Is cayenne the same as red pepper?

Answer 1

Red Pepper is the name that the American Spice Trade Association uses for all hot spices made from the ground fruit of plants that produce what we usually call "chili peppers." The generic term "Red Pepper" can apply to a lot of different varieties of pepper, or mixtures thereof. You may have noticed that different brands have a different level of spice.

Some manufacturers use the term Cayenne Pepper to refer to a hotter version of that generic "Red Pepper" label. That's why you can sometimes find ground cayenne pepper in the grocery store labeled Ground Red Pepper (Cayenne) or just Cayenne Pepper.

Unfortunately, the exact ingredients of a bottle of Red Pepper *or* Cayenne Pepper are going to vary by manufacturer. To be fair though, the same is true of a can of corn.

Here are some other opinions from our community:

• Red pepper is such a loose term, it's hard to be sure what someone could mean, especially as usage varies from place to place. It often means a hot pepper such as cayenne. Paprika is also a red pepper, and in Britain, a red pepper would be a sweet red pepper.
• Cayenne are peppers. They are really hot and cayenne powder is ground dried cayenne pepper.
• Chili Powder is a mix of chili pepper powder and other spices like cumin and garlic powder and sometimes other spices like cinnamon or nutmeg (no lie). But chili powder can be really hot depending on the ratio and kind of chilies to other ingredients in the mix. Also, paprika and cayenne can be components of chili powder.
• Both red peppers and cayenne peppers are in the same family, but cayenne pepper is much more spicy than just red pepper.
• Regular red pepper is just used for culinary purposes like a Pizza seasoning.
• Red peppers tend to be somewhat sweeter than green peppers.
• Capsicum is the chemical in the hot peppers which make them hot. Capsicum is also used in topical pain creams to alleviate muscle pain. However, cayenne peppers are better known as red hot chili peppers, so they shouldn't be the exact same thing.
• Cayenne Pepper is the combination of many spices including red pepper and others so the difference is quite clear. But either of them are used in many recipes including continental.

Answer 2

Red Pepper is the name that the American Spice Trade Association uses for all hot spices made from the ground fruit of plants that produce what we usually call "chili peppers." The generic term "Red Pepper" can apply to a lot of different varieties of pepper, or mixtures thereof. You may have noticed that different brands have a different level of spice.

Some manufacturers use the term Cayenne Pepper to refer to a hotter version of that generic "Red Pepper" label. That's why you can sometimes find ground cayenne pepper in the grocery store labeled Ground Red Pepper (Cayenne) or just Cayenne Pepper.

Unfortunately, the exact ingredients of a bottle of Red Pepper *or* Cayenne Pepper are going to vary by manufacturer. To be fair though, the same is true of a can of corn.

Here are some other opinions from our community:

• Red pepper is such a loose term, it's hard to be sure what someone could mean, especially as usage varies from place to place. It often means a hot pepper such as cayenne. Paprika is also a red pepper, and in Britain, a red pepper would be a sweet red pepper.
• Cayenne are peppers. They are really hot and cayenne powder is ground dried cayenne pepper.
• Chili Powder is a mix of chili pepper powder and other spices like cumin and garlic powder and sometimes other spices like cinnamon or nutmeg (no lie). But chili powder can be really hot depending on the ratio and kind of chilies to other ingredients in the mix. Also, paprika and cayenne can be components of chili powder.
• Both red peppers and cayenne peppers are in the same family, but cayenne pepper is much more spicy than just red pepper.
• Regular red pepper is just used for culinary purposes like a Pizza seasoning.
• Red peppers tend to be somewhat sweeter than green peppers.
• Capsicum is the chemical in the hot peppers which make them hot. Capsicum is also used in topical pain creams to alleviate muscle pain. However, cayenne peppers are better known as red hot chili peppers, so they shouldn't be the exact same thing.
• Cayenne Pepper is the combination of many spices including red pepper and others so the difference is quite clear. But either of them are used in many recipes including continental.

Answer 3

No. A cayenne pepper is almost like a jalapeno pepper, unlike the red pepper.