Chili


		Chili: A Small Fruit that Sets
		Global Palettes on Fire

		Nils-Bertil Wallin
		YaleGlobal, 11 June 2004

The chili pepper plant

Chilli, chile, chili pepper, ají, hot pepper, lup chew, mirich, felfel, bisabas, and chilipippurik are just some of the names for the same small fruit that delights people all over the world. Botanists may dispute the chili pepper's original birthplace, but its amazing journey across the world and its adoption by almost every culture proves that the chili pepper is truly a global food. The chili pepper has been with many cultures for so long - over five hundred years in some cases - that most people would be surprised to discover that it originally came from South America.

Chili peppers are thought to have been eaten in Meso-America as early as 5000 BCE and to have been growing since 7000 BCE. Archaeologists have estimated that humans began farming chili peppers between 5000 BCE and 3400 BCE, which makes them one of the oldest crops cultivated by man. Clearly, chili peppers had been around long before Christopher Columbus discovered their heat on his travels to America. In fact, confusing the chili pepper with the pepper he was hoping to find in India, Columbus named it pimiento, or, Spanish for pepper. Chili pepper, however, has no relation to the black pepper, known as Piper nigrum, for which Columbus was searching. Columbus later brought the chili pepper back to Spain, calling it a spice even though it is a member of the Solanacenae family, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes, and tobacco. Columbus' error did not, however, impede the chili pepper's almost immediate migration across the world.

Despite Spain's apparent early claim to the chili pepper, the Portuguese appear to be the first traders to have spread the chili pepper globally. Portugal's maritime power - rounding the Cape of Good Hope and reaching India in 1498 - set a course for the chili pepper to leave South America. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 had effectively split the world in half between Spain and Portugal, and the Portuguese were keen to exploit their half, especially Brazil. By the 1500's they were regularly exporting chili peppers from Brazil, the only part of South America which Portugal could claim under the Treaty. One botanist of the 16th century referred to chili peppers from Goa, in the Indian Ocean, as "Pernambuco Peppers," named after the area in Brazil.

During their trips to India, the Portuguese traders stopped in various African ports along the way. The Africans' fondness for "grains of paradise", which have a gingery, peppery taste, prepared them to absorb the piquant chili pepper into their cuisine with ease. In only a few years, chili peppers had traveled as far east on the African continent as Mozambique. But trade was only one agent of the chili pepper's spread: Portuguese intervention in Africa also played a large part. The Portuguese chose to enslave Africans from as a diverse a geographical area as possible to populate their plantations in the New World. Such a strategy was thought to reduce the chance of rebellion since the slaves would lack a common language and culture once on the plantation. As a result, the Portuguese cast a wide net in procuring slaves from Africa, and wherever the Portuguese bought slaves they also brought chili peppers, which caused their widespread and quick dispersion across the continent.

While it is possible to trace the chili pepper's move from South America across the Atlantic Ocean, its travels across the Pacific are less certain. In 1529, the Treaty of Zaragosa defined Spanish and Portuguese jurisdiction in the Asia Pacific region: the Spanish received the Philippines, and Portugal received the Spice Islands, or Molucca. By 1540, the Portuguese were trading in Indonesia; soon after, chili peppers made their way to China. However, it is unclear if the Portuguese were the first to bring the chili pepper to China. Indians and Arabs were actively trading with the Chinese long before the Europeans arrived. Furthermore, Hunan and Szechuan provinces, whose cuisines use chili peppers most frequently, were connected to the non-Chinese world by the Silk Road trade route rather than by coastal ports. Moreover, at the time, there were no direct overland routes from Chinese ports to those two provinces. In 1549, the Portuguese reached Japan, but again it is unclear if they introduced the chili pepper there, because the Japanese had already ventured to Mexico in Spanish-designed ships. In 1564, the chili pepper reached the Philippines and then moved on to Melanesia and Micronesia along a Spanish-developed trade route.

