Chile Peppers

by Dave Dewitt

  El Inca also collected some chile anecdotes. Chiles were reputedly good for the sight, were avoided by poisonous creatures, and had been offered as one of the gifts to appease Pizarro and his invading soldiers. As a final culinary note, El Inca unconsciously predicted the spread of chile around the world when he noted, “All the Spaniards who come to Spain from the Indies are accustomed to it and prefer it to all Oriental spices.” Thus the invaders were conquered by the fiery foods of the Incas!

  Most Incan dishes were vegetarian because fish and meat were luxuries—at least for the commoners. The Incan royalty, however, did consume fish caught in the rich coastal waters and Lake Titicaca, and also ate deer, wild llama, guanaco, and viscacha, a large rodent. But the royalty would not consume dogs, domesticated ducks, and cui (guinea pigs)—meat sources beloved by the peasants when they could obtain them.

  The Incas’ morning meal was extremely simple: leftovers from the previous evening and a cup of chicha, a mildly intoxicating beverage made from fermented corn. Around noon, an Inca family would gather for the midday meal, which was prepared by boiling or baking because cooking fats and frying were uncommon. Corn was often boiled with chile peppers, potatoes, and herbs to make a stew called mote. Another midday meal of the Incas was locro , a stew made from sun-dried llama meat, dehydrated potatoes, and chiles.

  The evening meal was eaten at about five o’clock in the afternoon and was usually a soup or stew similar to the midday feast. Potatoes were ubiquitous.

  But food was not the only use for the beloved chiles. According to historian L. E. Valcárcel, chile peppers were so highly valued in Inca society that they were probably used as currency. Since there were no coins or bills in those days, certain preferred products like chiles became part of a rudimentary monetary system. He noted that until the mid-twentieth century, shoppers in the plaza of Cuzco could buy goods with rantii , a handful of chiles.

  Vessel in the form of chile peppers, Peru, south coast, Nazca culture. First century BCAD sixth century, earthenware and pigment, in the De Young Museum, San Francisco. Photographer unknown. Wikimedia. Public domain

  The Incas decorated bowls, dishes, and other vessels with chile pepper designs, as shown in the accompanying photograph of a unique Nazca stirrup vessel with chile pepper legs from the southern coast of Peru. The exact date of this vessel is not known.

  Chiles also were the subject of embroidery designs. One example of textile art of the early Nazca period is a yarn-embroidered cotton cloth showing the figures of 23 farmers carrying their crops. One of the farmer figures is wearing chile pods around his neck and carrying a plant bearing pods.

  About AD 900, a sculptor of the Chavín culture in Peru carved elaborate designs into a sharp-pointed granite shaft measuring eight feet high and a foot wide that has become known as the Tello Obelisk. The principal figure on this obelisk is a mythical creature, the black caiman. The sharp point of the stone corresponds to a real caiman’s narrow snout, and the end of the stone is carved with the feet and claws of the reptile, which are holding the leaves and pods of a chile plant. As yet, no scholar has deciphered the meaning of a magical caiman grasping chile peppers in its claws, but the image is suggestive of the magical powers that the people of the Andes Indians believed were inherent in the powerful pods.

  Tello Obelisk, Chavín culture, Peru. Carved granite. Photograph by DC Columbia. iStock.

  As chile peppers spread north through Central America and Mexico, they gained the reputation of being not only a spicy condiment but also a powerful medicine. The pre-Columbian tribes of Panama used chiles in combination with cacao and tobacco (and probably other plants) to enter into hallucinatory trances. According to scientist Mary Helms, these Indians used chiles to “travel” to the heavens or to the underworld to negotiate with the good and evil spirits on behalf of mankind. Today, the Cuna Indians of Panama burn chiles so the irritating smoke will drive away evil spirits during a girl’s puberty ceremony. They also trail a string of chiles behind their canoes to discourage sharks from attacking. (I should caution modern sportsmen that the efficacy of chiles as a shark repellent has never been verified.)

