Along with the potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes and peanuts that Columbus brought back to the Old World from the New were chili peppers, picked in the Caribbean where, heading for India, he mistakenly landed in 1492. Those who have bitten into them unintentionally care little for the fact they are rich in Vitamins C and A. They should know that to quench the raging fire, they should reach at once for a glass of milk or mouthful of yogurt. Water won't do it. Also, when handling them at all, never put fingers to the eyes or any other sensitive part of the body, since the oil of the chili is extremely volatile.

There are hundreds of different kinds of chilies but most supermarkets and seedsellers have narrowed them down to the following most in demand, listed from the hottest to the mildest and with their different cooking uses:

Habañero - 30 to 100 times hotter than the jalapeño, it is lantern-shaped and bright orange or red. Used in bottled hot sauces and salsas, it comes from the Yucatan and Central America. The Caribbean Scotch Bonnet, named for its appearance, is closely related.
Tepin - round, reddish-brown. Used in vinegars, sauces, soups and bean dishes, it grows from the Andes to the South-West.
Thai - thin, pointed, green or red, sometimes tiny, added chopped or ground to curry pastes, soups and stir fries.
Cayenne - thin, bright red, it was carried by the Portuguese from French Guyana to India and Africa. Also grown in Mexico and Louisiana, where it is used in Cajun cooking. Generally made into a powder.
Serrano - green or red, grown in Mexico and the US, medium size, slender, with a sharpness that makes it good in fresh salsas, though also it's sold pickled or dried.
Jalapeño - dark green, short, thick, fleshy, eaten fresh in salsas, or pickled, or sliced on nachos. Larger dried and smoked jalapeños are called chipotles. (Different brands of chipotle in adobo hot sauce can be found at Bestway, 3109 Graham Rd, Falls Church.)
Pasilla - long and thin, this is the dried chilaca, rare in the US outside of good Latino markets. Used powdered, in mole sauces.
New Mexican - green or red, long and tapering, used for stuffing, roasting, as a vegetable and in sauces. When dried, worked into wreaths called 'ristras'.
Poblano - very dark green, fleshy, with a pointed heart-shape. Used for stuffing as chiles rellenos. Dried, they are called 'anchos'.
Guajillo - bright red and shiny, long, thin. A dried pepper for stews and sauces.

India is the greatest producer of chilis with its Naga Jolokia that grows in northeastern India and also in neighboring Bangladesh currently judged the hottest in the world.

The ‘hotness’ of a chili is measured on what's called 'the Scoville scale'. For example, while Tabasco sauce measures between 2500-5000 Scoville units, the Naga Jolokia explodes at 855,000 to 1,040,000 Scoville units. Police pepper sprays are rated from 2 to 5 million-plus Scoville units.  

Chilis are addictive. It's the chemical compound capsaicin which gives them their heat and promotes that 'feel good factor' familiar to enthusiastic chili heads, when the chemical interacts with the body's sensory neurons - those cells responsible for carrying feeling, touch and taste to the brain.

How big a chili-head are you?

Conductor Zubin Mehta is said to be one, carrying a discreet supply of chilis around with him. Kitchen gossip whispered that Hillary Clinton had it added to her food at the White House before her plate was set in front of her, while NPR political analyst Cokie Roberts apparently travels with a bottle of hot sauce in her purse.

It is easy to find food without their accompanying kick bland and dull. But beware: you can quickly dull your taste buds for other more subtle flavors.

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1 Comment

1. Little Red

   Where would Indian cuisine be without the chili pepper? While we would still have the black pepper, chilis rule!
   
   I put crushed red pepper on pretty much everything savory.