HISTORY
The 1st century AD Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius spent vast sums to satisfy his craving for exotic foods and wrote ten books on the art of cooking which were summarized in De Re Coquinaria ("On Cookery"). Apicus' recipes included numerous spices including pepper intended to preserve food, aid the digestion, and improve the flavor of the dull Roman fare. "Sprinkle with pepper and serve" was the last step in a recipe for diced pork and apples from one cookbook. He even recommended the use of pepper in sweet desserts.
When the Visigoths attacked Rome in 408, their leader Alaric I demanded a ransom part of which was 3,000 lbs of the much-prized spice, pepper. This payoff was his price for sparing the population from death.
 |
| Pepper |
The small, round Chiltepin chilli pepper was used as a tax payment by the Aztecs, paid to their emperors.
When the Ottoman Empire cut off supply of black pepper to Europe in the 1400s, demand for the spice was so great it was one of the major driving forces behind the voyage to the New World.
Christopher Columbus found no black pepper but did find chili peppers, which he brought back from the Americas. He wrote in his log, "there is also plenty of ají, which is their pepper, which is more valuable than [black] pepper, and all the people eat nothing else, it being very wholesome".
Columbus named them peppers because he thought they tasted like black pepper when he first tried them in the Caribbean.
After bringing back chili peppers from America, Diego Álvarez Chanca the physician and companion of Columbus discovered their medicinal properties, and developed a chutney to administer them.
Three years after Vasco Da Gama's journey to India 100 tons of spice arrived in Portugal. As a result pepper sold in Lisbon was five times cheaper than in Venice.
In Elizabethan England, pepper was sold by the individual grain and guards on the London docks had their pockets sewn up so they couldn't steal any spices.
Columbus named them peppers because he thought they tasted like black pepper when he first tried them in the Caribbean.
After bringing back chili peppers from America, Diego Álvarez Chanca the physician and companion of Columbus discovered their medicinal properties, and developed a chutney to administer them.
 |
| Chili Pepper |
Three years after Vasco Da Gama's journey to India 100 tons of spice arrived in Portugal. As a result pepper sold in Lisbon was five times cheaper than in Venice.
In Elizabethan England, pepper was sold by the individual grain and guards on the London docks had their pockets sewn up so they couldn't steal any spices.
While salt was already a common seasoning throughout history, the regular pairing with pepper emerged around the 17th century in Europe. This coincides with the era of Louis XIV's reign (1643-1715). At the time, pepper was still a relatively expensive spice, considered more luxurious than many others. The king's preference for it influenced its popularity among the wealthy and fashionable, eventually trickling down to the broader populace.
THE PLANT
The Black pepper is a plant that is grown to produce the dried fruit called the peppercorn, and the ground pepper derived from it.
 |
| Peppercorn |
The smaller the peppercorn the hotter it tastes, but as they grow they lose a little heat while their aroma intensifies.
Vietnam is the world’s leading exporter of black pepper, producing 34% of the world's supply in 2013.
The genus Capsicum is of the nightshade family. It includes the Chili pepper which is the one most often used as a vegetable.
The most popular sweet pepper in the United States is the bell pepper.
Bell peppers have more vitamin C than oranges.
As bell peppers mature, their color changes from green to red and they become sweeter.
Paprika is made from bell pepper.
There is a pepper grown in Japan called the Shishito pepper. Only 1 out of 10 is spicy and there's no way of knowing beforehand.
There is a pepper variety, called Padrón (name of a town in Spain, where they grow), that can either be spicy or not and they don't have any visible characteristic to distinguish them. The amount of water and sunlight received during growth influence their spiciness.
Red, green, and yellow peppers are all the same species of plants that are in different stages of ripening.
Jalapeño peppers and Chipotle peppers are the same pepper - Chipotle peppers are Jalapeños that have been aged to maturity, dried, and smoked.
In 2012, the Trinidad moruga “Scorpion” pepper was rated the hottest pepper in the world at 1.2 million Scoville units.
Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
As bell peppers mature, their color changes from green to red and they become sweeter.
Paprika is made from bell pepper.
 |
| Bell Pepper |
There is a pepper grown in Japan called the Shishito pepper. Only 1 out of 10 is spicy and there's no way of knowing beforehand.
There is a pepper variety, called Padrón (name of a town in Spain, where they grow), that can either be spicy or not and they don't have any visible characteristic to distinguish them. The amount of water and sunlight received during growth influence their spiciness.
Red, green, and yellow peppers are all the same species of plants that are in different stages of ripening.
Jalapeño peppers and Chipotle peppers are the same pepper - Chipotle peppers are Jalapeños that have been aged to maturity, dried, and smoked.
In 2012, the Trinidad moruga “Scorpion” pepper was rated the hottest pepper in the world at 1.2 million Scoville units.
Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
No comments:
Post a Comment