Instructions: Both sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum) and chillies ( C. frutescens) are members of the Solanaceae or nightshade family which also includes tomatoes and potatoes. Like them they came from the New World with Columbus in the fifteenth century. A year after his first voyage the first seeds of C. annuum arrived in Spain. It was there that it established itself and got into the kitchens either roasted whole or dried and pounded into a powder to be used instead of the black pepper which had come from India. This ground red pepper was paprika although it did not then have the name but instead was called West indian pepper. This was not only a flavouring but it also added brilliant colour to sauces.

There is a bewildering array of different varieties of capsicums probably over three hundred with a multitude of shapes sizes and colours. These extend from the sweet bell peppers to mildly pungent and hot ones such as the ancho serrano jalapeho poblano and the fiery hot habanero from the West Indies. Peppers particularly red ones are an invaluable source of vitamins C and A. Red peppers also contain an enormous amount of betacarotene a valuable antioxidant.

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