Pepper School

Peruvian pepper sauce belongs in the refrigerator after you open it. That is the short answer. The longer answer covers what happens if you do not refrigerate it, how to get maximum life from every bottle, and why quality pepper...

Huancaína sauce is Peru's iconic golden, creamy pepper sauce made with ají amarillo, queso fresco, and evaporated milk. Learn its origins, how to make it, and how to use it beyond papa a la huancaína.

Everything you need to know about rocoto — Capsicum pubescens, Scoville heat, black seeds, Andean origin, rocoto relleno, and how it compares to ají amarillo and habanero.

Looking for an ají amarillo substitute? Here's the honest answer — nothing perfectly replaces it — plus the best approximations and the easiest way to get the real thing in the U.S.

That bright green sauce at every Peruvian restaurant is called ají verde — made with ají limo pepper, cilantro, garlic, and lime. Here's what's in it, why it's so good, and how to get it at home.

If you have ever eaten at a Peruvian restaurant and found yourself trying to identify the flavor hiding in the sauce — that bright, fruity, warm-but-not-burning heat you could not quite name — you were tasting ají amarillo.