Chile Peppers

by Dave Dewitt

  These new foods were adopted by the indigenous civilizations in varying degrees depending upon region, climate, and local preference. In many cases—especially with the grains, meats, vegetables, and spices—they were combined with chile peppers for the first time in history.

  THE LEGACY OF THE INCAS

  It is ironic that the chile cuisines of the countries of South America, where the chile pepper originated, are not as complex as those of Mexico, or even Thailand, for that matter. The people of the Andean region of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia still eat basically Incan food that has been only slightly modified by the meats and vegetables introduced by the Spanish. But despite the basic nature of the cuisine of this region, chiles are used extensively, and they are among the hottest in the world.

  There are several chiles of choice in the Andes, where they are generically called “ají” or “uchu.” The first and foremost chile is the specific ají, Capsicum baccatum, which is often called “ají amarillo” because of its yellow fruits. One variety of ají, puca-uchu, grows on a vine-like plant in home gardens because ajís are rarely commercially cultivated in South America.

  Another favorite chile in the Andes is rocotillo, a variety of Capsicum chinense and a close relative of the habanero—though it is considerably milder. It is used in a similar manner to bells and is sometime called a squash pepper. Such terminology is confusing because there is a variety of Capsicum annuum called tomato or squash that is cultivated in the United States. The rocotillo is served fresh as a condiment or garnish, cooked with beans and stews, or spread over grilled meat.

  Another species, Capsicum pubescens, is beloved in the region and is called “rocoto.” The cherrylike pods of the rocoto are as dangerously hot as the ajís. In fact, they are so pungent that there is a Peruvian expression about them, llevanta muertos, meaning they are hot enough to raise the dead.

  In addition to their culinary uses, the various South American chiles are employed in other ways. Mothers who are descendants of the Incas in Peru coat their nipples with chile juice or powder to discourage their babies from suckling during the weaning process. Perhaps the oddest usage of the ajís is in southern Colombia, where Indians mix powdered chile with cocaine before snorting it. Supposedly, the chile increases the mucus secretions and somehow heightens the stimulating properties of the drug. Both practices sound remarkably painful, especially considering the pungency of most South American chiles, and neither is recommended. However, they do give an indication of just how pervasive chiles are in Andean culture.

  Such pervasiveness is also illustrated by the reputation of certain cities for having particularly fiery cuisines. Arequipa, in southern Peru, is probably the hottest food city in South America and is in the competition for the title of hottest city in the world. There, the dishes are so hot that restaurants in Lima list menu items as arequipeño, meaning they are from Arequipa and diners should use caution when eating them.

  Some examples of fiery dishes from Arequipa include ocopa, potatoes covered with a hot cheese and peanut sauce plus a yellow ají chile paste; rocoto chiles stuffed with cheese or sausage; and papas a la huancaína, another dish with an ají-spiced cheese sauce. The use of peanuts in hot-chile dishes in Arequipa is interesting because it anticipates some African dishes with similar ingredients. The peanut, like the chile pepper, is a native of South America (a similar nut, the Bambarra groundnut, is a native of Africa) and has been found in Peruvian mummy graves in Ancón. The combination of the two is a classic example of the addition of chile to spice up an essentially bland food.

  In the Andes, ajís or ají salsas are used to add heat to other bland foods such as potatoes and maniocs. There are several kinds of ají salsas, but the most important of them is ají molida, which is prepared by mixing the fresh chiles with ground herbs, onions, and water. On the coast, Peruvian fishermen mix the ajís with olives, olive oil, and chopped onions, or add them to raw fish to create ceviche, a dish that now appears, with variations, all over the world.

  Other Andean dishes also demonstrate the influences of both the Spanish and Incan cultures. Chickens spiced with ajís reflect the combination of native chiles with European-introduced chickens. It is probable that a pre-Columbian version of this dish combined the chiles with birds such as the macuca, a large jungle fowl. Another meat commonly raised and eaten in the Andes with chiles is the cui, or guinea pig.

