Cayenne pepper, Red Pepper, Whole Chili Pepper and Paprika are all prepared from the dried fruit of the genus Capsicum. These red peppers are grown in many parts of the world especially Japan, West Africa and the southern United States. Read more here...

Pepper are graded by Scoville Heat Units which determines how hot one chili is in comparison to other chilies. As an example Black pepper (not related to capsicum) has a Scoville heat unit of 2500, California Chili 1000, New Mexico Chili 2500, Crushed Red Chili 25,000 to 35,000, Cayenne 40,000 to 60,000. Note: over 500 Scoville heat units will burn the palette.

Paprika is measures by the extractable color called ASTA COLOR ranging from 80 to 160 ASTA COLOR. The level of color value in paprika can be compared to the level of butterfat in milk, the higher the butterfat the higher the cost.

The most commonly run test on spices is the volatile oil. The laboratory method consists of boiling the spice in water and collecting the condensed water and volatile oil. The volatile oil measurement is a fairly reliable indicator of flavor content for those spices where the principle flavoring components are the oils.

Chili pepper is simply ground pure chili peppers, nothing else added except a free-flowing agent in the form of silicon dioxide.

Chili powder is a blended product comprised of ground chili pepper, cumin seed, oregano, garlic and salt. Some chili powders will also contain cloves, allspice and coriander.

Seasonings from bark, root, stems, leaves from aromatic plants usually grown in the tropics. Some are sweet like Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Vanilla Beans.

Leaves grown in temperate zones like Basil, Bay Leaves, Oregano, Mint Marjoram, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon and Thyme.

Caraway, Anise, Cardamom, Celery, Coriander, Cumin and Poppy.

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