African Red Devil pepper - Capsicum frutescens

Public Domain Photo: African red devil pepper with ripe and unripe fruits

African Red Devil pepper (other names: Piri Piri, Pili Pili, Bird's Eye Chili, African Devil) is a cultivar of Capsicum frutescens that grows both in the wild and as a cultivated crop. The plants grow 45 to 120 cm tall, and the fruits measure up to 8 to 10 cm. Thai Chili peppers (aka phrik khi nu, siling labuyo, etc.) of the subspecies Capsicum frutescens L. are a similar and related variety commonly found in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore. It can also be found in India (mainly in Kerala, known as Kanthari Mulagu) and rural Sri Lanka (known as Kochchi in Sinhalese).The name Bird's Eye Chili is also used for the North American Chiltepin pepper.

It is an extremely spicy member of the Capsicum genus, with its ‘heat’ measure up to 175,000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units), while Bell Peppers rank at 0 SHU, New Mexico green chilies at about 1,500 SHU and Habaneros at 300,000 SHU. The record for the hottest chili pepper was assigned by Guinness World Records to the Naga Jolokia from India (also known as Bhut Jolokia, Ghost Chili, Nai Mirris, Cobra Chilli, etc), measuring over 1,000,000 SHU, while pure capsaicin (the substance that make chili peppers hot), measures only 16,000,000 SHU.

Photos of similar varieties are below:

Public Domain Photos: Peppers of the subspecies Capsicum frutescens L. variously known as Thai chili peppers, phrik khi nu, siling labuyo, Kanthari Mulagu, Kochchi, etc.

Pickled peperoncini - Capsicum annuum

Public Domain Photo 1: Pickled Peperoncini

Public Domain Photo 2: Pickled Peperoncini (or fefferoni) in a Swedish restaurant

Peperoncini (or pepperoncini), a variety of Capsicum annuum, like bell peppers and chili peppers, are also known as Tuscan peppers, sweet Italian peppers and golden Greek peppers. In Italy these mild peppers are called friggitello (plural friggitelli) or generally peperone (plural peperoni) like other sweet varieties of peppers. Peperoncini are commonly pickled and sold packaged in jars.

Lemon fruit and lemon flowers

Public Domain photos: (1) Lemon fruit, (2) lemon flowers

Lemon is a small evergreen tree (Citrus × limon, shortened as C. limon), commonly believed to have first grown in India, northern Burma and China. The fruit, also called lemon, is used for culinary and nonculinary purposes throughout the world, mainly in cooking and baking. Lemon juice has about 5% to 6% citric acid.

There are several varieties of lemons such as: Bush Lemon (naturalized lemon grown wild in subtropical Australia), Eureka Lemon (a year-round common supermarket lemon), Lisbon (bitter lemon, the fruits are similar to Eureka), Meyer (a cross between a lemon and possibly an orange or a mandarin, thin-skinned and slightly less acidic than the Lisbon and Eureka lemons), Ponderosa (thick skinned, very large fruit), variegated Pink, Verna (a Spanish variety), Villafranca, Yen Ben (Australasian cultivar), and Yuzu.

The photos are in public domain. You may use the pictures for any purpose, including commercial use. Please consider linking back to us (Link: http://public-domain-images.blogspot.com/2010/11/lemon-fruit-and-lemon-flowers.html Link Text: Public Domain Images and Photos: Lemon fruit and lemon flowers).

Fruits

Fruits are, generally, the seed-bearing parts of plants and they are the fleshy structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, juniper berries, bananas, and the fruit-like structures in other plants such as lemons and olives. Seed-bearing parts of plants that are not called fruits are called by other names such as vegetables, pods, nuts, ears and cones.

Fleshy fruits like apple, peach, pear, kiwifruit, watermelon and mango are nutritionally highly valuable as human food, eaten both fresh and in raw state, and as jams, marmalade and other preserved forms. Some fruits are used to make beverages such as fruit juices or alcoholic beverages such as wine or brandy. Fruits are also used for gift-giving.

Fruit Basket, oil on wood painting (1632) by Balthasar van der Ast (1593-1656). Fruit Basket and Fruit Bouquet are some common forms of fruit gifts.

Some vegetables are in fact botanically fruits, for instance, tomato, bell pepper, eggplant, okra, squash, pumpkin, green bean, cucumber and zucchini. Olive fruit is crushed or pressed for extracting olive oil. Spices like vanilla, paprika, allspice and black pepper are derived from berries, which are also fruits.

From the point of view of nutrition, fruits are generally high in fiber, water, vitamins, complex sugars and some rare nutritional elements. Regular consumption of fruits is advised by nutrition-specialists for reducing risks of cancer, cardiovascular diseases (heart), strokes, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts and functional disorders associated with aging.

Diets that include sufficient amounts of potassium from fruits and vegetables help reduce the chance of developing kidney stones and may help reduce the bone disorders. Fruits are low in calories, and hence help fight obesity and help lower one’s calorie intake as part of a weight-loss diet.