"It Being Very Wholesome"

"There is also plenty of aji, which is their pepper, which is more valuable than [black] pepper, and all the people eat nothing else, it being very wholesome."
Christopher Columbus, from his log for January 15, 1493.

Quoted in: Jack Turner. 2005. Spice: The History of a Temptation. Vintage Books: New York, p. 11. See also: Clements R. Markham. 1893. The journal of Christopher Columbus (during his first voyage, 1492-93) and documents relating to the voyages of John Cabot and Gaspar Corte Real. Hakluyt Society: London, p. 164.

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Just a few quick notes on my favorite spice/food/staff of life -- chiles.

There are five cultivated species: Capsicum annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, C. frutescens, and C. pubescens, and literally thousands of cultivated varieties:

• Capsicum annuum (includes bell peppers, wax peppers, cayenne peppers, jalapeños, etc.)
• Capsicum frutescens (includes Brazilian malagueta pepper [NOT "melegueta pepper," which is Aframomum melegueta or "grains of paradise"], tabasco peppers etc.)
• Capsicum chinense (includes habanero, Scotch bonnet peppers, naga peppers, Datil peppers, etc.)
• Capsicum pubescens (includes rocoto peppers, manzano peppers, etc.)
• Capsicum baccatum (includes aji amarillo peppers, peppadew peppers, etc.)

In my book (Boneless, Lean and NOT FRIED: 60 Recipes for the Fried Fish Phobic, which you can conveniently buy right here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DPJU5VG) I include a list of some of the varieties of peppers I've encountered:

Aji amarillo peppers, aji limo peppers, aji panca peppers, Aleppo peppers, Anaheim peppers, banana peppers, bell peppers, bird’s eye peppers, Bishop’s Crown peppers, cascabel peppers, cayenne peppers, cherry peppers, chilaca peppers, chile de arbol, chiltepin peppers, coronado peppers, Cubanelle peppers, datil peppers, Dundicut peppers, ghost peppers, guajillo peppers, hidalgo peppers, jalapeño peppers, Madame Jeanette peppers, malagueta peppers, manzano peppers, mirasol peppers, mulato peppers, Naga Jolokia peppers, Naga Viper peppers, paprika, Peppadew peppers, pepperoncini peppers, piri piri peppers, poblano peppers, rocotillo peppers, Sandia peppers, Santa Fe Grande peppers, santaka peppers, Scotch bonnet peppers, shipkas peppers, Sonora peppers, Tabasco peppers, Tabiche peppers, Thai peppers, Tien Tsin peppers, and Trinidad perfume peppers, to name a few. 

All chiles are members of the Nightshade family (more formally, the Solanaceae). Oddly enough, although the Capsicums are all New World plants, the Solanaceae are global in their distribution. Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, chiles, petunias, tobacco, and about 3,000 other species are all Solanums. It appears that coffee (Coffea) is distantly related to the Solanaceae (but not recently -- the families separated about 125 million years ago).

(Source: https://solgenomics.net/about/about_solanaceae.pl)

Chiles are New World plants (despite the fact that one of the more prominent species is called "Capsicum chinense," apparently because of an error made by Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin [aka Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin] in 1776). And while there may be only five cultivated species, there are a lot more that are consumed, especially in South America, including Capsicum cardenasii, C. chacoense, C. eximium, C. flexuosum, C. mirabile, and several dozen others.

Exactly where chiles originated is a bit unclear. Most sources put the source area in Bolivia, but others put it in Mexico or Central America; a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America  (April 29, 2014) suggests east-central Mexico (specifically the Valley of Tehuacán). Others split the difference, suggesting that some species (C. annum) were domesticated in Mexico or Central America; C. chinense in the Amazon basin; and C. baccatum and C. pubescens (and maybe C. frutescens) in the Andes or possibly further south.

