Red Hot Chili Peppers Essay -- Botany

Red Hot Chili Peppers A passion for foods from the American Southwest is sweeping through the country. The main component and most popular item of this fad is the chili pepper, an item of tremendous variability and a staple of many people in Central America. In this country, chili peppers were once only found in specialized ethnic stores, but now it is just as likely to be found at the neighborhood Kroger. For most people, however, their knowledge stops here. Through this paper I hope to educate the reader on some other aspects of this intriguing vegetable, such as its history, chemistry, and uses. There is some confusion over what a "chili pepper" is. To many it is only the hot varieties of pepper, such as the jalapeno or the serrano. Others include the milder varieties, such as the bell pepper. Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language defines a chili pepper as "... the pod of any species of capsicum, esp. Capsicum frutescens." In this paper, the term "chili pepper will be used to describe both the hot and mild varieties. When asked to name the source of chili peppers, most people would name Mexico. However, despite the plant's popularity in that country, it is believed that chili peppers originated in South America, after which it spread to Central America. Pepper remains found in Tehuacan, Mexico, were dated to approximately 7000 B.C., showing that chili peppers were established long before Columbus arrived. In fact, chili peppers were among the first plants to be domesticated, due to its weedy nature and the easy transportability of its seeds (Andrews 1984). When Columbus arrived in the New World, he mistook the chili peppers for a relative of black pepper, Piper nigrum, which is why ... ... mankind. Works Cited Andrews, Jean. Pepppers. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984. Creasy, Rosalind. "Chiles for Flavor." Organic Gardening Mar. 1990: 32-36. Johnson, Jon R, and Charles D. Johnson. "Two Zesty Alternatives to Bell Peppers." Vegetable Grower May 1992: 24-27. "Metabolism and Toxicity of Capsaicin." Nutritional Reviews 44.1 (1986): 20-22. Proulx, E.A. "Some Like Them Hot." Horticulture Jan. 1985: 46-53. Robbins, Jim. "It Feels Like Your Lips Are Going to Fall Off." Smithsonian Jan 1992: 42-51. Rowland, B.J., B. Villalon, and E.E. Burns. "Capsaicin Production in Sweet Bell and Pungent Jalapeno Peppers." Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 31 (1983): 484-487. Smith, Paul G, Benigno Villalon, and Philip L. Villa. "Horticultural Classification of Peppers Grown in the United States." Hortscience 22 (1987): 11-13.