Chili pepper

“ Chili Reinas
Roast large bell peppers until the skin turns black. Wash in cold water and rub off the blackened skin. Cut around the stem and remove the seed and coarse veins. Take some dry Monterey cheese, grated fine, and with this fill the peppers, closing the end with a wooden toothpick.
Prepare a batter made as follows: Beat the yolks and whites of six eggs separately, then mix, and stir in a little flour to make a thin batter. Have a pan of boiling lard ready and after dipping the stuffed pepper into the batter dip it into the lard. ”

“ Cayenne pepper, or chili is much grown in tropical Africa and America, but less generally used than black pepper.
Pistacia is a small tree, about twenty feet high, and native to Persia and Syria, but now cultivated in all parts of southern Europe and northern Africa. Flowers in racemes, fruit ovate and about the size of an olive. Pistachio nuts are much esteemed; but readily become rancid. Oil is expressed from them for culinary and other uses.
A PINE-APPLE PLANTATION IN FLORIDA
Pine-apple (Ananassa sativa) is highly esteemed and much cultivated for its fruit. ”

“ Chili is the third member of the trinity and is everything else but chilly—it is hot. It includes every kind of green, red and yellow pepper, and is cooked with nearly every article of food, and is cooked by itself and is eaten raw, but is hot always. The natives eat so much chili that it acts as an antiseptic, and I was told by a man who ought to know that in the Mexican war soldiers left on the field lay dead for weeks and could not decay but dried up. That is true now, but it is not chili but altitude that prevents dissolution. Fresh meat cannot spoil nor can vegetables rot. ”

“ These articles give zest to food and stimulate digestion. Their composition is very varied and embraces many fruits and vegetables, as the tomato, walnut, garlic, shallot; many herbs, as tarragon, chervill, mint, thyme, marjoram; many condiments, as cayenne, black pepper, mustard, and all the spices; many fish, as lobsters, oysters, clams, shrimp, anchovies; the juices of meat, besides salt, sugar, molasses, etc.
44Pepper sauce is made from the little Jamaica peppers, the Mexican, Chili pepper, or some other variety of red or green pepper. There are numerous brands, and nearly all are good. ”

“ Take saucepan and put in 1 pint beef stock, 2 cans tomatoes, 4 chili peppers chopped fine, 2 ounces onions chopped fine, 1 tablespoonful salt, 1⁄4 ounce black pepper, 2 or 3 dashes red pepper, 2 tablespoonfuls browned sugar, 1 ounce lard or butter. Set on stove and let simmer about 2 hours or till done. ”

“ The chili powder manufacturers get a consistent product by adjusting the formulations each year. 1/3 cup fresh lime juice 1/3 cup white vinegar 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon salt or to taste 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper 1 whole roaster breast 2 tablespoons chopped, mild green chilies 1/4 cup ketchup Tabasco In large bowl, combine lime juice, vinegar, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Place breast in marinade; cover and refrigerate 1 hour or longer. When coals are hot, arrange around drip pan filled halfway with water, close all vents. ”

“ Their hosts first baked some kind of slapjacks and divided them among their guests; then gave them beans seasoned hot with pepper: also great pieces of squash cooked before the fire, which they said was delicious and sweet—more than good. Then came a dish of dried meat pounded fine, mixed with green peppers and well fried in beef tallow. This seemed to be the favorite dish of the proprietors, but was a little too hot for our people. They called it chili cum carne—meat with pepper—and we soon found this to be one of the best dishes cooked by the Californians. ”

“ Chadron had gone after chili peppers, and other things, but principally chili peppers. There was not one left in the house, and the mistress could not live without them, any more than fire could burn without wood. ”

“ Give the African woman a clay pot, a pestle and mortar and a few leaves, and she will produce in quick time a meal which even a European can relish. She is a trifle too fond of chili peppers and palm oil for a sensitive palate and fully believes that a fair proportion of earth and other etceteras add to the [55] flavour and digestibility. Her husband, with a natural weakness for chili peppers and oil, and himself not averse to “foreign bodies” in his food, readily consumes nearly two pounds of prepared manioca and pottage at a single meal. ”