  In southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, chile peppers have been part of the human diet since about 7500 BC and thus their usage predates the two great Central American civilizations, the Maya and the Aztec. From their original usage as a spice collected in the wild, chiles gained importance after their domestication, and they were a significant food when the Olmec culture was developing, around 1000 BC.

  About 500 BC, the Monte Albán culture, in the Valley of Oaxaca, began exporting a new type of pottery vessel to nearby regions. These vessels resembled the hand-held molcajete mortars of today and were called Suchilquitongo bowls. While the metate was used for heavy-duty grinding, the Suchilquitongo bowl was used to mash relatively soft foods. Like a food processor today, the new bowl made it possible to mash foods together to make a sauce. Because the molcajetes are used to crush chile pods and make salsas today, the Suchilquitongo bowls are probably the first evidence we have for the creation of crushed chile and chile sauces. Scientists speculate that the Suchilquitongo bowls were specifically developed for the purpose of sauce making, and both the tool and the product were then exported.

  THE LEGACY OF THE MAYAS

  A carved glyph found in the ceremonial center of Monte Albán is further evidence of the early importance of chile peppers. It features a chile plant with three pendant pods on one end and the head of a man on the other. Some experts believe that the glyph is one of a number of “tablets of conquest” that marked the sites conquered by the Monte Albán culture.

  By the time the Mayas reached the peak of their civilization in southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, around AD 500, they had a highly developed system of agriculture. Maize was their most important crop, followed closely by beans, squash, chile peppers, and cacao. Perhaps as many as 30 different varieties of chiles were cultivated. They were sometimes planted in plots by themselves but more often in fields already containing tomatoes and sweet potatoes. The Mayas also cultivated cotton, papayas, vanilla beans, maniocs, and agave. They kept domesticated turkeys, ducks, and dogs, and their main game animals were deer, birds, and wild boars. Armadillos and manatees were considered delicacies.

  For breakfast the Mayas ate a gruel of ground maize spiced with chile peppers, which is usually called atole but is sometimes known as pozol. A modern equivalent would be cornmeal or masa mixed with water and ground red chiles to the consistency of a milk shake. For the main, or evening meal, stews of vegetables and meats heavily spiced with chiles were served. Various pipiáns , still served today, are early forms of the mole sauces to come and use two common Mexican chiles, ancho and pasilla. Of course, the Mayas would have served turkey rather than chicken (which was introduced by the Spanish), but either fowl is acceptable.

  Image of the five vessels that tested positive for Capsicum from Chiapa de Corzo. Photograph by Roberto Lopez and Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta. Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License.

  Using the same technology that proved the use of chocolate at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, researchers have analyzed the contents of the residue of pots from ancient Mexico and discovered traces of chiles without chocolate. This indicates that either chile sauces were being made or they were used to spice up other beverages, about a thousand years earlier than the Cerén archaeological site in El Salvador.

  Terry Powis, associate professor of anthropology, and colleagues at Kennesaw State University in Georgia have chemically analyzed the residue in 13 pottery vessels, including spouted jars, pots, and vases—dating from 1700 to 2400 years ago—that were found at an archaeological site in the state of Chiapas, which was at that time inhabited by the Mixe-Zoquean people.

  “The best and most direct evidence for chile pepper use in Mesoamerica prior to our study is from Cerén,” says Powis.

  So our work pushes back this date from circa AD 540 to circa 400 BC. To be hone
st, our study is the only one of its kind to show direct evidence of chile pepper use. In all of the other examples listed in the paper there is only indirect evidence—of chiles and pots found together. We actually linked the two together for the first time, and that is an important development. Therefore, we actually have the earliest known consumption of the peppers.

  Powis adds, “During the mass spec analysis we were completely surprised by the fact that no cacao was present in any of the pots tested. In fact chile was present.” The exact species of chile present was not identified, but Powis hopes to accomplish that in the future. The most logical species is Capsicum annuum, which was domesticated in Mexico.

