Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2012/January 2013 | Page 116

FOOD

RED HOT!
HISTORY
Chillies, come in all shapes, sizes and
colours ranging from tiny pointed
extremely hot, birds eye chilli to the
large mild fleshy peppers like the
anaheim. Indigenous to Central and
South America and the West Indies,
they have been cultivated there for
thousands of years before the Spanish
conquest, which eventually introduced
them to the rest of the world. Mexican
cooking is one of the world's oldest
cuisines; the explorers of the New
World brought back the tomatoes and
peppers, red hot chillies, avocados,
various beans, vanilla and chocolate,
and these flavours were to change the
flavour of Europe.
Today there are probably 400
different chillies grown, and are one
of the most widely cultivated crops,

grown from the Far East, China,
Japan, Thailand and Indonesia to
India and Mexico. Some of the more
commonly available fresh chillies
include jalapeño, serrano, poblano,
yellow wax, birds eye, habarnero