Aji Amarillo is a yellow chili pepper common in Peru. Much of Peruvian food uses this pepper to add flavor and heat to the dishes. It is about as hot as a jalapeño pepper, but the burn you feel is quite different. Jalapeños burn in the back of the throat, where aji amarillos burn mostly on the tongue making it easier to handle in my opinion. The smell of the peppers is considered grassy, and the flavor is very unique.
It is not common in all of the USA, and I have only been able to get it from Amazon.
The paste is good when you don’t want to mash up the peppers for something like a sauce. The whole peppers (even if pickled) are good in salsas or the famous Peruvian Lomo Saltado. Keep an eye out for a post in the near future about some tasty dishes to use these in!
