Fruits of yellow and red varieties of Capsicum chinense sp. peppers were dried, fragmented and extd. with n-hexane, cyclohexane, AcOEt, COMe, EtOH and MeOH. The exts. were analyzed by gas chromatog. coupled to mass spectrometry. The anal. confirmed the presence of capsaicinoids in the exts. The recovery of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin was highest when MeOH and EtOH were used as extn. solvents.