Nectar of the Gods!
Posted on 02/16/2007 11:14:32 AM PST by blam
Contact: Gregory Harris
gharris@ucalgary.ca
403-220-3506
University of Calgary
Red hot chili pepper research spices up historical record
Archaeologists trace domestication and dispersal of Capsicum species Next time you're shaking Tabasco sauce on your eggs or dried chili pepper flakes on your pizza, you might pause to thank the indigenous Latin American cultures of more than 6,100 years ago that made it possible.
Three University of Calgary researchers, together with international colleagues, have traced the earliest known evidence for the domestication and spread of chili peppers by analysing starch microfossils recovered from grinding stones, sediments and charred ceramic cookware. In a forthcoming article in the journal Science, they report that common varieties of chili peppers (Capsicum species) were widely used in a region extending from the Bahamas to southern Peru.
"Until quite recently it's been assumed that the ancestors of the great highland civilizations, like the Inca and the Aztecs, were responsible for most of the cultural and agricultural advances of the region," says Dr. Scott Raymond, U of C archaeologist and one of the authors of the paper. "We now have evidence that the indigenous people from tropical, lowland areas deserve credit for the domestication of the chili pepper."
Dry, arid areas favour archaeological preservation, whereas tropical regions typically don't -- especially when it comes to foodstuffs. "A relatively recent discovery is that the cooking process doesn't completely destroy the evidence of starchy foods, and traces can still be recovered from the cooking vessels," says Sonia Zarrillo, another co-author of the paper and a U of C PhD student.
The authors report on seven sites throughout the Americas where they found starch grains from chili peppers, the oldest being from sites in Ecuador that date back 6,100 years. These Ecuadorian sites represent the earliest known village sites in the Americas, and were excavated by a team from the University of Calgary, led by Dr. Raymond.
In 2005, international researchers who had gathered at a University of Calgary archaeology conference began comparing notes about an unidentified starch they had recovered from sites around Latin America. Dr. Linda Perry, the lead author of the paper and a researcher with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, subsequently identified the starch as Capsicum.
"It was surprising to find that the chili pepper, which is technically a fruit, left behind evidence of starch, which is more often associated with foods such as maize and root vegetables," says Dr. Ruth Dickau, a U of C post-doctoral researcher and one of the paper's authors. "So much of the research on the origins of agriculture in the region has focused on staple crops, but now here is one of the first condiments that we're able to trace -- it's quite interesting."
Researchers speculate that villagers may have begun growing peppers for household use even farther back than 6,100 years ago, but so far can't pinpoint when domesticated chili peppers first entered the diet.
Although it is generally agreed that the genus Capsicum originated in Bolivia, the centres of domestication of the different species and their dispersal patterns remain speculative, the authors write. With the European conquest, the chili pepper spread around the world and is now associated with the cuisine of many different cultures.
Early Latin American peoples would have found chili peppers, which are rich in vitamin C, to be an excellent complement to fish and starchier foods like maize, beans, yams and corn. "It's also an excellent disguiser," Raymond notes. "If something's not tasting quite right, you can always throw a few chilis in the pot."
How quickly they forget.
Habaneros are among my foavorite chiles........the taste is really awesome - if you can get past the burn :)
Yep, mine too but the pepper so many people are fond of is the jalepeno and I think they are the nastiest tasting peppers out there.
For a milder pepper I like the taste of the cayanne too. (I know I didn't spell that right) but for whatever reason, they don't grow well in my soil.
Been there, done that also!!!!
When I'm making jelly with the habaneros I have to keep a window open - that's a bit rough at this time of the year!!!!
Another good one is mango. I've noticed that on many of the habanero hot sauces, carrots are a common ingredient.
I understand the recipes were so valuable that a tribal chef would Fight Like A Brave to protect his.
Nectar of the Gods!
When going through my seeds last week, to ready for starting them I actually discovered I have NONE.
For a milder pepper I like the taste of the cayanne too. (I know I didn't spell that right) but for whatever reason, they don't grow well in my soil.
I've never had much luck growing cayennes either. My husband really likes serranos (I doubt that is spelled right either LOL)
I live in central Illinois and don't have a long enough growing season to start from seed and no place inside to start them, so I buy plants at a nursery at about $2.00 per plant. I'd have to charge a premium price to go commercial.
This past season as I was peeling and chopping tomatoes for salsa (also from my garden) I told my forgetful friend Gabz, that it might be helpful to find an illegal alien to do it for me but you can never find one when you really need him.
Right. The hot peppers were a big hit in Europe and soon everywhere. Some of the peppers they grow now would stun a bear.
Ha! Hey, i think that's me!
I'll be happy to ship you all the illegals you need - free of charge and I'll pay the postage :)
Mother nature was not kind to me last year and I lost over 500 pepper and tomato plants. Hopefully I will do better this year.
....I feel really bad.....
Have some chilis. I'm told the burn produces enzymes that make you feel good.
A prime reson for eating the hot stuff is feeling good.
The HPLC analysis revealed that Orange Habanero had a mean (average) heat level of 357,729 SHU. That's quite a bit, but according to Dr. Bosland, this is in the range normally seen for this cultivar in Las Cruces, NM. (I once tasted Jalapeno peppers right from a field close to Las Cruces, and even those "ordinary" peppers were surprisingly hot.)
Now for Bhut Jolokia -- the analysis revealed that it possessed an extremely high heat level indeed, a whopping 1,001,304 SHU. That's a heat level you normally see only with ultra-hot sauces using pepper extract (capsicum oleoresin).
A different kind of surpise was the test result for Red Savina - it scored a rather low heat level of just 248,556 SHU. This means the SHU value for 'Bhut Jolokia' was four times higher than 'Red Savina' -- so much for "the world's current hottest chile pepper"
LOL!!!!
I'm actually eating chips and salsa as I'm typing.
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