  In Chile, various sauces are used to spice up bean, potato, and chicken dishes. One simple sauce is color, which is made by sautéing garlic, paprika, and dried red chiles in cooking oil. Its name alludes to its bright red-orange—well—color. Another sauce is pebre, which combines a red chile paste with olive oil, vinegar, cilantro, onions, and garlic.

  In other parts of South America, where European influences had a greater impact upon the cuisines, chile peppers are combined with a wider variety of Old World foods.

  BRAZIL AND BEYOND

  The chiltepín (C. annuum var. glabriusculum) is generally thought to be the “wild progenitor” of the rest of the annuum species. Put another way, the undomesticated and primitive chiltepíns are the original genetic material from which the cultivated varieties we know today evolved through human selection. Since the annuum species has a wild progenitor, it makes sense that the chinense species would have one too. The trouble is, no one’s certain of this. “So far the wild progenitor has not been discovered,” states J. W. Purseglove in his book Spices, volume 2.

  But maybe it has been discovered. Just as there are people who collect stamps or trading cards, there are professionals and hobbyists who collect seeds. Chile seeds, to be more specific, and chinense seeds, to narrow the focus even further. Jim Ault is such a person. At Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, he maintains a collection of about a hundred Capsicum accessions (varieties) of which forty are chinense. His offer to swap seeds with me in 1993 was gratefully accepted, and I sent off seeds that I had collected in Trinidad and Costa Rica. Jim was generous in return, sending me six chinense varieties from Africa, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, and Brazil.

  Brazilian bird pepper in the author’s garden. Photograph by Dave DeWitt.

  I already had two Brazilian chinense varieties in my collection, so I felt that the plants from Jim’s seeds would make an interesting comparison. As usual, the specimen of Jim’s unnamed Brazilian chinense that was planted in the garden did poorly, but its counterpart flourished in a large pot, growing two feet tall and two and a half feet wide. The leaves, though only an inch long, had the characteristic “crinkled” aspect found in the chinense species and the fruits ranged from one to three per node. And what fruits they were!

  Instead of the familiar lantern shape of many chinense peppers, these were spherical, erect pods about one-quarter inch wide. It was the smallest-podded chinense I’d ever encountered. The pods’ resemblance to the Sonoran chiltepíns’ was startling; held up side by side, they were nearly identical—with one exception. Instead of being red, the mature Brazilian pods were bright yellow. I performed the smell test by cutting a pod in half and there it was, the unmistakable apricot-like aroma of the chinense. It was so pungent that when I held it close to the nose, I was convulsed by fits of sneezing. I noticed that the pods were not easily deciduous; in other words, they did not separate easily from the calyx—just like the chiltepín pods. The tiny yellow pods are called pimenta do cheiro. It’s a variety with a number of variant spellings, including pimento de cheiro. It is also called the Brazilian bird pepper.

  “The Amazon basin supports the world’s largest number of habanero [chinense] varieties,” notes Jessica Harris, the author of Tasting Brazil. “These chiles appear in a variety of ways in Brazilian cooking, particularly that of the northeastern region. They are chopped and put into homemade sauces and pickled and show up on the table as condiments.”

  When Columbus first explored the Caribbean islands in 1492, there’s a good chance that the first chile pepper he encountered was a Scotch bonnet or its cousin. After all,
long before Columbus arrived, the chinense had spread throughout the islands, presumably by ancestors of the Arawaks and Caribs. So it would not be surprising to learn that Columbus misnamed the pod “pimiento” (pepper) right after biting into a chinense.

  According to Jean Andrews, “After 1493, peppers from the West Indies were available to the Portuguese for transport to their western African colonies.” Brazilian peppers were available by 1508, when Portugal colonized Brazil. After sugarcane was introduced into Brazil in 1532, there was a great need for slave labor. Considerable trade sprang up between Portuguese colonies in Angola and Mozambique and across the Atlantic in Pernambuco, Brazil. It is believed that this trade introduced New World peppers into Africa, especially the chinense and frutescens species.

