**Abstract**

*Capsicum* spp., popularly known as chili pepper, is abundantly cultivated in Indonesia. Chili pepper has deeply integrated into Indonesian culture, even turned into inseparable ingredients in the local diets. Adapted to the Indonesian environment and timely selected according to the local palate, vast variation of appearance, color, taste, aroma, and pungency of chili pepper transformed into a variety of cuisines and medicinal purposes. This chapter covers a selection of chili peppers in Indonesia, introduced as "commonly available in the market," and some other variants, which are less popular; however, due to their unique flavors, they will be interesting to be introduced and addressed as "exotic *Capsicums*." This chapter will describe their botanical information, distribution area, and nutritional and flavor aspects, including their bioactive compounds. Furthermore, the utilization of genus *Capsicum* in Indonesia, from the food industry, pharmaceutical, and ornamental plants, will be described.

**Keywords:** bioactivity, *Capsicum* spp., chili pepper, flavor, Indonesia

## **1. Introduction**

Portuguese brought *Capsicums* to the eastern part of Indonesia, Maluku, in the seventeenth century and then widely distributed to other parts of the archipelago. It is assumed that the four species (*C. annuum*, *C. frutescens*, *C. chinense*, and *C. pubescens*) were introduced to Indonesia before World War II [1]. During that time, the Javanese called the plant "godong sabrang," which means a plant from a foreign country [2]. Later, in each region of Indonesia, *Capsicums*, especially chili or hot peppers might have different names, like "cengek," "lado," "lada," "cabe," "cabi," "lombok," "ricagufu," "serbeh ulom," "serbeh," and many others. However, officially, pungent members of *Capsicums* or hot chili peppers in Indonesia are called "cabai," while the sweet and nonpungent ones are called "paprika." From then on, in this text, we use the term "cabai" for hot peppers or chili peppers and "paprika" for sweet peppers.

The *Capsicums* currently cultivated in Indonesia are quite different from those first carried by the Europeans since they have been crossbred and undergone genetic changes due to adaptation to local environments and natural and human selection. The seeds of *Capsicums* cultivated in Indonesia are also distributed to neighboring countries and even to Macau, China [3, 4]. During that time, local inhabitants of Java Island used *Capsicum* fruits in their cooking, while the leaves were used for topical ointment.

Indonesia also included *Capsicums* as part of their traditional ceremony and ritual. In some ceremonies in Java, sometimes, they put *Capsicums* on top of *tumpeng*, a traditional dish consisting of cone-shaped yellow-colored rice complemented

with other side dishes and vegetables. Examples of traditional Indonesian dishes using *Capsicums* are *sambal terasi* (Java), *balado Padang* (West Sumatra), *rica-rica Manado* (North Sumatra), and *lawar* (Bali). *Lawar* from Bali was involved in wedding, death, and other religious ceremonies [2].

*Capsicum* has become an essential commodity in Indonesia, where its price might influence political and socioeconomic conditions. Similar to what happened in South Korea in 1978–1979, where the people's unrest was subjected to the government due to a shortage of *Capsicums* [5], in Indonesia, the price of *cabai* could be one of the parameters to measure the government performance in establishing food security. For the majority of Indonesians, regardless of social class or economic status, *Capsicum* has become an inseparable part of their daily consumption and may serve as a source of vitamin C, E, and folate, as well as carotenoids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and capsaicinoids [6, 7]. Even with the decrease in household incomes or an increase in household expenses, consumers still tend to buy *cabai* [8, 9]. Like India, Thailand, and South Korea [5, 10], the consumption of *Capsicums* in Indonesia was also high. Among other vegetable plantations, *cabai* occupied 416,3981 ha of cultivation area in 2019 [11], the second largest in the country after cabbage.

*Cabai* prices could influence the price of other food products, affecting the economy, consumption, and buying habits of the consumers. Hence, the fluctuation of *cabai* prices could trigger inflation. For example, in the rainy season, there is a possibility of decrease in *cabai* production due to the crop failure. The unmet high demand, causing a double increase in price for *cabai*, resulted in inflation. This phenomenon has already occurred for several years. *Cabai* contributed 0.09% of 0.28% Indonesian inflation level in the early rainy season in October 2018, and *cabai* was also reported as the leading cause of Indonesian economic inflation in 2006 based on data from Statistics Indonesia [13].