“ Chop, or put through the grinder, the onion and pepper, then add the other ingredients and cook one hour, uncovered.
Chili Sauce, No. 3
Chop the onion and peppers fine, mix all together, and cook half an hour. Bottle while hot. ”

“ Ord. Solanaceae) . There can be little doubt that the name, as stated by Bontius in the quotation, was taken from Chili in S. America, whence the plant was carried to the Indian Archipelago, and thence to India.
[1604.—"Indian pepper.... In the language of Cusco, it is called Vchu, and in that of Mexico, chili."—Grimston, tr. D'Acosta, H. W. Indies, I. Bk. iv. 239 (Stanf. Dict.) ] 1631.—"... eos addere fructum Ricini Americani, quod lada Chili Malaii vocant, quasi dicas Piper e Chile, Brasiliae contermina regione.'—Jac. Bontii, Dial. V. p. 10. ”

“ There are many varieties of capsicum, the most noted being the capsicum annuum, cultivated in the East Indies, in Mexico and southern parts of the United States, and from which cayenne pepper is made; and the capsicum frutescens, the Guinea or bird pepper, a much smaller pod and which, dried whole, is most often used in cookery. Chilis are used in enormous quantities by natives of hot countries, a paradoxical custom it appears to be, and the hottest, most “peppery” dishes known have originated where the sunbeam is nearest vertical. ”

“ Cayenne pepper is occasionally adulterated with red lead, vermilion, ochre, salt, ground-rice and turmeric. The taste of the pepper is impaired by exposure to damp and the heat of the sun. Chillies have been in use from time immemorial; they are eaten in great quantity by the people of Guiana and other warm countries, and in Europe are largely consumed both as a spice and as medicine.
The dried ripe fruit of Capsicum frutescens from Zanzibar, known as pod pepper and Guinea pepper, is official in the British Pharmacopoeia under the name Capsici Fructus. ”

“ Peppers, as like as not of both species, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic cut fine as if for a mince of greens—"pepper hash," the American crudely calls an arrangement closely akin in motive—are mingled together so deftly, are steeped in vinegar and oil so effectually, as to seem, not many in one, but the one in many, the crowning glory of the glorious vegetable world of the South. Nothing in common has this delectable salad 208 with the macédoine, which the Spaniard also makes. ”

“ Whole or ground spices, or acetic acid or oil extracts of the spices may be added to the pulp in such proportion as the particular brand demands. The spices most used are cloves, cinnamon, mace, and cayenne pepper; but paprika, pepper, mustard, cardamon, [11] coriander, ginger, celery, and allspice are used by some manufacturers. When whole spices are used, it is the practice to suspend them in a cloth bag or a wire basket and to take them out after boiling. They tend to darken the color of the ketchup, a result considered undesirable by some. ”

“ They are particularly aromatic when fresh, abounding in essential oil which is the aromatic property of all kinds of fragrant fruits.
This tree is a native of the West Indies, and is found most abundantly on the limestone hills on the Island of Jamaica. It is the only common spice having its origin in the New World. It is found, but not in abundance, in most of the West India Islands, as well as in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. It takes its name, pimento, from the Spanish word for pepper. ”

“ Sometimes a mess of stewed mutton would be "on," at others, a thrice cooked turkey; pans of beans were in universal request; and occasionally the tortilla cakes would be devoured with only a "helping" of the odious chilé, or red pepper boiled in lard, to accompany them.
Pepper was, indeed, by far the most predominant ingredient of every dish, excepting the equally abominable mixtures of garlic, onions, and grease: whether it were mutton or turkey, beans or lard, soup, lettuce, or atole (a thin drink made from Indian meal) , nothing could be done without pepper. ”

“ ANCHOVY BUTTER (see No. 227) .
[Illustration: THE CAPISCUM.]
CAYENNE.—This is the most acrid and stimulating spice with which we are acquainted. It is a powder prepared from several varieties of the capsicum annual East-India plants, of which there are three so far naturalized in this country as to be able to grow in the open air: these are the Guinea, the Cherry, and the Bell pepper. All the pods of these are extremely pungent to the taste, and in the green state are used by us as a pickle. When ripe, they are ground into cayenne pepper, and sold as a condiment. ”

