Chili peppers: the hot new thing
Chili peppers: I love them. McClatchy reports:
A nation on the rebound from its long affair with comfort food has a hot new love: chili pepper.
Once worshipped by Incas and Olmecs, chili now is revered by surging numbers of Americans with heat-seeking palates and by food marketers who are keen to stimulate them.
Together, they’ve made chili the second-most-craved flavor in the United States after chocolate, according to Paul Rozin, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist who’s studied the appeals of both foods.
Rozin calls the chili pepper craving "benign masochism," a harmless way to stimulate pain sensors.
"I like the excitement that chili pepper adds to food," said Vidal Jarqun, 72, a retired State Department employee, pausing before the jalapeños at a local Whole Foods store. "And, yes, I’ve been using more as I’ve gotten older."
"We’re seeing increased demand for anything with increased heat," said Diane McElroy, consumer affairs manager at Tone’s Spices of Ankeny, Iowa, the second-biggest U.S. supplier and blender of herbs and spices.
That’s a startling change for millions of consumers who a generation ago couldn’t have spelled or defined chipotle, the smoky-flavored richly hot pepper.
Indeed, chili products — fresh, dried, ground or otherwise — are so popular these days that …
When reading John Lust’s book, Back to Eden – a sort of Mother Earth classic, he has an extensive piece of cayenne pepper, noted for its medicinal properties, although one must be careful with the really HOT grade. Taking more than just a teeny bit (like 1/16 of a teaspoon say in a glass of water) is like swallowing fire, so it might border on the toxic if taking more than that.
gloriagreent
29 January 2009 at 9:01 am