  Because of the absence of cacao and the fact that the artifacts were found in places associated with high-status individuals and rituals, the team speculated that chile peppers were possibly used to produce a spicy beverage or alternatively a chile sauce that was stored in the spouted jars and subsequently poured as a dining condiment, possibly during ritual feasts.

  Powis wonders, “Was the chile ground up to produce a paste or a salsa and subsequently used as a seasoning in foods that were offered to the Zoquean gods or chiefs? Or, were the peppers left whole in the pots? We assume that the presence of chile is in the form of a sauce or paste, and not whole given that no seeds or other macrofossils were identified in the interiors of the vessels.”

  If the residue is not from a chile paste, was it a spicy beverage other than hot chocolate? “Why would there be evidence of chile peppers in a spouted jar?” Powis asks in his article. “It is commonly assumed that spouted jars were used for pouring a liquid into another container. Perhaps the peppers were not made into a sauce but a spicy beverage or alternatively a chile sauce that was stored in the spouted jars and subsequently poured as a dining condiment.”

  And if the chiles were used in a beverage other than hot chocolate, what might it have been? Further analysis will be required, but two possibilities come to mind: chicha, the ancient corn beer, or pulque, the precursor to mescal, which is made from fermented agave sap. If the Mayas and other cultures loved their hot chocolate spiced up with chiles, why not these other favorite beverages?

  The Mayan civilization had declined considerably by the time the Spanish arrived in Mexico, so there are no Spanish observations about the height of Mayan culture. All that exist today are Mayan hieroglyphics, which are slowly being transliterated, artifacts from Cerén, and ethnological observations of the present Maya Indians, whose food habits have changed little in 20 centuries.

  According to the Ethnology volume of the Handbook of Middle American Indians, chiles are highly visible today in areas with a Mayan heritage. Today in the Yucatán Peninsula, descendants of the Mayas still grow chiles, tomatoes, and onions in boxes or hollowed-out tree trunks that are raised up on four posts for protection against pigs and hens. These container gardens are usually in the yard of the house, near the kitchen.

  Despite the passage of centuries, the most basic Mayan foods have changed little. Still common are tortillas with bean paste, chiles, and a little squash. Meat, usually chicken or pork, is only consumed about once a week. The Tzeltal Indians of central Chiapas plant chiles in plots about 50 feet on a side, alternating cotton every other year. Interestingly enough, the seeds are planted by women, but only after the men have punched holes in the ground with a planting stick—a ritual with obvious symbolism. The only difference between this method and that used by the Mayas is that the planting sticks today have metal tips.

  Among the descendants of the Mayas, chile is regarded as a powerful agent to ward off spells. For the Tzotzil Indians of the Chiapas highlands, chile assists in both life and death. The hot pods are rubbed on the lips of newborn infants and are burned during the funeral ceremonies of viejos (old ones) to defeat evil spirits that might be around. The Huastec tribe of San Carlos Potosi and Veracruz treat victims of the “evil eye” with chile peppers. An egg is dipped in ground chile then rubbed on the victim’s body to return the pain to the malefactor. The Cicatec Indians of the southern Mexican highlands prepare tepache, a drink of fermented sugarcane juice, with cacao and chile, for use in various rituals. Such a concoction vividly recalls a similar combination of chiles and chocolate consumed by the Aztecs.

  In 1529, a Spanish Franciscan friar living in Nueva España (present-day Mexico) noted that the Aztecs ate hot red or yellow chile peppers in their hot chocolate and in nearly every dish they prepared! Fascinated by the Aztecs’ constant use of a previously unknown spice, Bernardino de Sahagún documented this fiery cuisine in his classic study, Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España, now known as the Florentine Codex. His work proves that of all the pre-Columbian New World civilizations, it was the Aztecs who loved chile peppers the most.

  The marketplaces of ancient Mexico overflowed with chile peppers of all sizes and shapes, including, according to de Sahagún, “hot green chiles, smoked chiles, water chiles, tree chiles, beetle chiles, and sharp-pointed red chiles.” In addition to some 20 varieties of “chillis,” as the pungent pods were called in the Nahuatl language, vendors sold strings of red chiles (modern ristras), precooked chiles, and “fish chiles”—which were the earliest known forms of ceviche, a method of preserving fish without cooking. This technique places the fish in a marinade of an acidic fruit juice and chile peppers.

