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Also called Garden Pepper (Capsicum), any of a great number of plants of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, notably Capsicum annuum, C. frutescens, and C. boccatum, Chilli is the universal spice of India.
It is cultivated in all the States and Union Territories of the country. The important States growing chilli are Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Andhra Pradesh alone commands 46% of the chilli production in India. As per the latest statistics, India produced 8,00,100 tonnes of dry chilli from an area of 9,30,000 hectare. |