Summary: Guntur holds the pride of being the largest exporter of chillies in the country and let us explore some details in this regard.
The state of Andhra Pradesh is rightly denoted as the land of chillies and it is estimated that nearly 75 percent of chilli exports, about 57 percent of turmeric exports and about 5 percent of other spices like coriander and tamarind are done from the state of Andhra Pradesh. The group of chilly cultivators from the Guntur District of the state of AP is called as Guntur Chillies and this group is popular at international level exports to different continents like Europe, Canada and other countries of the continent of Asia.
Guntur district holds the pride of being the important producer and exporter of different varieties of chillies and chilli powder from the country to different countries of the world like Latin America, USA, UK, South Korea, Middle East, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Generally, chillies get their colour due to their capsaicin presence and chillies from Guntur are known for their rich capsaicin levels. Hotels in the state of AP are known for their spicy dishes and most of these hotels use chillies from the district of Guntur in their dishes to get the desired taste, colour and spiciness.
Popular chilli cultivators in Guntur:
- Wonder hot chilli is known to be the hottest from Guntur District
- When it comes to the best export-quality chillies, the position is held by 334 chili.
- If you are looking for fine variety of chilli, then the one you will have to choose is Teja Chilli.
- When talking about the one that has great demand across the nation and also all over the world, it is the Guntur Sannam – S4 Type. Not just in Guntur, this particular variety is grown in Khammam and Warangal districts of the state as well. The very skin of the crushed chilli under this variety will be hot, spicy and red in colour. The peak harvesting season for this variety is between the months of December and May. The yearly production of this kind is nearly 280,000 tons.
- Wrinkled chilies come in the name of 273 chili.
There are other popular varieties like Teja, Phatki, Madhubala, Bedki, etc. All these are spicy in nature and some might feel it too spicy to eat, while for the natives, the spiciness alone is known to make the dish tastier and gives it the attractive colour.
Characteristics of Guntur chilies:
- Highly pungent: As mentioned earlier, the chilies from this district are known for their high capsaicin content, which is somewhere between 35000-40000 SHU.
- Skin Colour: Generally, we see advertisements for chili powders stating that their product has the right red colour. These powders would have been manufactured from Guntur Chilies. The reason for this is that chillies from this district are generally dark red in colour and they grow from 5 to 7 cms long.
- Colour variants: Not just dark red coloured chillies, Guntur also produces chillies with lesser red colour like varieties with 75-130 ASTA. ASTA is a unit that denotes the colour values of chillies.
The great thing is that the farmers from Guntur involved in chilli production are registering high income every year. This is a clear example for the quality of production in this part of AP and the Guntur Chilly market is gaining worldwide popularity in a consistent manner.
