Capsicum

This is the generic name for the pepper family, which includes the large, sweet, mild peppers (green, yellow, orange and red are the most common), which are also called bell peppers or sweet peppers, as well as any of the hundreds of hot chilli peppers. Peppers have many culinary uses. They can be used raw in salads, marinated and tossed into pasta, cooked and sieved and transformed into pepper sauce, stuffed with meats or other vegetables and rice or used in classic dishes such as ratatouille or the classic Spanish dish, pisto - peppers fried in a large pan with onion, garlic, tomatoes, herbs and a couple of eggs cracked in the centre. Green capsicums have a more savoury flavour, while the orange and red ones have a sweeter taste. Purple and white peppers are becoming a more common sight.