Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Cayenne pepper is a very hot red powder used to flavor dishes. The powder comes from the dried fruit of various Capsicum pepper plants, especially C. frutescens. The name is derived from the Greek 'kapto', meaning 'to bite'. Do not touch cayenne pepper and then touch your eyes. It will be painful. Very. It is used in cooking various spicy hot dishes. Cayenne is generally rated at 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville Units. It is also used as an herbal supplement. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.