CHILLI PEPPERS
There can be no doubt that the chilli is the driving force behind almost all Mexican dishes; with over 16 different varieties to be found growing within its borders, it is easy to see why the average Mexican sees the chilli as the perfect seasoning to cook with. Although famed for the sometimes excessive use of chillis in their food, Mexicans were not the first to rely upon chilli’s a staple part of their diet.Human beings have been consuming chillis as a regular part of their diet since before 7500 BC. Archaeologists have found evidence in south-western Ecuador that the local people there were cultivating chillies over 6000 years ago, making it one of the very first types of crop to be cultivated in the Americas. It is thought that chilli peppers were domesticated and cultivated at least five times by people in the prehistoric ages. Predominantly in parts of southern and northern America.
Why are chilli peppers so hot? Simply because they contain a substance named capsaicin, and several other chemicals from the related group called capsaicinoids. The variation in the quantity of these substances from species to species, is what gives us a range of chilli’s from mild, almost cool to dragons breath hot.