  COLLIDING CULTURES AND CUISINES

  After the Andean region, chiles are most prevalent in Brazilian cookery and occur in many dishes. The popularity of chiles in Brazil is the result of three factors: the prevalence of chiles in the Amazon Basin, their combination with foods introduced by the Portuguese, and the fact that the first African slaves readily adopted the native chiles.

  Most probably, the habaneros found today in the Caribbean Islands and Central America migrated from the Amazon region. However, they are not the only chiles in the region. Varieties of both C. annuum and C. frutescens, the Tabasco type, also appear in Brazil, and pickled Tabascos are often called for in Brazilian dishes. One type of frutescens in Brazil is known as the malagueta pepper, and it is quite similar to Tabasco chiles (see the introduction for a photograph).

  Brazilian cuisine was influenced more by African sources than its own native Indian tribes. In colonial times, the Portuguese were totally dependent upon African cooks, who began as slaves and utilized both Brazilian and West African foods. A good example of such cooking is vatapá de camarão e peixe, a Bahian dish that combines shrimp, chiles, coconut, peanuts, ginger, and tomatoes. In the coastal city of Salvador de Bahia, the dish is very spicy, with either dried or fresh chiles added. In more tourist-influenced areas such as Rio de Janeiro, vatapá is generally much blander.

  Salsa carioca is a Brazilian variation on Mexican guacamole, featuring the ever-popular and native avocado, a Tabasco-type sauce, tomatoes, eggs, and hot chiles. Also popular in Brazil are the moquecas, or native stews. Other Brazilian dishes are often seasoned Caribbean-style with hot sauces. One such sauce is molho de pimenta e limão, which combines habanero chiles with limes.

  In southern Brazil and northern Argentina, spicy barbecues called “churrascos” are enormously popular, especially where large cattle ranches are located. Beef cuts and sausages are marinated in various chile barbecue sauces and are then skewered on large “swords” and grilled. Some cuts of meat are drenched in sauces, wrapped in papaya leaves, and buried in hot coals. The papaya leaves contain papain, which tenderizes the meat.

  Hot sauces and pickled peppers in the Japanese Municipal São Paulo Market, Brazil. Photograph by Wilfredor. Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

  MOVING NORTH

  Central America also has its pockets of heat. As is true of South America and the Caribbean, some countries have embraced chile peppers with more fervor than others. Panama and Costa Rica, for example, have some spicy dishes, but the overall cuisine is not as spicy as that of Belize or Guatemala. Perhaps because of its Mayan heritage, Guatemala has a fiery cuisine second only to Mexico in terms of chile usage.

  The most popular chile in Guatemala is the chile de Cobán, a variety of piquin with round to slightly elongated pods that are smoke-dried over wood and have a powerful smoky taste. Jocón is a perfect example of a Mayan recipe that has resisted European influences; the only non–New World ingredients are the garlic, onions, and chicken. The Mayas, of course, would have substituted duck or turkey for the chicken. Another Central American dish from the Yucatán Peninsula features chiles combined with black beans in black-bean soup.

  The Old World influence was greater in Mexico than Central America, and the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico had a profound effect on the cuisine of the country. The Old World foodstuffs the explorers brought with them soon transformed the eating habits of the Indians. However, the Aztecs and their descendants did not give up their beloved staples such as chiles, beans, squash, corn, and chocolate; they combined them with the new imports and thus created the basis for the Mexican cuisines of today.

  Throughout the centuries, an astonishing variety in Mexican cooking developed as a result of geography. From the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico stretches over 2,000 miles to the deserts of the North, so the length and size of Mexico, combined with the fact that mountain ranges separate the various regions, led to the development of isolated regional cuisines. This geographical variety is the reason that the cooking of tropical Yucatán differs significantly from that of the deserts of Chihuahua and Sonora.

