does.

Most of the time we want our pickled peppers to have a bit of bite but not so much that we can’t simply eat them in a chomp or two. So, large peppers aren’t the best for pickling, and spicy peppers aren’t a great choice for most of us.

Banana peppers and jalapeños are great for those hoping for a shot of spice. Pimento peppers are great pickling peppers for those who prefer sweetness over spice.

For Seasoning

Some peppers are great for dehydrating and whizzing into powder or flakes. Smoking peppers before doing this is also another way to kick up the flavor.

Paprika is derived from paprika (Longum group) pepper varietals. It’s popular in Spain and Hungary, and smoked paprika is also wonderful. Another popular smoked pepper spice is the poblano, which becomes “ancho” when smoked, and it has a bit more kick than paprika.

Other peppers that work perfectly for powdered spice are cayenne and jalapeño. Smoked jalapeños are called chipotle peppers.

Source: A Fork’s Tale/YouTube

For Jelly

Pepper jelly is an often-unsung hero in the jelly/jam scene. It’s a fun spread that’s much more diverse than typical jellies. Pepper jelly works nicely on savory sandwiches, as well as breakfast biscuits.

Classically, pepper jelly has a base starting point of ripe bell peppers, which bring their own unique sweetness. Lots of people like to add flavorful spicy peppers to the mix, too. Jalapeño and habanero are classics for this.

There are lots of other peppers to play with. Shishito peppers have become popular for roasting. They are generally sweet and mild with a roulette-like personality that now and then will come up with a spice bomb of a pepper. Scotch bonnets and Thai (Bird’s eye) chilis are other popular spicy peppers, each much higher in Scoville than jalapeños.

With this basic get-to-know-you with popular peppers, it’ll be easy to get your toes wet and start to play in the spice pool a little more frequently.

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