  Tlatelolco Marketplace as depicted at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. The largest Aztec market was located in Tenochtitlan’s neighboring town, Tlatelolco. There is a bowl of chile peppers at the bottom center of this image. Photograph by Joe Ravi. Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

  Other seafood dishes were common as well in ancient Mexico. “They would eat another kind of stew, with frogs and green chile,” de Sahagún recorded, “and a stew of those fish called axolotl with yellow chile. They also used to eat a lobster stew which is very delicious.”

  Apparently the Aztecs utilized every possible source of protein. The friar noted such exotic variations as maguey worms with a sauce of small chiles, newt with yellow chiles, and tadpoles with chiltecpitl. De Sahagún classified chiles according to their pungency, as evidenced by the following chart:

  Father de Sahagún, one of the first behavioral scientists, also noted that chiles were revered as much as sex by the ancient Aztecs. While fasting to appease their rather bloodthirsty gods, the priests required two abstentions by the faithful: sexual relations and chile peppers.

  Chocolate and chiles were commonly combined in a drink called chicahuatl, which was usually reserved for the priests and the wealthy. De Sahagún also discovered the earliest examples of dishes that have since become classics of Mexican cuisine: tamales and moles. The early versions of tamales often used banana leaves as a wrapper to steam combinations of masa dough, chicken, and the chiles of choice. De Sahagún wrote that there were two types of chilemollis : one with red chile and tomatoes, and the other with yellow chile and tomatoes. These chilemollis eventually became the savory mole sauces for which Mexican cuisine is justly famous (see chapter 3).

  Aztec cookery was the basis for the Mexican food of today, and, in fact, many Aztec dishes have lasted through the centuries virtually unchanged. Since oil and fat were not generally used in cooking, the foods were usually roasted, boiled, or cooked in sauces. Like the Mayas, the Aztecs usually began the day with a cup of atole spiced with chile peppers.

  Aztecs living close to either coast were fond of drinking chilote, a liquor made with pulque (fermented agave pulp), ancho chiles, and herbs. Since pork was not available until the Spanish arrived, the Aztecs would have used peccary (a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae) meat. The main meal was served at midday and usually consisted of tortillas with beans and a salsa made with chiles and tomatoes. The salsas were usually made by grinding the ingredients between two hand-held stones, the molcajetes. Even today, the same technique is used in Indian villages throughout Central America. A remarkable va
riety of tamales was also served for the midday meal. They were stuffed with fruits such as plums, pineapple, or guava; with game meat such as deer or turkey; or with seafood such as snails or frogs.

  It was this highly sophisticated chile cuisine that the Spanish encountered during their conquest of the New World. And it all started with the Mayas.

  FLASHBACK. OUT OF THE ASH: THE PREHISTORIC CHILE CUISINE OF CERÉN

  On an August evening in AD 595, the Loma Caldera in what is now El Salvador erupted, sending clouds of volcanic ash into the Mayan agricultural village of Cerén, burying it 20 feet deep and turning it into the New World equivalent of Pompeii. Miraculously, all the villagers escaped, but what they left behind gives us a good idea of the life they led, the food they ate, and the chile peppers they grew.

  In 1976, while leveling ground for the erection of grain silos, a Salvadoran bulldozer operator noticed that he had plowed into an ancient building. He immediately notified the national museum, but a museum archaeologist thought that the building was of recent vintage and allowed the bulldozing to continue. Several buildings were destroyed. Two years later, Dr. Payson Sheets, an anthropologist from the University of Colorado, led a team of students on an archaeological survey of the Zapotitán Valley. He was taken to the site by local residents and quickly began a test excavation, and radiocarbon dating of artifacts proved that they were very ancient. He received permission from the government to do a complete excavation of Cerén. The site was saved.