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What to eat in South America? Top 7 South American Peppers

Last update: Wed Feb 19 2025
Top 7 South American Peppers
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Best South American Peppers Types

01
Aji amarillo
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Aji amarillo is a staple in Peruvian cuisine, a chile pepper with a bright orange color and thick flesh. Its heat level ranges from medium to hot, and it is commonly used in a variety of soups and sauces. This chile variety is native to South America and has a distinctive, subtle, and full-bodied fruitiness.


It can be bought in a few forms: dried, fresh, canned, or in the form of a paste. When incorporated into sauces, it is often thickened with bread, mayonnaise, and dairy products, and it is then spooned over a variety of meat, fish, and vegetable dishes. 
02
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Aji límo (also known as lemon drop pepper) is a Peruvian hot pepper with a citrusy tang and a Scoville heat unit of 15,000-30,000. When mature, its color becomes golden-yellow, and the flavor becomes fruity, with some people comparing it to fresh lemongrass.


This chili variety is ideal for spicy salsas, hot sauces, and dishes based on chicken or fish. In Peru, it is often used as a seasoning for various main meals and snacks.

03

Hot Pepper

PERU and  one more region
4.4
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Rocoto chile is a type of chili pepper that is believed to have originated in the Andean areas of Peru and Bolivia, where it has long been grown and used as an essential ingredient of traditional cuisine. It belongs to the Capsicum pubescens genus and is characterized by hairy leaves and dark seeds ranging from dark brown to black, while its rather thick and juicy flesh may be of red, orange, yellow, or green color.


Varying in both size and shape, the rocoto chili is renowned for being one of the hottest peppers in the world, and it is distinguished by a rich, fruity, and spicy flavor. Rocoto chilis may be enjoyed fresh as an accompaniment to various dishes, made into chili paste and used as a condiment, or ground to a powder-like consistency and used as a spice. 
04
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Peruvian panca chili, or ají panca as it's known in South America, is the second most common pepper in Peru, grown all along the coast. This deep red to burgundy colored hot pepper is similar in appearance to ají amarillo, only less spicy and has a rather sweet, berry-like, and slightly smoky flavor with a pronounced floral bouquet.


Ají panca can be made into a paste or it can be dried and minced. It is widely used as a seasoning in Peruvian cuisine, especially for various sauces, stews, and fish-based dishes like the famous parihuela seafood soup.

05
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With a Scoville heat score of 50,000 to 100,000, malagueta pepper is about twice hotter than cayenne pepper. This hot pepper variety is mostly used in Brazilian and Portuguese cuisine, although it is also beloved in the Caribbean region.


Malagueta starts out green, and turns bright red as it matures, growing to a size of about 2 inches. It is used in various stews, soups, and poultry dishes, but it can also be made into a hot condiment that brings some serious heat to any dish that it is added into.

06
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Originating from Suriname, Madame Jeanette is a unique hot pepper variety with a smooth pod and a heat unit that ranges from 125,000 to 325,000 on the Scoville scale. It is believed that the hot pepper got its name after a famous Brazilian prostitute, although the correlation is still unclear.


Jeanette comes in two colors – yellow and red, and both are very hot. It varies in shape quite a bit: sometimes, it looks like an elongated bell pepper, other times the peppers are thin, curved, and wrinkled, while some of them are shaped almost like a pumpkin. 
07
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Ají mirasol refers to a specific type of chili pepper that originates from Peru. In its fresh form, it's known as ají amarillo, which translates to "yellow chili". When dried, this chili becomes ají mirasol. Mirasol means "looking at the sun" in Spanish, which is a reference to the way these chilies are sun-dried.


Drying the chili pepper concentrates its flavors, and as such, ají mirasol might have a more intense flavor compared to the fresh version. Ají mirasol is a fundamental ingredient in many Peruvian dishes and gives a unique fruity, moderately spicy flavor. 

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South American Peppers