Wherever they originated, what most folks focus on is the "heat" -- the quantity of capsaicin (the chemical formula is 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide, in case you're interested) and related compounds (capsaicinoids) in chiles. Unfortunately, measuring chile's hotness isn't straightforward. While the Scoville scale (developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912) is commonly used, it's quite subjective. There is an alternative scale developed by the American Spice Trade Association which relies on chromatography, but it's not widely used (a rule of thumb is that one ASTA pungency unit equals 15 Scoville units, but it's not very accurate).

Mild peppers (bell peppers, for example) have Scoville scores as low as zero; the hottest peppers (all cultivars of C. chinense, and all with Scoville scores of more than one million) include such cheerfully named varieties as Komodo Dragon Chili Pepper, Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Naga Viper pepper, Infinity Chilli, Naga Morich, Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper, Bedfordshire Super Naga, Spanish Naga Chili, and Carolina Reaper (also known as HP22B), the current record holder with a Scoville score of more than two million units.

(As a side note -- the hottest pepper I can find that is not a cultivar of C. chinense is the so-called "bird's eye pepper" or Thai chile, which is a C. annum cultivar, and has a Scoville rating of up to 250,000 units.)

In case you're curious, the Carolina Reaper was developed by Mr. Ed Currie, the proprietor of the PuckerButt Pepper Company in Fort Mill, South Carolina (http://puckerbuttpeppercompany.com/). You can buy seeds, if you like, and Mr. Currie has kindly included this piece of information:

"If you are 'stupit' enough to eat this pepper whole you may wish to enter the doors of death willingly!  Be very, very careful using this pepper.  Those who don't fear the Reaper are fools."

Why do the Capsicums produce capsaicinoids? Probably to fight off mammals, insects and fungi. Why do we like to eat hot food? Ah, there's a question that has induced people to spout ridiculous amounts of psychobabble. Idiotic reasons include a desire for vitamin C or to induce sweating (people need vitamin C, but they don't necessarily desire it [people desire food, they don't desire L-ascorbic acid]; sweating -- especially in tropical climates -- isn't something you have to work hard to achieve). Psychological reasons that have been suggested include the idea that we like the sensation of danger (a bit like watching horror movies); the phrase "benign masochism" has been used, and make of that what you will.

It's estimated that something like a third of humanity eats chiles (at least a little bit) on a daily basis. It's a bit hard to believe that's because of a masochistic love of pain. I think people just enjoy the sensation the same way they enjoy the spicy flavors of thing like horseradish (spicy molecule: allyl isothiocyanate) and mustard (spicy molecules: allyl isothiocyanate and 4-hydroxybenzyl isothiocyanate) and black pepper (spicy molecule: piperine). Oddly enough, I don't recall seeing a lot of discussion about why people like mustard.

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Care for a spicy recipe? Here's my fajita mix:

Spice mixture

• 1 tablespoon New Mexico chile (or California chile, paprika, or any other moderate chile)
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle (smoked jalapeno)
• 1/2 teaspoon adobo (a mixture of garlic, onion, black pepper, Mexican oregano, cumin and cayenne pepper)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or 1/4 teaspoon chile flakes)
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano (or Mexican oregano)

Recipe
3-4 tablespoons oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 red or yellow bell peppers, sliced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, sliced
12-24 grape tomatoes, sliced in half (don't use larger tomatoes, except as garnish)
8-16 ounces chicken or beef, sliced into 1/2 inch strips

Lime juice, cilantro, avocado, diced tomatoes, sour cream, salsa picante, etc.
Tortillas (corn or flour, as you prefer)


Combine all the herbs and spices; set aside.

Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, peppers and tomatoes, and saute 5 minutes until soft and just beginning to caramelize. Add the chicken or beef strips.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is nicely browned (the onion, peppers and tomatoes will be very brown by this time -- a little char never hurt anybody).

Carefully stir in the spice blend. You may need to add another tablespoon of oil to help make sure everything is properly blended. Turn off the heat. Let the fajitas sit for about 5 minutes.

Heat the tortillas (steam them, microwave them, fry them -- whatever you like). Fill the tortillas and garnish. Eat over the sink.

