Chilli
"Those who go beyond its heat will find it the best way to enhance aromas"
J.Papin - L'Inde Gourmande, Encyclopédie de la cuisine indienne
There are hundreds of varieties of chillis ranging from the hottest to the mildest, of which 150 are used in Mexico as opposed to a dozen or so only in Asia. They are known for their spiciness and vitamin C content. They are found in all forms: Fresh, dry, whole, ground, powdered, pickled, preserved. In all colours, from red to green, including yellow and purple. Each variety has its own taste (chilli is not just hot, it also has a taste: fruity, woody, floral, smoky, sweet, etc.) They are used all over the world, from Thai cooking to Moroccan harissa to Mexican salsa.
They can be used with many other products: tomatoes, onions, garlic, avocado, kidney beans (chilli con carne for example), cheese (cheddar, goat's, mozzarella, ricotta), meat, but also fish, shellfish. It can be combined with many spices: coriander, ginger, basil, oregano, cinnamon, black pepper, cumin, fennel, parsley, garlic, onion...
Table of chilli strengths: Hotness of chillis
Different varieties of chilli are classified for their hotness from a scale of 0 to 10, more simple than the scotville scale: 15 scotville = 1ppm capsaicin, (from 0 for pepper to 300,000 the habanero chilli, the hottest of them all. ) The colour of each chilli is specified in brackets.
This table is useful to choose an equivalent chilli as some are hard to find.
History
Pre-Columbian period:
"The natural spice God gave to the West Indies is what they call Indian Pepper in Castille and Aji in India by a word taken from the first island that was conquered. It is also called chilli in Mexico. Very popular, it was brought back to regions where it does not grow naturally as a major merchandise. There is a very strong one called caribe... there is another sweet, almost suave, one eaten by the mouthful. It is eaten green and dry, ground and whole, in a jar or in sauces. It is the main sauce and spice of India. To temper aji, salt is used - which is "opposed" or fresh and healthy tomatoes..."
Extract from the Natural and moral history of the West Indies (1598) by Joseph de Acosta.
ONative to Central or South America, the West Indies, it has been eaten for more than 9,000 years in Mexico. Vestiges of harvests and crops going back 6,000 years have been found at the sites of Tehuacan (Mexico) and Giutarrero (Peru). Chilli comes from Nahuatl (local language). Chilli is a major element in all Pre-Columbian civilisation (Olmec, Toltec, Aztec, Inca and Maya), it was used in cooking and medicine (Aztecs and Mayas) and in religion (Incas). It was also used as currency. It is an ingredient of Tchalcaot, a bitter drink made with cocoa and corn.
Chillis appeared in the Codex Mendoza (Spanish manuscript written between 1541 and 1542 which translates Aztec glyphs into Spanish). It is found in the name of certain villages, as a tribute paid to the capital and as punishment for children (see figures).
"They [the natives of Hispaniola] eat a root called age [yam], which they season with a spice called [chilli], and also eat it with fish and meat"
tells the doctor of Christopher Columbus during his second expedition to "the Indies".
Discovery by Europe:
The Old World discovered it in the fifteenth century thanks to Christopher Columbus in his first journey to "the Indies" (1492). They were looking for strong spices as was popular at the time: a pepper or ginger but above all gold... and at first they neglected a bitter drink offered to them by the natives: "chocolate".
"On these islands grow trees similar to rosebushes, they bear fruit as long as cinnamon which contain small seeds as hot as pepper. The inhabitants of the islands and Indians eat them as we eat apples"
This was how "Indian Pepper" was first described by the botanist and doctor, Nicolas Monardes, who accompanied Christopher Columbus on the second expedition to the West Indies (1494).
From the Americas, Columbus also brought back: tomatoes, cocoa, vanilla, potatoes, beans, tobacco, etc.
Introduction in Europe:
Immediately after its discover by Christopher Columbus, the chilli was grown in Spain (Castille). It appeared in Italy in 1529, in 1542 four species were observed in Germany, although not very widespread. In 1569, in Hungary
"This Indian pepper is grown very diligently everywhere in the land of Castille, not only by gardeners but by women in pots on their windows"
Christophle de Coste - Des drogues & médicaments qui naissent aux Indes.
In the early seventeenth century, the botanist, J. Parkinson counted twenty or so varieties in England. In the same century appeared the first mention of capsicum in the French Basque country: it was also used as a spice in chocolate (as in Pre-Columbian tradition)
"To every 100. Cacaos, you must put two cods of the long red Pepper, of which I have spoken before, and are called in the Indian Tongue, Chilparlagua; and in stead of those of the Indies, you may take those of Spaine which are broadest, & least hot. One handfull of Annisseed Orejuelas, which are otherwise called Vinacaxlidos: and two of the flowers, called Mechasuchil […] The Cacao, and the other Ingredients must be beaten in a Morter of Stone, or ground upon a broad stone, which the Indians call Metate, and is onely made for that use"
From Chocolate or An Indian Drinke by the English captain, John Wadsworth
Chilli was rapidly preferred to the dearly beloved pepper and ginger and the lower classes adopted it rapidly as it was easy to grow in most European countries.
Introduction around the world:
Within less than a century, chilli had arrived in North and tropical Africa then in China and India, then all of Asia.
The Portuguese took it to the West Indies, Asia and Africa in the sixteenth century. And to circle the world, it was reintroduced to the Americas with immigrants (and slaves) of the seventeenth century.
