Guinea

Hot peppers are central to everyday cooking in Guinea, where chilies are used generously to give stews, sauces, and rice dishes their signature depth and heat. In markets and home gardens, small red bird’s-eye–type peppers and other local chilies are sold fresh, dried, or pounded into pastes that flavor peanut-based sauces like maffé, leaf sauces made with cassava or sweet potato leaves, and tomato-okra preparations served over rice or fufu.

Many dishes, from spicy fish stews along the coast to hearty tuber-based meals inland, rely on chilies as a primary seasoning rather than a background note, reflecting a wider West African preference for bold, pepper-forward food.

This everyday reliance on hot peppers, combined with seed-saving traditions in rural areas, keeps a range of local chili types circulating through Guinean kitchens and fields