Chile Peppers Around the World
A fiery fiesta of flavor.
June/July 1994
By Carolyn Dille & Susan Belsinger
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Green Jalapeños
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There are chiles to suit almost any palate. The following are some of the most popular and useful of peppers, some of them mild, some scorching.
Three Salsa Recipes
Here’s a trio of salsa recipes that you may find rather addictive. Swap ingredients to use what you have on hand or to create your own. A large part of the fun of salsa making is in the individual touches. Whatever your touch is, make your salsa fresh and hot!
• Habanero, Tomatillo, and Orange Salsa
• Green Tomato Salsa
• Mango Salsa
Chile Pepper Inspiration
What is it about chile peppers that inspires such passion among so many peoples around the world? Some people love them at first bite; for some they’re an acquired passion. But we’ve found that to know them well is to love them more.
Peppers belong to one of the premier food families of the plant kingdom, the Solanaceae, and count among their cousins such universal favorites as potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants. Their genus (Capsicum) stands out, though, for its large number of species and varieties, its many shapes and sizes, its profusion of glossy and attractive colors, and its range of flavor. The diversity of pepper flavors is remarkable: sweet to searingly pungent, hot and sweet at the same time, green and vegetal, earthy, and fruity.
Peppers are New World plants of considerable antiquity. Remains of peppers have been carbon-dated to 7000 b.c. at archaeological sites in southeastern Mexico. Fossilized pepper fruits that are larger than indigenous wild varieties have been dated to 2500 b.c. in northern Peru, suggesting that they were cultivated.
During the fifteenth century, Columbus was one of several European explorers who sought to find sea routes to India, home of black pepper (Piper nigrum), then the most expensive spice in the world. Though disappointed that he had not reached India, where he could have filled his holds with the highly profitable spice, he recognized the pungent qualities of the chile peppers he did find. Chiles were totally new plants for the Europeans.
The taxonomy of peppers has its own history, and the genus has been classified and reclassified as Pimenta, Piper, and Capsicum several times. Peppers themselves contribute to the confusion, being prolific and hybridizing easily. Further, chile peppers have many regional and local common names in their native and adopted lands.
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