This produces a tasty burn. Serves one (if you're me).

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https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/V3-479.html; https://solgenomics.net/about/about_solanaceae.pl; http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/salts/scoville.asp; http://www.thechileman.org/guide_species.php; http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2012/issue131b/; http://www.pnas.org/content/111/17/6165.full; http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-origins-chili-pepper-mexico-01870.html; http://www.junglerain.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=77; https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/sep/14/chilli-hot-food; http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/on-capsaicin-why-do-we-eat-love-hot-peppers/; https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811195315.htm; http://nautil.us/issue/35/boundaries/why-revolutionaries-love-spicy-food

A Pinch of Pepper

'What are tarts made of?'
'Pepper, mostly,' said the cook.

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, chapter 11

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It occurred to me that I could give you a little taste of my cookbook.

[Hey did you see that? "A taste" of a cookbook?! OMG, that's a joke! Wow, was that a good one or what?!?]

Where was I? Oh, right. Taste of the cookbook. Ha ha.

Amazon's a bit serious about competing with their products. If you've signed an exclusive agreement with them (which I have, at least for the next three months), you can't offer your stuff elsewhere. But, if you haven't actually purchased the book yet (why yes, you can buy it -- here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DPJU5VG) I think you might be interested in seeing what it's like.

This book (it's called Boneless, Lean and NOT FRIED: 60 Recipes for the Fried Fish Phobic, and you can conveniently buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DPJU5VG) has two appendices, one on "Exotic Spices," and the other "Spice Blends." Among the dozens and dozens of different spices and blends I talk about is pepper. This is the entry from the appendix (actually it's from the first appendix; yes there's more than one).

Pepper certainly doesn't sound particularly exotic. Ah, but there's hidden stuff here. Take a look.

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Pepper is about as exotic as warm water. “Saltandpepper” is basically one boring word, and almost every recipe (except maybe for ice cream and pancakes) includes the dreary commandment “salt and pepper to taste.”

But pepper is far more than that silly stale shaker that's been sitting on your table since the Carter administration. For better or worse we live in a world that was made by people who were desperate for pepper.

The word pepper is believed to be derived from the Dravidian (South Indian) word “pippali” (which may have originally referred to long pepper, Piper longum, rather than black pepper, P. nigrum). The earliest evidence of pepper consumption goes back about 9,000 years at the Spirit Cave site in Thailand. People have been raising and harvesting pepper for at least four thousand years. Peppercorns were found stuffed into the nostrils of the Pharaoh Ramses II (inserted post-mortem for religious reasons, I hope); the Greeks and the Romans were trading for pepper as early as 2,400 years ago. In the year 77 Pliny the Elder complained “there is no year in which India does not drain the Roman Empire of 50 million sesterces” (okay, very roughly, assuming each sesterce was valued at 0.073 grams of gold, 50 million sesterces would be worth 3,650,000 grams of gold or, at current value, about $146,438,000) .

Why did Columbus sail off into the unknown? Why did Vasco de Gama sail around Africa? Why did Ferdinand Magellan begin the first circumnavigation of the planet? Pepper (okay, there were other things too, but pepper was right at the top of the list).

In 2002 pepper accounted, by itself, for 20% of the total volume of spices traded. Global pepper production in 2013 was about 473,000 metric tons. The largest producers are Vietnam and Indonesia.

Pepper – true pepper, the source of black, white, green, and the rare red peppercorns (but NOT pink peppercorns, which come from Schinus molle or S. terebinthifolia), is the product of one and only one species, Piper nigrum, but there are lots of other Pipers in the orchestra:

