Abstract
There are five cultivated, and more than 20 wild, species of Capsicum pepper, of which C. annuum is the most widely distributed, cultivated, and used in the world. C. annuum was also introduced into Japan in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), but the Japanese did not have a strong pungent taste culture. However, around 1984, strongly pungent foods became popular and triggered the "1st Super Spicy Boom". This was followed by the fourth boom in 2018 and beyond. The third boom in hot and spicy food was the period when the "diet with hot peppers", which was the result of research on capsicum, became a hot topic of conversation, and after that Japanese researchers have continued to make great progress in their research on capsicum peppers.
