A calling card of West African and Caribbean cuisine, the Scotch bonnet is a squat little chilli packed with fruity heat. Similar to Mexico's habañero, its Scoville heat rating is usually at least 100,000 SHU – much higher than the likes of jalapeños, which come in at around the 8,000 SHU mark.

Our collection of Scotch bonnet recipes shows how you can temper and utilise its fruity, fiery flavour in all sorts of dishes. It's an integral part of many of the Caribbean's most beloved dishes, such as Curry goat, and jerk seasoning (which is used to spice up ham in this Jerk gammon recipe). The Caribbean's love for Scotch bonnets came from West Africa, where the chillies are used to flavour Suya (a type of barbecue) and a fish stew known as Yassa.

It's easy to write off Scotch bonnets as nothing more than little bombs of fiery heat, but when used properly they can infuse dishes with a zingy, acidic fruitiness that livens up everything else on the plate.