Very soon, chillis spread throughout the whole world, used in all types of cuisine, from the Mediterranean to Asia where it plays a key role. (it adapted very well and naturally found its place in local farming customs). Chilli is the spice which has travelled the most (around the world) most rapidly (in two centuries!) and is the most widespread and used in the world.
Beliefs
- In Java, to chase away gout and rheumatism: chilli is rubbed under the nails and hands, the illness flees with the pain
- In hot countries, it heals malaria (in Calabria), typhus and cholera (Utah Mormons)
- In Arab countries, against dysentery and as an aphrodisiac, Spanish priests in fact warned their parishioners against this "stimulating" effect"
- In Brazil: Candomblé ritual ("Brazilian voudou")
"To ensure loyalty of your husband, prepare a steak with salt, onion and pepper. Give it to your husband. Keep the left-overs and bury them under the threshold of the kitchen. To travel without danger, you need a grated orobe, seven dried da-costa chillis, soap, seven drops of dende oil, a small piece of grated calebasse. Take a bath with all these ingredients before setting off on a journey. To recover money you are owed, go up to a chilli plant and say three times "Ewé, est mi kalú", tear off seven leaves from the plant to rub the soles of your feet before going immediately to see the person owing you the money" - In Central America as torture / punishment: in Pre-Columbian civilisations (see above)
- In the production of modern tear gas
- Like poison
"the Ainus of Japan, the Moďs of Annam, the natives of Laos, the Dyaks of Borneo, the islanders of Mentawei [island off the south coast of Sumatra] and indians of the many tribes in South America use chille in the mixture used to poison their arrows" E.Perrot (cited by Guyot)
Virtues
"Capsicum, pepper, appetite excited, wind dissipated, spirits awakened, digestion stimulated"
thirteenth century medical herbs book
Most of the virtues of chilli are due to capsainin, a molecule causing the pain/burning sensation. The organism releases endorphins (molecules similar to morphine) which triggers off a sensation of well-being and explains the development of addition to chillis.
Capsainin is the reason behind most properties found in chillis: Decongesting, expectorant, burning and sedative. Reduces cardiac risks, tonic. Eaten cold, it favours the digestion of starches, stimulating, opens the appetite, stomatic, reddens the skin
BE CAREFUL in large quantities, it causes intestinal and stomach burns - to fight them, it is necessary to eat starches.
Tips and tricks
- Handle if possible with gloves, or wash your hands afterwards as capsaicin irritates the membranes and the eyes .... (wash with oxygenated water if problem)
- The longer the cooking, the hotter the taste
- To calm its strength, soak the chilli one hour in 3/4 vinegar and 1/4 salt
- Capsaicin, a burning principle, is especially located in the white parts and seeds.
- To fight the burning of the chilli, eat a dairy product, water is of no use
- Another way of putting out the chilli fire in the mouth: drink a few mouthfuls of warm water (tea or liquid soup, as long as the rinsing water is hot). It brings tears to your eyes but after the fire is out!
- To choose a chilli of the same strength (but with a different taste!): Use the comparative table
Composition
- Colourings: 0.1 to 0.5% dry extract, red to orange carotenoids
- Capsanthrin
- Capsorubin
- etc...
- Vitamins :
- C (ascorbic acid): 0.1% (vitamin C was isolated by the first time by A. von Szent-Györgyi in paprika, in 1937 he received the Nobel prize)
- Provitamin A, A, E
- Mineral salts : Ca, Mg, P, K
- Essential oil : less than 1%
- long hydrocarbon, fatty acids, fatty acid methyl ester...
- Burning principle : 1 to 4% depending on the variety (see chilli strengths)
- 66% Capsaicin
- 32% DihydroCapsaicin
- traces of nor-dihydro-capsaicin, homo-dihydro-capsaicin, homo-capsaicin
(As the composition of the burning principle varies, it produces chillis that burn either the tip of the tongue or the back of the mouth)
The plant
Capsicum Annuum (linne), C.Frutescens (linne)
Solanaceae family (Potato, tomato, aubergine, tobacco, belladonna,… ) ( cf. Dicotylédones)
Capsicum annuum annual plant measuring 30 cm to 1 m: like most peppers and a few hot varieties
Capsicum frutescens a hardy plant growing up to 2 metres: all small hot chillies
Plant that does not stand up to frost. It grows in all tropical regions up to 2,000 m in altitude.
But it is one of the easiest spices to grow either in a tropical or temperate climate.
The seeds maintain their germinative power for 2 to 3 years, which helped the spread of chillies across the globe.
Green chillis are picked 3 months after planting, red chillies are left on the plant (e.g. Cayenne).
Most species are replanted every year as they lose their heat after the first year.
Very ripe chillis are dried on racks or on a wire in a dry, warm, well-ventilated place for about one week.
The chilli fruit takes many forms (long, round, pointed, etc.) with very variable dimensions (from a few centimetres to more than 25 cm) and very varied colours (red, orange, yellow, green but also brown, black, purple and even white).
Producers : India, Mexico, China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand
Importers : Sri Lanka, Malaysia, United States
There are more than 150 varieties therefore only a few are described on this page
Articles extraits de Toil'd'épices |
Garlic
Cinnamon
Lemon grass
Coriander
Orange blossom
Ginger
Bayleaf
Oregano
Parsley
Chilli
Rosemary
Thyme
Vanilla
