CHILE PEPPER FUN FACTS
The chile pepper comes from South America, although exactly where is debatable. Many believe it first grew in Bolivia but this remains to be substantiated (Bosland, 1999). Wild chile peppers have been eaten in Mexico as early as 7000BC and were cultivated as early as 5000BC (Elphinstone, 2002).
Many people believe that chile peppers are native to Asia and Africa. This is where the confusion lies: When Christopher Columbus searched for a shorter route to the East Indies and its spices, he ended up in South America where he found a plant that had a "fire" similar to that of black pepper. He called it red pepper assuming that the pungent fruits were a new type of pepper, and brought it home to Europe (Bosland, 1999). Chile Peppers soon spread along the established spice trade routes from Europe eastward to Africa and Asia where they quickly became adopted by local cuisine (Bosland, 1999).
China, India, and Pakistan are now the world's three largest producers of chiles. Today it is so common to think of India curry or Szechuan dishes flavored with chiles, that it's hard to imagine that they were completely unknown in the region a mere 500 years ago (Bosland, 1999).
In early ancient civilizations (Mayan, Inca and Aztec) chile peppers were used as currency.
The Mayans have a word, "Huuyub" meaning to 'draw a breath with a puckered mouth after eating chile peppers' (Bellringer, 2002).
To the ancient civilizations of the Americas, chile peppers possessed mystical and spiritual powers (Bosland, 1999). The Aztec, Maya, and Inca honoured chiles so much so that they withheld them from their diets when fasting to earn favors and to please the gods. Incas worshipped the chile as a holy plant, and considered it to be one of the four brothers of their creation myth (Bosland, 1999).
In Jethro Kloss' book Back to Eden he quotes the Standard Guide to Non-Poisonous Herbal Medicine: "A peculiar effect of capsicum is worth mentioning. In Mexico the people are very fond of it; and their bodies get thoroughly saturated with it, and if one of them happens to die on the prairie the vultures will not touch the body on account of its being so impregnated with the capsicum." (DeWitt, 2002c).
Cooling the burn: milk products will cool you off after eating chiles because casein, a protein found in dairy products, breaks the bond between the pain receptors in your mouth, throat and stomach and the capsaicinoids in the chile peppers (DeWitt, 2002b).
At different stages, chiles are correctly called berries, fruits, vegetables, and spices (DeWitt, 2002).
