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Chili Species

To many, a chili pepper simply describes a small member of the Capsicum family that is ‘hot’ to the taste. To the more adventurous lovers of the fiery pod, there are many different varients known by common names such as Jalapeno, Habanero and Scotch Bonnet with varying degrees of heat as determined...

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Chili – A Confused Little Word

Posted by Jon | Posted in chili facts | Posted on 19-02-2010

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Chili! You would not believe one little word can cause such contention simply in its spelling. Whilst reviewing the possibilities for my new website last week, I was astonished to find so many variants. To the mind of an Englishman, there was only possibility, Chille, but in overall search results on the internet in the month of November 2009, only 25,000 used this morphology, where as over 7.5 million opted for the version chili. I initially put this down to the differences in UK and US English (colour/color, favourite/favorite), but not so. Chile, Chilli, Chily and Chilly were also far more popular than my proposed suggestion and by some way.

So which one is correct? It is by all accounts a common question and has indeed fueled many arguments over the subject. There are many accepted versions. Chile with an “e” at the end is the correct spelling in Spanish. Chili with an “i” at the end is the Americanised version. The “i” version began with the name of the dish “Carne con Chili,” meaning “Meat with Chile.” It evolved into “Chili con Carne” and then shortened to just “Chili.” The term ending with an “i” is widely accepted and is often used as the name for “Chili Powder.” The term “Chile” with an “e” is the more correct way to spell it. So there you have it. For me it makes little difference – chilies are chillis – we should just keep them that way

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