Central & South America

Aji Amarillo

Capsicum baccatum.

Fruit.

Part Used

Fresh, or dried and ground into paste.

Form

Ají amarillo ('yellow chile,' Spanish).

Peru (a foundational chile across virtually all of Peruvian cuisine).

Fruity, moderately hot, with a distinctive bright yellow-orange color and a flavor often compared to mango or passion fruit alongside its heat.

THE foundational chile of Peruvian cooking, used in the vast majority of the country's savory dishes.

Aji de gallina; causa; ceviche accompaniments; countless Peruvian sauces.

Lime, garlic, cilantro, potatoes.

Blend fresh (seeds and veins removed for a milder result) into a paste base early in cooking.

Fresh keeps about a week refrigerated; paste form (frozen or jarred) keeps months.

A combination of habanero (for heat) and a little mango or apricot (for the fruity sweetness) approximates the profile, though not closely.

Arguably as foundational to Peruvian cooking as garlic and onion are to many other cuisines – its centrality is difficult to overstate.

Not typically a dry blend component; used as a fresh or paste-form base ingredient in virtually every savory Peruvian preparation.