  One common factor, though, in Mexican cookery is the prevalence of chile peppers. Unlike South America, where chiles are still consumed mostly by the Indian population, in Mexico everyone fell in love with the pungent pods. Chile peppers are Mexico’s most important vegetable crop; they are grown all over the country from the Pacific and Gulf coasts to mountainous regions with an altitude above 8,000 feet. Approximately 200,000 acres of cultivated land produce 500,000 tons of fresh pods and 30,000 tons of dry pods. Although over 10 different varieties are grown or collected in Mexico, anchos/poblanos, serranos, ‘Mirasol’ peppers, and jalapeños account for 75 percent of the crop. In 1988 Mexico exported 2,529 metric tons of fresh or dried chiles worth $4.6 million into the United States. By 2008, that number had increased to 177,565 metric tons, thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the northern state of Chihuahua, New Mexican cultivars such as ‘NuMex Heritage 6-4’ are grown in great quantities and are imported into New Mexico because New Mexican farmers cannot grow enough pods to satisfy the demands of consumers.

  Cobán chiles in the author’s garden. Photograph by Dave DeWitt.

  In 1985, each Mexican consumed about 14 pounds of green chile and nearly 2 pounds of dried chile. In fact, the Mexicans eat more chile per capita than onions or tomatoes. The favorite chiles are about evenly divided between those harvested fresh and those utilized in the dry form.

  The serranos and jalapeños are grown for processing and the fresh market, where they are the chiles of choice for salsas. Over 90 percent of the serrano crop is used fresh in homemade salsas such as pico de gallo, which is known by quite a few other names. Serranos are also used in a popular cooked sauce, tomatillo sauce.

  About 60 percent of the jalapeño crop is processed, either by canning or pickling, or by making commercial salsas. Of the remainder, 20 percent is used fresh and 20 percent is used in the production of chipotles, the smoked and dried form of the jalapeño.

  The use of another favorite Mexican chile, the ancho/poblano, is equally divided between fresh (poblano) and dried (ancho). Some Mexican chiles, such as pasilla, ‘Mirasol,’ and de árbol are used almost exclusively in the dried form as the basis for a number of cooked sauces. These sauces, which are nearly identical to those in the American Southwest, are discussed in chapter 4—except for the moles.

  The word mole means “mixture” in Spanish, as in guacamole, a mixture of vegetables (guaca). The word used by itself embraces a vast number of sauces utilizing every imaginable combination of meats, vegetables, spices, and flavorings—sometimes up to three dozen different ingredients.

  In Mexico today, cooks who specialize in moles are termed moleros, and they even have their own competition, the National Mole Fair held every year in October at the town of San Pedro Atocpan, just south of Mexico City. At the fair, thousands of people sample hundreds of different moles created by restaurateurs and mole wholesalers. This fair is the Mexican equivalent of chili con carne cookoffs in the United States; the moleros take great pride in their fiery creations and consider each mole a work of art in the same way that chili-cookoff chefs re
gard their chili con carne. Their recipes are family secrets not to be revealed to others under any circumstances. Often the preparation of a family mole recipe takes as long as three days.

  Serrano chiles in the Mercado de la Merced, Mexico City. Photograph by Dave DeWitt.

  The color of a particular mole depends mostly upon the varieties of chiles utilized. A green mole consists mostly of poblano chiles while a red mole could contain three or four different varieties of dried red chiles, such as chiles de árbol or cascabels. The brown and black moles owe their color to pasillas and anchos, both of which are often called chile negro because of their dark hues when dried.

  One of the mole vendors at the Feria de Mole in San Pedro Atocpan, D.F. Photograph by Alejandro Linares Garcia. Wikimedia. GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.

  Other than chiles, there are literally dozens of other ingredients added to the various moles, including almonds, anise, bananas, chocolate, cinnamon, cilantro, cloves, coconut, garlic, onions, peanuts, peppercorns, piñons, pumpkin seeds, raisins, sesame seeds, toasted bread, tomatillos, tomatoes, tortillas, and walnuts. Undoubtedly, some moleros add coriander, cumin, epazote, oregano, thyme, and other spices to their moles.

  On the basis of the devotion of its people to the fiery chiles used in their moles, it is evident that San Pedro Atocpan is also in the running to be named the hottest city in the world. No wonder—it is located in the state of Puebla, renowned for the most famous mole of all, mole poblano.