While Africa, India, and Asia quickly absorbed the chili pepper, Europe seemed reluctant to use it as anything more than a curiosity or an ornamental. From Spain, the chili pepper moved to Antwerp, then to Italy in 1526, and on to England in 1548. Curiously, the chili did not reach Eastern Europe through trade with other Europeans. Rather, among the various theories, it is believed that Muslim merchants brought chili peppers from India through the Persian Gulf, on to Aleppo or Alexandria, and then north into Eastern Europe. Alternatively, the Turks could have brought chili peppers from Asia and then transported them through the Persian Gulf, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea in to Hungary, which they conquered in 1526. From Hungary, the chili pepper then moved to Germany. A third possibility has the Portuguese exporting chili peppers from Hormuz, one of their colonies, to Eastern Europe to compete with black pepper from India. A German botanist in 1542 gives a recipe that calls for "Calicut pepper" and "Indian pepper." Interestingly, it was not until 1868 that Europeans learned that chili peppers were not originally from India.

Most surprising is the length of time it took for the chili pepper to arrive in North America. Despite being grown in Mexico for centuries, it was not until the slave trade was in full swing that the chili pepper appeared. By 1600, the British and Dutch had broken the Spanish and Portuguese naval hegemony, freeing up the spice trade. But trade in spices did not wet the North American palate for hot chili peppers. Instead, it was the prevalence of chili peppers in African cuisine that caused their spread to the New World. Chili peppers had become such a crucial part of the Africans' diet that slave traders had to bring large quantities with them on their trans-Atlantic voyages. Furthermore, to maintain the African slaves' eating habits once in North America, the plantations had to grow chili peppers. As a result, it was not until the 17th century that the chili peppers had settled in North America.

Today there are five species of chili pepper: capsicum annuum, found primarily in Meso-America, which gives us cayenne, bell, and jalapeño peppers; capsicum frutescens, found in the Amazon basin, yielding the well-known Tabasco; capsicum chinense, found in the western Amazonia region; capsicum baccatum, found only in South America; and capsicum pubescens, which only appeared in Central America and Mexico in the beginning of 20th century and is unknown elsewhere. The chili pepper's global presence owes much to its resilience and capacity to be spread even without human intervention. The flesh of the chili pepper dries well and the seeds survive for long periods, which allowed the chili's easy transport on its first trans-Atlantic trip. Furthermore, the chili's small size proved tempting to birds who eat the fruit and deposit the seeds miles away.

Capsaicin, an alkaloid compound found only in chili peppers, determines the heat of the fruit. While the skin and seeds contain small amounts, it is the white membrane inside which contains almost 90% of the chili pepper's capsaicin. The name chili derives from the ancient Aztec dialect of Nahuatl, which called the pepper chiltepin.

The chili pepper not only adds pungency to different foods, it also appears to have analgesic properties. The capsaicin found in chili peppers may release substances within the brain which control pain as well as stimulate feelings of well-being. Capsaicin cream has been shown to reduce arthritis pain. It is also believed to be indicated as an herbal remedy for a variety of other ailments including backaches, varicose veins, vascular conditions, swollen feet, and rheumatism. The police have also found it to be an effective deterrent, often replacing mace and tear gas with pepper spray.

India is the largest consumer and exporter of chili peppers today. Exporting over 51,900 tons of chili peppers annually, India also exports chili oleoresin (a combination of oil and resin), powder, and crushed chili peppers. The top growing states for chili peppers in India are Andra Pradesh, Orissa, Mahrashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan. In all, India produces close to 8 million tons of dry chili pepper a year.

No matter how you prefer to take your chili pepper - whether in Indian curry, mixed with Thai fish sauce, Korean kimchi, Mexican salsa, Hunan kung pao, or as a pepperoncino in Italian antipasti - the fruit not only enlivens the dish and titillates your palate, it brightens your mood.