Word: peppers
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...dose of hot chile, while not strictly medicinal, stimulates the senses and clears the mind, prodding the palate to the threshold between pleasure and pain. There are even some aficionados who tell of a "chile high," produced by the body's endorphins in reaction to the sting of the pepper...
...fueled by a proliferation everywhere of Mexican and nouvelle Tex-Mex restaurants over the past decade and a growing public appetite for new flavor sensations. Last year sales of salsa, whose main ingredient is chile, surpassed catsup by $40 million, making it the country's most popular condiment. The peppers are popping up in such mainstream products as Le Menu "Santa Fe style" frozen dinners and McDonald's chicken fajitas. Manufacturers are packaging chile pastas, chile jams and jellies, chile catsup, chile-spiced mustards, peanuts, potato chips and pickles. There is even a sizzling rock band called...
...something" that turns the human system into a four-alarm fire is capsaicin, a chemical concentrated in the veins and seeds of the chile pod. A member of the nightshade family (as are tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco), the chile pepper is believed to have originated in South America. Incas and Mayans prized it for its vibrant flavor and curative powers, prescribing peppers for ailments as diverse as arthritis, epilepsy and the common cold. Pepper seeds carried back to Europe by Christopher Columbus eventually found their way to China, Korea, Thailand and India -- the last of which today leads all other...
Among Americans, the most popular pepper is the innocuous bell, followed by the pimento, used in making paprika and stuffing olives, and the green jalapeno, common in nachos and green salsas. Chile connoisseurs also extol the virtues of such lesser-known varieties as the smoky chipotle, the fleshy red- brown poblano, the piquant pequin and the sweet-tasting habanero, which is famed, perhaps notorious, for its pure, blazing fire. In New Mexico, the chile-growing capital of the U.S., the longish local variety is often served stuffed with cheese or as a topping for hamburgers and pizza...
...best argument for chile, however, is that it is ideal for invigorating low-fat, potentially bland dishes and that it is healthful, plentiful and cheap. Peppers are also in tune with the nation's changing demographics. "For most of our early history," says Chile Pepper editor DeWitt, "immigration was from central Europe -- England, Ireland, Germany -- countries not renowned for their hot and spicy cuisines. In the past half-century, immigration patterns have switched to such areas as Mexico, Asia and the Caribbean. People bring their food, and they open their markets. We go, and we like them...