Since Columbus brought hot and sweet peppers to Spain from America 500 years ago, they have found their way into cooking all over the world. Chiles permeate spicy Szechwan Chinese and Thai dishes as well as America’s own Tex-Mex and Cajun specialties. Of course, no one could imagine Indian food without curry, which contains ground chile peppers and up to 20 other herbs and spices, or Hungarian goulash without paprika, the powdered form of the paprika pepper.
Those with timid palates may shy away from the more fiery peppers, but it is worth mustering the courage to experiment with different varieties. Besides their ability to enliven so many dishes, peppers contain virtually no fat and are rich in vitamins A and C.
Sweet peppers are usually called peppers, while hot ones are usually referred to as chiles. The strength of their bites varies, but the heat of a pepper is actually evaluated scientifically and measured on a scale called Scoville heat units. The hottest pepper ever measured was a habanero. To lend some perspective, the jalapeno measures between 2,500 and 10,000 Scoville heat units, while the habanero blazes at between 100,000 and 300,000 units.
Generally, the smaller the pepper, the hotter it will be. The compound that produces the chile’s heat, called capsaicin, is concentrated primarily in the seeds and the white tissue surrounding the seeds. Removing these is virtually the only way to reduce the fieriness of a pepper.
The capsaicin in hot peppers is a skin irritant, so wash your hands thoroughly after handling them, wear thin plastic gloves if your skin is already irritated or cut, and be sure not to rub your eyes or nose while preparing them. If while eating a pepper-laced dish you encounter a hotter mouthful than you anticipated, dairy products or starches are the best way to relieve a burning palate. Alcohol escalates the fiery effects of the capsaicin, so have a forkful of rice instead of reaching for that margarita.
Fresh large peppers, both hot and sweet, have a tough outer skin that should be removed; this is easiest to accomplish by roasting them, which makes the crisp, crunchy flesh soft and smoky-tasting. Place peppers directly on the trivet of a gas-stove burner over high heat, or on the grill. Just as each section turns puffy and black, turn the pepper with tongs until the skin is blackened all over. You also can place peppers on a rimmed baking sheet and broil them in the oven, turning them as they become charred.
Transfer the blackened peppers to a bowl, cover immediately with plastic wrap and let them stand for 15 minutes. Then peel off the blackened skin and remove the stem and seeds.
Here are some peppers to look for in stores or to grow in the garden.
– Sweet bell peppers are the most familiar and widely grown variety. Gardeners and cooks have made the colorful bell peppers popular, so now chocolate, orange, purple and yellow peppers are available in addition to the ubiquitous green bell.
– Hot, pungent cayenne pepper is a familiar seasoning in its dried, powdered form, but many varieties of the fresh pepper are available as well, with fruits from 3 to 8 inches long.
– Chiltepin is the name for the undomesticated wild pepper, the closest thing to the original wild pepper that exists today. Smoky and hot, it is the world’s most expensive spice, after saffron, costing up to $128 a pound.
– Habanero peppers are extremely hot. They originated in the Yucatan and are shaped like a small, flattened bell.
– Jalapenos are probably the most common hot pepper. They come in a range of sizes and are moderately hot to hot in flavor. The jalapeno holds up well for roasting and frying and is also good in fresh salsas and salads.
– Pimiento peppers, used for stuffing olives, have very sweet flesh. There are mild-tasting to very hot varieties.
– Poblano is the fresh form of a pepper that, when dried, is called ancho. Large and mild, the peppers are often served stuffed with cheese, rice or other grains.
– Serranos are one of the best peppers for fresh salsa, particularly the chunky, fresh pico de gallo.
– The Tabasco pepper is very hot–and the primary ingredient in the famed Tabasco hot sauce from Louisiana.
If you love eating peppers, consider growing them yourself. Peppers are perennials in tropical regions, although they must be treated as annuals in most areas of the United States, including the Chicago area.
According to Lee Randhava of the Chicago Botanic Garden, peppers, like tomatoes, must be planted well past Chicago’s May 15 frost date and require a hot summer to flower and produce fruit. In general, peppers thrive in a warm, sunny spot, in well-drained soil with a pH value between 6.0 and 8.0 (6.7 to 7.3 is optimum).
Peppers require six to eight weeks indoors to start from seed and should not be transplanted into a garden until nighttime temperatures stabilize above 55 degrees. Because peppers like phosphorus, an old trick is to bury a few unburned matchsticks in a hole beneath the seedlings’ roots.
To find varieties that will grow well in your climate, contact Johnny’s Selected Seeds (207-437-9294; free catalog) and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (804-973-4703; catalog $2).
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Write to Martha Stewart in care of the Chicago Tribune, Home section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Or send e-mail to TribHome@aol.com.
