Fresh Peruvian yellow peppers (c) Marianne Serra on Flickr*
Ed & Robin: Although Mexican chile peppers seem to get all the press, Peruvians are proud of the long and delicious history of their own varieties. In South America, a hot pepper is called an ají (instead of the Mexican term chile), and the plural is ajíes. Dozens of varieties are cultivated in Peru, but the two most ubiquitous ones are the ají amarillo (yellow pepper), also known as ají mirasol, and the ají rocoto (very spicy red pepper).
How to pronounce them:
- ají ah-HEE
- ajíes ah-HEE-ehs (three syllables)
- (In Spanish, the j is pronounced with a hard, throaty sound, like the German ach)
- Aji amarillo ah-HEE ah-mah-REE-yoe
- Aji rocoto ah-HEE roe-COE-TOE
And just for fun, try this tweak of a classic tongue twister that we just came up with:
- Pedro Perez picked a peck of perfectly piquant pickled Peruvian peppers!
Ají Amarillo and Ají Rocoto
Hot peppers in general are native to the Americas, and like their Mexican counterparts (and the Asian varieties which cropped up when these were taken to that continent), Peruvian peppers belong to the genus Capiscum.
Yellow peppers actually start out green, turn yellow, and are mainly orange in color when ripe and harvested. They are shaped very much like a banana pepper and will typically measure 5 to 7 inches long (13-18 centimeters). In level of piquancy, ají amarillo is “medium,” clocking in at about 30,000-50,000 units on the Scoville scale.
Red Peruvian peppers are shaped somewhat like the innocuous bell pepper, but are considerably smaller and quite fiery in flavor. Larger and fleshier than a habanero pepper, ajíes rocoto are bright red on the outside and have black seeds inside, in contrast to the white seeds common to most peppers. Rocotos vary on the Scoville scale from 50,000-100,000 units, so they are quite a bit “hotter” than their yellow-orange counterparts.
Jarred Peruvian pepper paste (c) Robin Grose
Where to Get Peruvian Peppers
Since ajíes are an integral part of their extensive native cuisine, Peruvians who have immigrated to other Spanish-speaking countries or to North America (many in the 1980s and 90s due to Maoist terrorism in their home country) often grow their own ají plants in containers or in the garden. Seeds for both kinds are available online, if you’d like to try to cultivate these plants.
Both yellow and red Peruvian peppers are occasionally available fresh in farmer’s markets and large supermarkets in the United States. More often, they can usually be found either jarred (in paste form) or frozen in larger Hispanic grocery stores. If nothing else, the jarred paste is readily available online (common brands: Goya, Inca´s Food, Doña Isabel).
Regardless of the form it comes in, use as much or as little ají as you are comfortable with, taking the amount given in a recipe as only a broad guideline.
Peruvian red and yellow peppers in the freezer case (c) Robin Grose
Common Uses of Peruvian Peppers
Ajíes have been used for seasoning, coloring, flavoring, garnishing, and even at times as the main ingredient of much of Peruvian/Andean cuisine. Hundreds of local dishes—a few with roots in ancient times, others developed through 300 years of Spanish colonialism, and some more modern—owe their reputations to these little red and orange bad boys.
- Both yellow and red peppers are often diced or minced and stirred into hot and cold dishes, adding color as well as piquancy and flavor.
- Peruvian red peppers are often pureed with onion, olive oil, celery, and other ingredients to make a spicy table sauce called crema de rocoto that, used sparingly, livens up many types of dishes.
- Rocoto peppers, due to their vibrant color, also lend themselves to be sliced and used as an attractive garnish.
- Ají amarillo is the signature element in a deliciously creamy authentic cheese and hot pepper sauce known as Salsa Huancaína, available in practically any Peruvian restaurant in South Florida, New York, or anywhere else where the Peruvian diaspora has reached. This is popular as a dressing for slices of boiled potatoes in the dish known as Papa a la Huancaína, and can also be used to top pasta or as a dip.
- Tiradito is a dish made with raw fish, similar to ceviche, but with a substantial amount of pureed yellow pepper in the mix.
- Rocotos Rellenos, stuffed Peruvian red peppers usually served as an appetizer, have their origin in the beautiful, mysterious and very independent city of Arequipa, a 15-hour drive south of Lima. The peppers are stuffed with a beef hash (similar to that used in Beef Empanadas), and at first glance may appear to have the very real intention of dangerously burning your tongue and mouth. The particular combination of ingredients, however, produces a dish that, while spicy, delights the tongue and allows it to survive to fight again another day.
Full recipes for dishes that call for Peruvian peppers:
Peppers in Indigenous Peruvian Culture
Hot peppers have a long and winding history in what is now known as the country of Peru. They were already in use by the pre-Incan native cultures. The Incas themselves came to classify food into three different categories; hot peppers fell into the third type, called the Way of Passion, which included foods that are strongly-flavored and spicy. These foods were said to purify a human’s existence, produce joy or tears, increase the appetite, help digestion, and produce saliva.
In pre-Hispanic times, hot peppers were offered to the gods in religious ceremonies and were considered a sacred symbol. The magic-religious connotation that this fruit has enjoyed since ancient times is maintained in Peruvian culture to the present day among indigenous peoples. Proof of this is the fact that the shamans of the Andes still use Peruvian peppers in their rituals and ceremonies, such as the one to figuratively “burn” people who have been possessed by spirits. In addition, many of these healers, as happened in the fasting rituals of the Inca period, fast from hot peppers, salt, and sexual relations before paying tribute to Pachamama (Mother Earth).
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*Complete photo information for photo of fresh Peruvian peppers: (c) Marianne Serra /Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 license, no modifications made
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