On Food and Cooking

This spicy aspect of the chillis is what
inspired Columbus to call them peppers,
though they’re not at all related to true black
pepper. (Chilli was the Aztec term.) For
chillis as spices, see chapter 8.
Capsicums are essentially hollow berries,
with a relatively thin, crisp wall of storage
cells (spice types have been selected for very
thin, easily dried fruits; vegetable types such
as the pimiento have been bred for meatier
walls). There are five domesticated species in
the chilli genus Capsicum, with most
vegetable types coming from C. annuum.
Many varieties have been developed that are
mild enough to be eaten as vegetables rather
than condiments, and with a range of colors,
shapes, sweetnesses, and aromas. Capsicums
ripen to shades of yellow, brown, purple, or
red, depending on the mix of pigments (purple
comes from anthocyanins, brown from the
combination of red carotenoids and green
chlorophyll), but all can be picked and eaten