• P. amalago, “Pepper elder,” used as a spicy substitute for black pepper and as a medicine in some areas of Mexico and Central America.
• P. auritum, “Hoja santa,” commonly used Mexican cuisine.
• P. betle, “Betel leaf” (NOT “betel nut,” which comes from the areca palm, Areca catechu) is an addictive mild stimulant and euphoric used in South Asia and the Middle East.
• P. cubeba, “Java pepper,” though once quite common is rare in Western kitchens but still quite popular in Southeast and South Asia.
• P. darienense, “Duermeboca,” is used in Panama as a fishing poison (it anesthetizes the fish, letting people just scoop them up).
• P. guineense, “Guinea pepper,” from West Africa.
• P. longum, “long pepper,” a favorite of the Romans, is hotter than black pepper, and used today mostly in India and Southeast Asia.
• P. methysticum, “Kava,” is used to make a mildly intoxicating beverage in many parts of the South Pacific.
• P. sarmentosum, “cha phlu,” used as a vegetable in Thailand.

And then we have all the things that have been used as substitutes for pepper – the Capsicums (chiles), grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta), nasturtium pods (Tropaeolum majus), Sichuan pepper (either Zanthoxylum simulans and Z. bungeanum), mountain pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata), grains of Selim (Xylopia aethiopica), and Yerba de Chiva (Clematis ligusticifolia) to name just a few.

Pepper is apparently what drives civilization. Respect it.

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(see http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTRANETTRADE/Resources/Topics/Standards/IndiaSpices.pdf; http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_currency; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aureus).

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No, not all the entries in the appendix are that lengthy. But this should give you some idea of the kinds of things you'll find in the book. Oh, and if you're interested, you can actually buy this book! And here's a fun little link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DPJU5VG.

Wonders and Wickedness, Part II

In my previous post I linked to 15 different articles from The Guardian's (http://www.theguardian.com/us) wonderful series on cities. What I hadn't realized is they've done more amazing articles. A lot more.

A LOT.

So here are links to twenty-one more articles.

Twenty-one?!?

Wow.

The subjects range from Hitler (!) to city planning, from conspiracies to art history. We travel from Europe to Australia to India to Arizona. And of course, there are discussions of visionaries like Jane Jacobs, Robert Moses, Lee Kwan Yew, and Luud Schimmelpennink (he's in the article on Amsterdam).

1. How the US-run Canal Zone divided Panama for a century http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/06/story-cities-16-panama-canal-zone-history-us-run-divided-city
2. Canberra's vision of the ideal city gets mired in 'mediocrity' http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/07/story-cities-17-canberra-capital-australia-walter-griffin-ideal-city
3. Vienna's 'wild settlers' kickstart a social housing revolution http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/08/story-cities-18-vienna-austria-cooperative-self-build-settlers-social-housing-revolution
4. Johannesburg's apartheid purge of vibrant Sophiatown http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/11/story-cities-19-johannesburg-south-africa-apartheid-purge-sophiatown
5. The secret history of Magnitogorsk, Russia's steel city http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/12/story-of-cities-20-the-secret-history-of-magnitogorsk-russias-steel-city
6. Olivetti tries to build the ideal 'human city' for its workers http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/13/story-cities-21-adriano-olivetti-ivrea-italy-typewriter-factory-human-city
7. How Hitler's plans for Germania would have torn Berlin apart http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/14/story-of-cities-hitler-germania-berlin-nazis
8. How disaster sparked Napier's art deco renaissance http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/15/story-of-cities-napier-disaster-art-deco-renaissance
9. How Hiroshima rose from the ashes of nuclear destruction http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/18/story-of-cities-hiroshima-japan-nuclear-destruction
10. Shannon – a tiny Irish town inspires China’s economic boom http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/19/story-of-cities-25-shannon-ireland-china-economic-boom
11. Delhi's modernist dream proves a far-fetched fantasy http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/20/story-cities-23-delhi-india-modernist-fantasy
12. Singapore – the most meticulously planned city in the world http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/21/story-cities-singapore-carefully-planned-lee-kuan-yew
13. How postwar Warsaw was rebuilt using 18th century paintings http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/22/story-cities-warsaw-rebuilt-18th-century-paintings
14. Los Angeles and the 'great American streetcar scandal' http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/25/story-cities-los-angeles-great-american-streetcar-scandal
15. How this Amsterdam inventor gave bike-sharing to the world http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/26/story-cities-amsterdam-bike-share-scheme
16. Skopje plans for the future by fixating on its ancient past http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/27/story-cities-skopje-plans-future-ancient-past
17. Jane Jacobs v Robert Moses, battle of New York's urban titans http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/28/story-cities-32-new-york-jane-jacobs-robert-moses
18. How Santiago tackled its housing crisis with 'Operation Chalk' http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/29/story-cities-33-santiago-chile-housing-crisis-operacion-sitio-operation-chalk
19. The struggle for the soul of Milton Keynes http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/03/struggle-for-the-soul-of-milton-keynes
20. Arcosanti – the unfinished answer to suburban sprawl http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/04/story-cities-35-arcosanti-paolo-soleri-desert
21. How Copenhagen rejected 1960s modernist 'utopia' http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/05/story-cities-copenhagen-denmark-modernist-utopia