“ It is supported much as hops are. When the berries on a spike begin to turn red they are gathered, as they lose pungency if they are allowed to ripen. They are placed on mats, and are either trodden with the feet or rubbed by the hands to separate them from the spike, after which they are cleaned by winnowing. Black pepper consists of such berries wrinkled and blackened in the process of drying, and white pepper of similar berries freed from the skin and the fleshy part of the fruit by being soaked in water and then rubbed. ”

“ The active properties of pepper are an acrid resin,51 a volatile oil, and a crystallizable, colorless substance called pipertine, or peperic. Why white pepper should be preferred before the black is one of the anomalies of the trade. White pepper has really only about a quarter the strength of black pepper, and is the least economical to use for these reasons: (1) Because of being allowed to ripen it loses much of its pungency. (2) Because it is deprived of the outer skin or husk, which contains much of the constituents which go to make good pepper. ”

“ The ash in black peppers does not exceed from 4-10 to 7-10 per cent., and in white, 4-10 per cent.; it is fair to believe that anything above 5 per cent. for black and 2 per cent. for white is suspicious. The volatile oil, to which pepper owes its flavor, varies in black pepper from 1.69 to .70, and in white 1.26 to .57 are found, but this determination is not of great value as a means of detecting adulterations.
Piperine, which is a neutral crystalline substance, and resin, to which the pepper owes its pungency, of which it yields about two per cent. ”

“ When it is green it is ripe, then they cut it as they do grapes, and expose it to the sun until it is dry. Three kinds of pepper grow; the long and62 black grows with the leaves. There is the white, which is the best, and they keep it in the country; but not so much of this grows as of the other. There are also many serpents there, produced by the heat. Some people say, that when the pepper is to be gathered, fires are made in the forest to drive away the serpents, therefore the pepper becomes black ”

“ Procure those that are fresh and green. If you do not like them very fiery, cut a small slit in them, and take the seeds out carefully with a small knife, so as not to mangle the pepper. Soak them in salt and water, eight or nine days, changing the water each day. Keep them in a warm place. If you like them stuffed, chop white cabbage fine, season it highly with cloves, cinnamon, mace, and fill the peppers with it—add nasturtions if you like—sew them up carefully, and put them in cold spiced vinegar. Tomatoes when very small and green are good pickled with the peppers. ”

“ Long pepper is the fruit spike of Chivaci Roxburgh, a native of Malabar and Chavica officinarum, a native of the India archipelago; they are both climbing plants. The first pods, or catkins,49 about 11⁄2 in. long, grow nearly straight, and opposite the leaves. They are gathered before they are ripe and dried in the sun, when they become brown or dark green in color and rough to the touch. They lack the pungency of the black variety. The long pepper plant dies at the end of 3 years, and after the fruit is collected the vine dies down to the ground. ”

“ The principal source of cayenne pepper is C. frutescens, the spur or goat pepper, a dwarf shrub, a native of South America, but commonly cultivated in the East Indies. It produces a small, narrow, bright red pod, having very pungent properties. C. tetragonum, or bonnet pepper, is a species much esteemed in Jamaica; it bears very fleshy fruits. Other well-known kinds of capsicum are the cherry pepper (C. cerasiforme) , with small berries; bell pepper (C. grossum) , which has thick and pulpy fruit, well adapted for pickling; and berry or bird pepper (C. baccatum) . ”

“ Cut off the tops and scoop out the seeds of six peppers, chop an extra pepper without seeds, mix with it a small onion chopped, a cupful of chopped tomato, two tablespoonfuls of butter or salad oil, a teaspoonful of salt, and an equal measure of bread crumbs. Stuff the peppers, replace the stem ends, and bake the peppers for half an hour, basting them with butter or salad oil two or three times. Serve them hot as a vegetable. ”

“ The consumption of chillies in India is immense, as they are used by both rich and poor and constitute the principal seasoning for the poor in their rice. The natives of the West Indies, Africa, and Mexico use them very extensively.
West India stomachic man-drum is prepared by washing a few pods of bird’s pepper and mixing them with sliced cucumber and shallots, to which add a little lime juice or Madeira wine.
A great quantity of agri or Guiana pepper is grown in Peru, a variety which the natives are very fond of as a condiment. ”