Bright red in colour and packing a unique heat, cayenne pepper has been used in cookery for hundreds of years and continues play an important role in different cuisines around the world today. Whether mixed into a spice rub, added to a sauce or sprinkled on top of a finished dish, the punchy flavour of cayenne is unmistakeable, but its uses don’t end there. Cayenne is also a natural flavour enhancer and that’s why Nix & Kix use it in their range of canned drinks instead of sweeteners or additives. Read on to find out more about this hugely versatile spice.

This may seem like an obvious question but it can be a little confusing as cayenne pepper can refer to both the powdered spice that most people will be familiar with, and also the chilli pepper it’s made from. The term cayenne pepper actually encompasses a whole group of tapering, red chilli peppers all of which have a similar level of heat, due to their relatively high level of capsaicin. These peppers are believed to have first been discovered in the fifteenth century by Christopher Columbus in South America, who then brought them back to Europe. In fact, cayenne is actually name after a city of the same name in French Guiana. By the 1500s, the spice made from drying and grinding down these peppers had found its way over to England, where it soon became highly sought after.

The powdered spice is now found on spice racks all over the world and is one of the go-to ingredients for adding a kick to dishes. Its potential health benefits have also been increasingly publicised over the years; the capsaicin present in cayenne peppers is said to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, whilst the chillies are also full of vitamins and minerals that provide wider benefits to the body. It is of course, cayenne pepper’s unique flavour that it’s still best-known for though, with all kinds of different cuisines, from Mexican to Indian food, relying on it heavily.

Considered a medium-hot chilli, cayenne peppers tend to have a rating of around 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale, meaning that they should be used in relatively small amounts to avoid it overpowering a dish and the same goes for the powdered spice. The heat it gives is pretty much immediate and lingers on the taste buds for a little while. On the nose, it’s more subtle than some chillies, offering a subtly sweet aroma and a slight earthiness, which also carries through to the taste.

Cayenne is perhaps best-known as a staple ingredient in Southwestern American cuisine, where it’s used to make the likes of Cajun seasoning, Mexican hot sauces and even chilli con carne, but that’s only the start. Cayenne pepper can also be used in everything from Indian and Southeast Asian recipes to classical French cookery, to add a measured kick to dishes. You’ll even see a lot of dishes these days being finished with a dusting cayenne pepper, whether that be a bowl of scrambled eggs or a plate of whipped cod’s roe. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to use cayenne pepper in your cookery, check out this list of some of our favourite cayenne pepper recipes.

Although it’s predominantly known purely as a source of heat, cayenne pepper is also a natural flavour enhancer, meaning that when used in small amounts, it can actually help bring out other flavours in dishes and drinks. Nix & Kix use just enough cayenne in each of their canned drinks to both provide a refreshing zing and bring out the other flavours around it. As a result their drinks are totally free of additives and sweeteners and also boast the same health benefits as cayenne pepper.

Despite its long history, this goes to show that people are still finding new and innovative ways of using this versatile spice. Not only is cayenne pepper now used in cuisines and recipes from all corners of the globe, but the likes of Nix & Kix are proving that it has plenty of other benefits too.