Plants That Changed The World

THE CHILI PEPPER STORY

Chili peppers (Capsicum annuum) transformed world cuisine through a simple historical accident.

The demand for black pepper sent European explorers abroad in search of new sources of the spice.

When the Spanish found themselves in the West Indies, mistaking them for the Spice Islands, they inquired about the location of pepper plants, but found none. The only spices to emerge from the Americas were allspice (Pimenta dioca) from the Caribbean and chili peppers from Latin America.

Chili peppers soon became a valuable item of trade. The ancestors of these crops are believed to have originated in Bolivia, but they influenced diets from the Inca to the Aztec empires, then traveled the world.

Chilies provide the spicy heat which we now associate with much Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, and Ethiopian cuisine. China is the now the world's biggest exporter of chili peppers, followed by Mexico and India.

Capsaicin is the pepper's fiery active ingredient, which researchers now believe may prove useful as an anti-inflammatory against arthritis.

And so, chilies may soon have as significant medical importance as they have had culinary influence.