Places of Wonders and Wickedness

"What an amazing place London was to me when I saw it in the distance, and how I believed all the adventures of all my favourite heroes to be constantly enacting and re-enacting there, and how I vaguely made it out in my own mind to be fuller of wonders and wickedness than all the cities of the earth."
Charles Dickens, "David Copperfield," Chapter 5 (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/766/766-h/766-h.htm)

The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/us) has become one of the most interesting sources of news and information on the web. Recently they've produced an amazing series of articles on world cities. The topics range from urban planning to colonialism to pirates (arrr!) to the Olympics, and it’s wonderful.

1. How Alexandria laid foundations for the modern world http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/14/story-cities-day-1-alexandria-egypt-history-urbanisation-foundations-modern-world
2. Rome wasn't planned in a day … in fact it wasn't planned at all http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/15/story-cities-part-2-secret-ancient-rome
3. The birth of Baghdad was a landmark for world civilisation http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/16/story-cities-day-3-baghdad-iraq-world-civilisation 
4. Beijing and the earliest planning document in history http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/17/story-cities-beijing-earliest-planning-document-history 
5. Benin City, the mighty medieval capital now lost without trace http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/18/story-of-cities-5-benin-city-edo-nigeria-mighty-medieval-capital-lost-without-trace 
6. How silver turned Potosí into 'the first city of capitalism' http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/21/story-of-cities-6-potosi-bolivia-peru-inca-first-city-capitalism 
7. Philadelphia grid marks birth of America's urban dream   http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/22/story-of-cities-7-philadelphia-grid-pennsylvania-william-penn-america-urban-dream 
8. St Petersburg – is the 'city built on bones' starting to crumble? http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/23/story-of-cities-8-st-petersburg-city-built-on-bones-starting-to-crumble 
9. Kingston, Jamaica – a city born of 'wickedness' and disaster http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/24/story-cities-9-kingston-jamaica-richest-wickedest-city-world 
10. How the dirty Old Town became enlightened Edinburgh http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/29/story-of-cities-10-edinburgh-new-town-old-town-scottish-enlightenment-james-craig 
11. The reclamation of Mumbai – from the sea, and its people? http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/30/story-cities-11-reclamation-mumbai-bombay-megacity-population-density-flood-risk 
12. Haussmann rips up Paris – and divides France to this day http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/31/story-cities-12-paris-baron-haussmann-france-urban-planner-napoleon 
13. Barcelona's unloved planner invents science of 'urbanisation' http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/01/story-cities-13-eixample-barcelona-ildefons-cerda-planner-urbanisation 
14. London's Great Stink heralds a wonder of the industrial world http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/04/story-cities-14-london-great-stink-river-thames-joseph-bazalgette-sewage-system 
15. The rise and ruin of Rio de Janeiro's first favela http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/05/story-cities-15-rio-de-janeiro-first-favela-providencia-2016-olympic-games 

I don’t know how many of these they are intending to produce, but they’ve done 15 so far. Seriously, this is amazing stuff. I think you’ll like it.